Sample records for cingulate motor area
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Nimchinsky, E. A.; Hof, P. R.; Young, W. G.; Morrison, J. H.; Bloom, F. E. (Principal Investigator)
1996-01-01
The primate cingulate gyrus contains multiple cortical areas that can be distinguished by several neurochemical features, including the distribution of neurofilament protein-enriched pyramidal neurons. In addition, connectivity and functional properties indicate that there are multiple motor areas in the cortex lining the cingulate sulcus. These motor areas were targeted for analysis of potential interactions among regional specialization, connectivity, and cellular characteristics such as neurochemical profile and morphology. Specifically, intracortical injections of retrogradely transported dyes and intracellular injection were combined with immunocytochemistry to investigate neurons projecting from the cingulate motor areas to the putative forelimb region of the primary motor cortex, area M1. Two separate groups of neurons projecting to area M1 emanated from the cingulate sulcus, one anterior and one posterior, both of which furnished commissural and ipsilateral connections with area M1. The primary difference between the two populations was laminar origin, with the anterior projection originating largely in deep layers, and the posterior projection taking origin equally in superficial and deep layers. With regard to cellular morphology, the anterior projection exhibited more morphologic diversity than the posterior projection. Commissural projections from both anterior and posterior fields originated largely in layer VI. Neurofilament protein distribution was a reliable tool for localizing the two projections and for discriminating between them. Comparable proportions of the two sets of projection neurons contained neurofilament protein, although the density and distribution of the total population of neurofilament protein-enriched neurons was very different in the two subareas of origin. Within a projection, the participating neurons exhibited a high degree of morphologic heterogeneity, and no correlation was observed between somatodendritic morphology and neurofilament protein content. Thus, although the neurons that provide the anterior and posterior cingulate motor projections to area M1 differ morphologically and in laminar origin, their neurochemical profiles are similar with respect to neurofilament protein. This suggests that neurochemical phenotype may be a more important unifying feature for corticocortical projections than morphology.
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Suzuki, Tadashi; Itoh, Shouichi; Hayashi, Mototaka; Kouno, Masako; Takeda, Katsuhiko
2009-10-01
We report the case of a 69-year-old woman with cerebral infarction in the left anterior cingulate cortex and corpus callosum. She showed hyperlexia, which was a distinctive reading phenomenon, as well as ambient echolalia. Clinical features also included complex disorders such as visual groping, compulsive manipulation of tools, and callosal disconnection syndrome. She read words written on the cover of a book and repeated words emanating from unrelated conversations around her or from hospital announcements. The combination of these two features due to a focal lesion has never been reported previously. The supplementary motor area may control the execution of established subroutines according to external and internal inputs. Hyperlexia as well as the compulsive manipulation of tools could be interpreted as faulty inhibition of preexisting essentially intact motor subroutines by damage to the anterior cingulate cortex reciprocally interconnected with the supplementary motor area.
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Mirth and laughter elicited by electrical stimulation of the human anterior cingulate cortex.
Caruana, Fausto; Avanzini, Pietro; Gozzo, Francesca; Francione, Stefano; Cardinale, Francesco; Rizzolatti, Giacomo
2015-10-01
Laughter is a complex motor behavior that, typically, expresses mirth. Despite its fundamental role in social life, knowledge about the neural basis of laughter is very limited and mostly based on a few electrical stimulation (ES) studies carried out in epileptic patients. In these studies laughter was elicited from temporal areas where it was accompanied by mirth and from frontal areas plus an anterior cingulate case where laughter without mirth was observed. On the basis of these findings, it has been proposed a dichotomy between temporal lobe areas processing the emotional content of laughter and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and motor areas responsible of laughter production. The present study is aimed to understand the role of ACC in laughter. We report the effects of stimulation of 10 rostral, pregenual ACC (pACC) patients in which the ES elicited laughter. In half of the patients ES elicited a clear burst of laughter with mirth, while in the other half mirth was not evident. This large dataset allow us to offer a more reliable picture of the functional contribute of this region in laughter, and to precisely localize it in the cingulate cortex. We conclude that the pACC is involved in both the motor and the affective components of emotions, and challenge the validity of a sharp dichotomy between motor and emotional centers for laughing. Finally, we suggest a possible anatomical network for the production of positive emotional expressions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Neural substrates of visuomotor learning based on improved feedback control and prediction
Grafton, Scott T.; Schmitt, Paul; Horn, John Van; Diedrichsen, Jörn
2008-01-01
Motor skills emerge from learning feedforward commands as well as improvements in feedback control. These two components of learning were investigated in a compensatory visuomotor tracking task on a trial-by-trial basis. Between trial learning was characterized with a state-space model to provide smoothed estimates of feedforward and feedback learning, separable from random fluctuations in motor performance and error. The resultant parameters were correlated with brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging. Learning related to the generation of a feedforward command correlated with activity in dorsal premotor cortex, inferior parietal lobule, supplementary motor area and cingulate motor area, supporting a role of these areas in retrieving and executing a predictive motor command. Modulation of feedback control was associated with activity in bilateral posterior superior parietal lobule as well as right ventral premotor cortex. Performance error correlated with activity in a widespread cortical and subcortical network including bilateral parietal, premotor and rostral anterior cingulate cortex as well as the cerebellar cortex. Finally, trial-by-trial changes of kinematics, as measured by mean absolute hand acceleration, correlated with activity in motor cortex and anterior cerebellum. The results demonstrate that incremental, learning dependent changes can be modeled on a trial-by-trial basis and neural substrates for feedforward control of novel motor programs are localized to secondary motor areas. PMID:18032069
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Neural correlates underlying micrographia in Parkinson’s disease
Zhang, Jiarong; Hallett, Mark; Feng, Tao; Hou, Yanan; Chan, Piu
2016-01-01
Micrographia is a common symptom in Parkinson’s disease, which manifests as either a consistent or progressive reduction in the size of handwriting or both. Neural correlates underlying micrographia remain unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate micrographia-related neural activity and connectivity modulations. In addition, the effect of attention and dopaminergic administration on micrographia was examined. We found that consistent micrographia was associated with decreased activity and connectivity in the basal ganglia motor circuit; while progressive micrographia was related to the dysfunction of basal ganglia motor circuit together with disconnections between the rostral supplementary motor area, rostral cingulate motor area and cerebellum. Attention significantly improved both consistent and progressive micrographia, accompanied by recruitment of anterior putamen and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Levodopa improved consistent micrographia accompanied by increased activity and connectivity in the basal ganglia motor circuit, but had no effect on progressive micrographia. Our findings suggest that consistent micrographia is related to dysfunction of the basal ganglia motor circuit; while dysfunction of the basal ganglia motor circuit and disconnection between the rostral supplementary motor area, rostral cingulate motor area and cerebellum likely contributes to progressive micrographia. Attention improves both types of micrographia by recruiting additional brain networks. Levodopa improves consistent micrographia by restoring the function of the basal ganglia motor circuit, but does not improve progressive micrographia, probably because of failure to repair the disconnected networks. PMID:26525918
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Januszko, Piotr; Niemcewicz, Szymon; Gajda, Tomasz; Wołyńczyk-Gmaj, Dorota; Piotrowska, Anna Justyna; Gmaj, Bartłomiej; Piotrowski, Tadeusz; Szelenberger, Waldemar
2016-01-01
To investigate local arousal fluctuations in adults who received ICSD-2 diagnosis of somnambulism. EEG neuroimaging (eLORETA) was utilized to compare current density distribution for 4s epochs immediately preceding sleepwalking episode (from -4.0 s to 0 s) to the distribution during earlier 4s epochs (from -8.0 s to -4.0 s) in 20 EEG segments from 15 patients. Comparisons between eLORETA images revealed significant (t>4.52; p<0.05) brain activations before onset of sleepwalking, with greater current density within beta 3 frequency range (24-30 Hz) in Brodmann areas 33 and 24. Sleepwalking motor events are associated with arousal-related activation of cingulate motor area. These results support the notion of blurred boundaries between wakefulness and NREM sleep in sleepwalking. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Kennerley, Steven W.; Friston, Karl; Bestmann, Sven
2016-01-01
Integrating costs and benefits is crucial for optimal decision-making. Although much is known about decisions that involve outcome-related costs (e.g., delay, risk), many of our choices are attached to actions and require an evaluation of the associated motor costs. Yet how the brain incorporates motor costs into choices remains largely unclear. We used human fMRI during choices involving monetary reward and physical effort to identify brain regions that serve as a choice comparator for effort-reward trade-offs. By independently varying both options' effort and reward levels, we were able to identify the neural signature of a comparator mechanism. A network involving supplementary motor area and the caudal portion of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex encoded the difference in reward (positively) and effort levels (negatively) between chosen and unchosen choice options. We next modeled effort-discounted subjective values using a novel behavioral model. This revealed that the same network of regions involving dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area encoded the difference between the chosen and unchosen options' subjective values, and that activity was best described using a concave model of effort-discounting. In addition, this signal reflected how precisely value determined participants' choices. By contrast, separate signals in supplementary motor area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated with participants' tendency to avoid effort and seek reward, respectively. This suggests that the critical neural signature of decision-making for choices involving motor costs is found in human cingulate cortex and not ventromedial prefrontal cortex as typically reported for outcome-based choice. Furthermore, distinct frontal circuits seem to drive behavior toward reward maximization and effort minimization. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The neural processes that govern the trade-off between expected benefits and motor costs remain largely unknown. This is striking because energetic requirements play an integral role in our day-to-day choices and instrumental behavior, and a diminished willingness to exert effort is a characteristic feature of a range of neurological disorders. We use a new behavioral characterization of how humans trade off reward maximization with effort minimization to examine the neural signatures that underpin such choices, using BOLD MRI neuroimaging data. We find the critical neural signature of decision-making, a signal that reflects the comparison of value between choice options, in human cingulate cortex, whereas two distinct brain circuits drive behavior toward reward maximization or effort minimization. PMID:27683898
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Klein-Flügge, Miriam C; Kennerley, Steven W; Friston, Karl; Bestmann, Sven
2016-09-28
Integrating costs and benefits is crucial for optimal decision-making. Although much is known about decisions that involve outcome-related costs (e.g., delay, risk), many of our choices are attached to actions and require an evaluation of the associated motor costs. Yet how the brain incorporates motor costs into choices remains largely unclear. We used human fMRI during choices involving monetary reward and physical effort to identify brain regions that serve as a choice comparator for effort-reward trade-offs. By independently varying both options' effort and reward levels, we were able to identify the neural signature of a comparator mechanism. A network involving supplementary motor area and the caudal portion of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex encoded the difference in reward (positively) and effort levels (negatively) between chosen and unchosen choice options. We next modeled effort-discounted subjective values using a novel behavioral model. This revealed that the same network of regions involving dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area encoded the difference between the chosen and unchosen options' subjective values, and that activity was best described using a concave model of effort-discounting. In addition, this signal reflected how precisely value determined participants' choices. By contrast, separate signals in supplementary motor area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex correlated with participants' tendency to avoid effort and seek reward, respectively. This suggests that the critical neural signature of decision-making for choices involving motor costs is found in human cingulate cortex and not ventromedial prefrontal cortex as typically reported for outcome-based choice. Furthermore, distinct frontal circuits seem to drive behavior toward reward maximization and effort minimization. The neural processes that govern the trade-off between expected benefits and motor costs remain largely unknown. This is striking because energetic requirements play an integral role in our day-to-day choices and instrumental behavior, and a diminished willingness to exert effort is a characteristic feature of a range of neurological disorders. We use a new behavioral characterization of how humans trade off reward maximization with effort minimization to examine the neural signatures that underpin such choices, using BOLD MRI neuroimaging data. We find the critical neural signature of decision-making, a signal that reflects the comparison of value between choice options, in human cingulate cortex, whereas two distinct brain circuits drive behavior toward reward maximization or effort minimization. Copyright © 2016 Klein-Flügge et al.
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The Influence of Syllable Onset Complexity and Syllable Frequency on Speech Motor Control
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Riecker, Axel; Brendel, Bettina; Ziegler, Wolfram; Erb, Michael; Ackermann, Hermann
2008-01-01
Functional imaging studies have delineated a "minimal network for overt speech production," encompassing mesiofrontal structures (supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate gyrus), bilateral pre- and postcentral convolutions, extending rostrally into posterior parts of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the language-dominant hemisphere, left…
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Lissek, Silke; Vallana, Guido S.; Schlaffke, Lara; Lenz, Melanie; Dinse, Hubert R.; Tegenthoff, Martin
2014-01-01
The dopaminergic system is involved in learning and participates in the modulation of cortical excitability (CE). CE has been suggested as a marker of learning and use-dependent plasticity. However, results from separate studies on either motor CE or motor learning challenge this notion, suggesting opposing effects of dopaminergic modulation upon these parameters: while agonists decrease and antagonists increase CE, motor learning is enhanced by agonists and disturbed by antagonists. To examine whether this discrepancy persists when complex motor learning and motor CE are measured in the same experimental setup, we investigated the effects of dopaminergic (DA) antagonism upon both parameters and upon task-associated brain activation. Our results demonstrate that DA-antagonism has opposing effects upon motor CE and motor sequence learning. Tiapride did not alter baseline CE, but increased CE post training of a complex motor sequence while simultaneously impairing motor learning. Moreover, tiapride reduced activation in several brain regions associated with motor sequence performance, i.e., dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC), supplementary motor area (SMA), Broca's area, cingulate and caudate body. Blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) intensity in anterior cingulate and caudate body, but not CE, correlated with performance across groups. In summary, our results do not support a concept of CE as a general marker of motor learning, since they demonstrate that a straightforward relation of increased CE and higher learning success does not apply to all instances of motor learning. At least for complex motor tasks that recruit a network of brain regions outside motor cortex, CE in primary motor cortex is probably no central determinant for learning success. PMID:24994972
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Bremner, J. Douglas; Narayan, Meena; Staib, Lawrence H.; Southwick, Steven M.; McGlashan, Thomas; Charney, Dennis S.
2011-01-01
Objective Childhood sexual abuse is very common in our society, but little is known about the long-term effects of abuse on brain function. The purpose of this study was to measure neural correlates of memories of childhood abuse in sexually abused women with and without the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method Twenty-two women with a history of childhood sexual abuse underwent injection of [15O]H2O, followed by positron emission tomography imaging of the brain while they listened to neutral and traumatic (personalized childhood sexual abuse events) scripts. Brain blood flow during exposure to traumatic and neutral scripts was compared for sexually abused women with and without PTSD. Results Memories of childhood sexual abuse were associated with greater increases in blood flow in portions of anterior prefrontal cortex (superior and middle frontal gyri—areas 6 and 9), posterior cingulate (area 31), and motor cortex in sexually abused women with PTSD than in sexually abused women without PTSD. Abuse memories were associated with alterations in blood flow in medial prefrontal cortex, with decreased blood flow in subcallosal gyrus (area 25), and a failure of activation in anterior cingulate (area 32). There was also decreased blood flow in right hippocampus, fusiform/inferior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and visual association cortex in women with PTSD relative to women without PTSD. Conclusions These findings implicate dysfunction of medial prefrontal cortex (subcallosal gyrus and anterior cingulate), hippocampus, and visual association cortex in pathological memories of childhood abuse in women with PTSD. Increased activation in posterior cingulate and motor cortex was seen in women with PTSD. Dysfunction in these brain areas may underlie PTSD symptoms provoked by traumatic reminders in subjects with PTSD. PMID:10553744
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Mapping of cingulate motor function by cortical stimulation.
Basha, Maysaa M; Fernández-Baca Vaca, Guadalupe; Lüders, Hans O
2013-09-01
An 8-year-old boy with intractable left mesiofrontal lobe epilepsy underwent placement of stereotactic intracerebral depth electrodes to better localise the epileptogenic zone. Co-registration of preoperative MRI and post-electrode implantation CAT allowed for anatomical localisation of electrode contacts. Electrical stimulation of electrodes over the dorsal and ventral banks of the cingulate cortex on the left produced right foot dorsiflexion and right wrist and elbow flexion, respectively, demonstrating detailed representation of cingulate motor function in humans, somatotopically distributed along the banks of the cingulate sulcus, as seen in the non-human primate. [Published with video sequences].
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Grey matter alterations in patients with Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN).
Rodriguez-Raecke, Rea; Roa-Sanchez, Pedro; Speckter, Herwin; Fermin-Delgado, Rafael; Perez-Then, Eddy; Oviedo, Jairo; Stoeter, Peter
2014-09-01
Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare heritable disease marked by dystonia and loss of movement control. In contrast to the well-known "Eye-of-the-Tiger" sign affecting the globus pallidus, little is known about other deviations of brain morphology, especially about grey matter changes. We investigated 29 patients with PKAN and 29 age-matched healthy controls using Magnet Resonance Imaging and Voxel-Based Morphometry. As compared to controls, children with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the putamen and nucleus caudatus and adults with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the ventral part of the anterior cingulate cortex. A multiple regression analysis with dystonia score as predictor showed grey matter reduction in the cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, superior parietal lobule, pars triangularis and small frontal and temporal areas and an analysis with age as predictor showed grey matter decreases in the putamen, nucleus caudatus, supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex. The grey matter increases may be regarded as a secondary phenomenon compensating the increased activity of the motor system due to a reduced inhibitory output of the globus pallidus. With increasing age, the grey matter reduction of cortical midline structures however might contribute to the progression of dystonic symptoms due to loss of this compensatory control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Yokoyama, Osamu; Nakayama, Yoshihisa
2016-01-01
The caudal cingulate motor area (CMAc) and the supplementary motor area (SMA) play important roles in movement execution. The present study examined the neural mechanisms underlying these roles by investigating local field potentials (LFPs) from these areas while monkeys pressed buttons with either their left or right hand. During hand movement, power increases in the high-gamma (80–120 Hz) and theta (3–8 Hz) bands and a power decrease in the beta (12–30 Hz) band were observed in both the CMAc and SMA. High-gamma and beta activity in the SMA predominantly represented contralateral hand movements, whereas activity in the CMAc preferentially represented movement of either hand. Theta activity in both brain regions most frequently reflected movement of either hand, but a contralateral hand bias was more evident in the SMA than in the CMAc. An analysis of the relationships of the laterality representations between the high-gamma and theta bands at each recording site revealed that, irrespective of the hand preference for the theta band, the high-gamma band in the SMA preferentially represented contralateral hand movement, whereas the high-gamma band in the CMAc represented movement of either hand. These findings suggest that the input-output relationships for ipsilateral and contralateral hand movements in the CMAc and SMA differ in terms of their functionality. The CMAc may transform the input signals representing general aspects of movement into commands to perform movements with either hand, whereas the SMA may transform the input signals into commands to perform movement with the contralateral hand. PMID:26792884
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Functional Connectivity of Human Chewing
Quintero, A.; Ichesco, E.; Schutt, R.; Myers, C.; Peltier, S.; Gerstner, G.E.
2013-01-01
Mastication is one of the most important orofacial functions. The neurobiological mechanisms of masticatory control have been investigated in animal models, but less so in humans. This project used functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to assess the positive temporal correlations among activated brain areas during a gum-chewing task. Twenty-nine healthy young-adults underwent an fcMRI scanning protocol while they chewed gum. Seed-based fcMRI analyses were performed with the motor cortex and cerebellum as regions of interest. Both left and right motor cortices were reciprocally functionally connected and functionally connected with the post-central gyrus, cerebellum, cingulate cortex, and precuneus. The cerebellar seeds showed functional connections with the contralateral cerebellar hemispheres, bilateral sensorimotor cortices, left superior temporal gyrus, and left cingulate cortex. These results are the first to identify functional central networks engaged during mastication. PMID:23355525
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Brain activation profiles during kinesthetic and visual imagery: An fMRI study.
Kilintari, Marina; Narayana, Shalini; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas; Rezaie, Roozbeh; Papanicolaou, Andrew C
2016-09-01
The aim of this study was to identify brain regions involved in motor imagery and differentiate two alternative strategies in its implementation: imagining a motor act using kinesthetic or visual imagery. Fourteen adults were precisely instructed and trained on how to imagine themselves or others perform a movement sequence, with the aim of promoting kinesthetic and visual imagery, respectively, in the context of an fMRI experiment using block design. We found that neither modality of motor imagery elicits activation of the primary motor cortex and that each of the two modalities involves activation of the premotor area which is also activated during action execution and action observation conditions, as well as of the supplementary motor area. Interestingly, the visual and the posterior cingulate cortices show reduced BOLD signal during both imagery conditions. Our results indicate that the networks of regions activated in kinesthetic and visual imagery of motor sequences show a substantial, while not complete overlap, and that the two forms of motor imagery lead to a differential suppression of visual areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Generation of novel motor sequences: the neural correlates of musical improvisation.
Berkowitz, Aaron L; Ansari, Daniel
2008-06-01
While some motor behavior is instinctive and stereotyped or learned and re-executed, much action is a spontaneous response to a novel set of environmental conditions. The neural correlates of both pre-learned and cued motor sequences have been previously studied, but novel motor behavior has thus far not been examined through brain imaging. In this paper, we report a study of musical improvisation in trained pianists with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), using improvisation as a case study of novel action generation. We demonstrate that both rhythmic (temporal) and melodic (ordinal) motor sequence creation modulate activity in a network of brain regions comprised of the dorsal premotor cortex, the rostral cingulate zone of the anterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior frontal gyrus. These findings are consistent with a role for the dorsal premotor cortex in movement coordination, the rostral cingulate zone in voluntary selection, and the inferior frontal gyrus in sequence generation. Thus, the invention of novel motor sequences in musical improvisation recruits a network of brain regions coordinated to generate possible sequences, select among them, and execute the decided-upon sequence.
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Wolf, R C; Sambataro, F; Vasic, N; Depping, M S; Thomann, P A; Landwehrmeyer, G B; Süssmuth, S D; Orth, M
2014-11-01
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of multiple neural networks during the brain's 'resting state' could facilitate biomarker development in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and may provide new insights into the relationship between neural dysfunction and clinical symptoms. To date, however, very few studies have examined the functional integrity of multiple resting state networks (RSNs) in manifest HD, and even less is known about whether concomitant brain atrophy affects neural activity in patients. Using MRI, we investigated brain structure and RSN function in patients with early HD (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20). For resting-state fMRI data a group-independent component analysis identified spatiotemporally distinct patterns of motor and prefrontal RSNs of interest. We used voxel-based morphometry to assess regional brain atrophy, and 'biological parametric mapping' analyses to investigate the impact of atrophy on neural activity. Compared with controls, patients showed connectivity changes within distinct neural systems including lateral prefrontal, supplementary motor, thalamic, cingulate, temporal and parietal regions. In patients, supplementary motor area and cingulate cortex connectivity indices were associated with measures of motor function, whereas lateral prefrontal connectivity was associated with cognition. This study provides evidence for aberrant connectivity of RSNs associated with motor function and cognition in early manifest HD when controlling for brain atrophy. This suggests clinically relevant changes of RSN activity in the presence of HD-associated cortical and subcortical structural abnormalities.
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Structural brain correlates of unconstrained motor activity in people with schizophrenia.
Farrow, Tom F D; Hunter, Michael D; Wilkinson, Iain D; Green, Russell D J; Spence, Sean A
2005-11-01
Avolition affects quality of life in chronic schizophrenia. We investigated the relationship between unconstrained motor activity and the volume of key executive brain regions in 16 male patients with schizophrenia. Wristworn actigraphy monitors were used to record motor activity over a 20 h period. Structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were parcellated and individual volumes for anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex extracted. Patients'total activity was positively correlated with volume of left anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that the volume of specific executive structures may affect (quantifiable) motor behaviours, having further implications for models of the 'will' and avolition.
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Midcingulate Motor Map and Feedback Detection: Converging Data from Humans and Monkeys
Procyk, Emmanuel; Wilson, Charles R. E.; Stoll, Frederic M.; Faraut, Maïlys C. M.; Petrides, Michael; Amiez, Céline
2016-01-01
The functional and anatomical organization of the cingulate cortex across primate species is the subject of considerable and often confusing debate. The functions attributed to the midcingulate cortex (MCC) embrace, among others, feedback processing, pain, salience, action-reward association, premotor functions, and conflict monitoring. This multiplicity of functional concepts suggests either unresolved separation of functional contributions or integration and convergence. We here provide evidence from recent experiments in humans and from a meta-analysis of monkey data that MCC feedback-related activity is generated in the rostral cingulate premotor area by specific body maps directly related to the modality of feedback. As such, we argue for an embodied mechanism for adaptation and exploration in MCC. We propose arguments and precise tools to resolve the origins of performance monitoring signals in the medial frontal cortex, and to progress on issues regarding homology between human and nonhuman primate cingulate cortex. PMID:25217467
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Hu, Hao; Sun, Yawen; Su, Shanshan; Wang, Yao; Qiu, Yongming; Yang, Xi; Zhou, Yan; Xiao, Zeping; Wang, Zhen
2018-01-01
Victims of motor vehicle accidents often develop post-traumatic stress disorder, which causes significant social function loss. For the difficulty in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, identification of subjects at high risk for post-traumatic stress disorder is essential for providing possible intervention. This paper aims to examine the cortical structural traits related to susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder. To address this issue, we performed structural magnetic resonance imaging study in motor vehicle accident victims within 48 hours from the accidents. A total of 70 victims, available for both clinical and magnetic resonance imaging data, enrolled in our study. Upon completion of 6-month follow-up, 29 of them developed post-traumatic stress disorder, while 41 of them didn't. At baseline, voxelwise comparisons of cortical thickness, cortical area and cortical volume were conducted between post-traumatic stress disorder group and trauma control group. As expected, several reduced cortical volume within frontal-temporal loop were observed in post-traumatic stress disorder. For cortical thickness, no between-group differences were observed. There were three clusters in left hemisphere and one cluster in right hemisphere showing decreased cortical area in post-traumatic stress disorder patients, compared with trauma controls. Peak voxels of the three clusters in left hemisphere were separately located in superior parietal cortex, insula and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. The finding of reduced surface area of left insula and left rostral anterior cingulate cortex suggests that shrinked surface area in motor vehicle accident victims could act as potential biomarker of subjects at high risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Emotion-motion interactions in conversion disorder: an FMRI study.
Aybek, Selma; Nicholson, Timothy R; O'Daly, Owen; Zelaya, Fernando; Kanaan, Richard A; David, Anthony S
2015-01-01
To evaluate the neural correlates of implicit processing of negative emotions in motor conversion disorder (CD) patients. An event related fMRI task was completed by 12 motor CD patients and 14 matched healthy controls using standardised stimuli of faces with fearful and sad emotional expressions in comparison to faces with neutral expressions. Temporal changes in the sensitivity to stimuli were also modelled and tested in the two groups. We found increased amygdala activation to negative emotions in CD compared to healthy controls in region of interest analyses, which persisted over time consistent with previous findings using emotional paradigms. Furthermore during whole brain analyses we found significantly increased activation in CD patients in areas involved in the 'freeze response' to fear (periaqueductal grey matter), and areas involved in self-awareness and motor control (cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor area). In contrast to healthy controls, CD patients exhibited increased response amplitude to fearful stimuli over time, suggesting abnormal emotional regulation (failure of habituation / sensitization). Patients with CD also activated midbrain and frontal structures that could reflect an abnormal behavioral-motor response to negative including threatening stimuli. This suggests a mechanism linking emotions to motor dysfunction in CD.
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Vanneste, Sven; De Ridder, Dirk
2012-01-01
Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an external sound source. It is characterized by sensory components such as the perceived loudness, the lateralization, the tinnitus type (pure tone, noise-like) and associated emotional components, such as distress and mood changes. Source localization of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) data demonstrate the involvement of auditory brain areas as well as several non-auditory brain areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex (dorsal and subgenual), auditory cortex (primary and secondary), dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, insula, supplementary motor area, orbitofrontal cortex (including the inferior frontal gyrus), parahippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus, in different aspects of tinnitus. Explaining these non-auditory brain areas as constituents of separable subnetworks, each reflecting a specific aspect of the tinnitus percept increases the explanatory power of the non-auditory brain areas involvement in tinnitus. Thus, the unified percept of tinnitus can be considered an emergent property of multiple parallel dynamically changing and partially overlapping subnetworks, each with a specific spontaneous oscillatory pattern and functional connectivity signature. PMID:22586375
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Salience network integrity predicts default mode network function after traumatic brain injury
Bonnelle, Valerie; Ham, Timothy E.; Leech, Robert; Kinnunen, Kirsi M.; Mehta, Mitul A.; Greenwood, Richard J.; Sharp, David J.
2012-01-01
Efficient behavior involves the coordinated activity of large-scale brain networks, but the way in which these networks interact is uncertain. One theory is that the salience network (SN)—which includes the anterior cingulate cortex, presupplementary motor area, and anterior insulae—regulates dynamic changes in other networks. If this is the case, then damage to the structural connectivity of the SN should disrupt the regulation of associated networks. To investigate this hypothesis, we studied a group of 57 patients with cognitive impairments following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 25 control subjects using the stop-signal task. The pattern of brain activity associated with stop-signal task performance was studied by using functional MRI, and the structural integrity of network connections was quantified by using diffusion tensor imaging. Efficient inhibitory control was associated with rapid deactivation within parts of the default mode network (DMN), including the precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. TBI patients showed a failure of DMN deactivation, which was associated with an impairment of inhibitory control. TBI frequently results in traumatic axonal injury, which can disconnect brain networks by damaging white matter tracts. The abnormality of DMN function was specifically predicted by the amount of white matter damage in the SN tract connecting the right anterior insulae to the presupplementary motor area and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The results provide evidence that structural integrity of the SN is necessary for the efficient regulation of activity in the DMN, and that a failure of this regulation leads to inefficient cognitive control. PMID:22393019
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Motor Sequence Learning-Induced Neural Efficiency in Functional Brain Connectivity
Karim, Helmet T; Huppert, Theodore J; Erickson, Kirk I; Wollam, Mariegold E; Sparto, Patrick J; Sejdić, Ervin; VanSwearingen, Jessie M
2016-01-01
Previous studies have shown the functional neural circuitry differences before and after an explicitly learned motor sequence task, but have not assessed these changes during the process of motor skill learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging activity was measured while participants (n=13) were asked to tap their fingers to visually presented sequences in blocks that were either the same sequence repeated (learning block) or random sequences (control block). Motor learning was associated with a decrease in brain activity during learning compared to control. Lower brain activation was noted in the posterior parietal association area and bilateral thalamus during the later periods of learning (not during the control). Compared to the control condition, we found the task-related motor learning was associated with decreased connectivity between the putamen and left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle cingulate brain regions. Motor learning was associated with changes in network activity, spatial extent, and connectivity. PMID:27845228
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Qiao, Jianping; Weng, Shenhong; Wang, Pengwei; Long, Jun; Wang, Zhishun
2015-05-01
The aim of this study was to investigate the normalization of the intrinsic functional activity and connectivity of TS adolescents before and after the cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) with alpha stim device. We performed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging on eight adolescents before and after CES with mean age of about nine-years old who had Tourette's syndrome with moderate to severe tics symptom. Independent component analysis (ICA) with hierarchical partner matching method was used to examine the functional connectivity between regions within cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit. Granger causality was used to investigate effective connectivity among these regions detected by ICA. We then performed pattern classification on independent components with significant group differences that served as endophenotype markers to distinguish the adolescents between TS and the normalized ones after CES. Results showed that TS adolescents after CES treatment had stronger functional activity and connectivity in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate and posterior cingulate cortex while had weaker activity in supplementary motor area within the motor pathway compared with TS before CES. The results suggest that the functional activity and connectivity in motor pathway was suppressed while activities in the control portions within CSTC loop including ACC and caudate were increased in TS adolescents after CES compared with adolescents before CES. The normalization of the balance between motor and control portions of the CSTC circuit may result in the recovery of TS adolescents.
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Simons, LE; Pielech, M; Erpelding, N; Linnman, C; Moulton, E; Sava, S; Lebel, A; Serrano, P; Sethna, N; Berde, C; Becerra, L; Borsook, D
2014-01-01
The amygdala is a key brain region with efferent and afferent neural connections that involve complex behaviors such as pain, reward, fear and anxiety. This study evaluated resting state functional connectivity of the amygdala with cortical and subcortical regions in a group of chronic pain patients (pediatric complex regional pain syndrome) with age-gender matched controls before and after intensive physical-biobehavioral pain treatment. Our main findings include (1) enhanced functional connectivity from the amygdala to multiple cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar regions in patients compared to controls, with differences predominantly in the left amygdala in the pre-treated condition (disease state); (2) dampened hyperconnectivity from the left amygdala to the motor cortex, parietal lobe, and cingulate cortex after intensive pain rehabilitation treatment within patients with nominal differences observed among healthy controls from Time 1 to Time 2 (treatment effects); (3) functional connectivity to several regions key to fear circuitry (prefrontal cortex, bilateral middle temporal lobe, bilateral cingulate, hippocampus) correlated with higher pain-related fear scores and (4) decreases in pain-related fear associated with decreased connectivity between the amygdala and the motor and somatosensory cortex, cingulate, and frontal areas. Our data suggest that there are rapid changes in amygdala connectivity following an aggressive treatment program in children with chronic pain and intrinsic amygdala functional connectivity activity serving as a potential indicator of treatment response. PMID:24861582
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Midcingulate Motor Map and Feedback Detection: Converging Data from Humans and Monkeys.
Procyk, Emmanuel; Wilson, Charles R E; Stoll, Frederic M; Faraut, Maïlys C M; Petrides, Michael; Amiez, Céline
2016-02-01
The functional and anatomical organization of the cingulate cortex across primate species is the subject of considerable and often confusing debate. The functions attributed to the midcingulate cortex (MCC) embrace, among others, feedback processing, pain, salience, action-reward association, premotor functions, and conflict monitoring. This multiplicity of functional concepts suggests either unresolved separation of functional contributions or integration and convergence. We here provide evidence from recent experiments in humans and from a meta-analysis of monkey data that MCC feedback-related activity is generated in the rostral cingulate premotor area by specific body maps directly related to the modality of feedback. As such, we argue for an embodied mechanism for adaptation and exploration in MCC. We propose arguments and precise tools to resolve the origins of performance monitoring signals in the medial frontal cortex, and to progress on issues regarding homology between human and nonhuman primate cingulate cortex. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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The functional integration of the anterior cingulate cortex during conflict processing.
Fan, Jin; Hof, Patrick R; Guise, Kevin G; Fossella, John A; Posner, Michael I
2008-04-01
Although functional activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) related to conflict processing has been studied extensively, the functional integration of the subdivisions of the ACC and other brain regions during conditions of conflict is still unclear. In this study, participants performed a task designed to elicit conflict processing by using flanker interference on target response while they were scanned using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. The physiological response of several brain regions in terms of an interaction between conflict processing and activity of the anterior rostral cingulate zone (RCZa) of the ACC, and the effective connectivity between this zone and other regions were examined using psychophysiological interaction analysis and dynamic causal modeling, respectively. There was significant integration of the RCZa with the caudal cingulate zone (CCZ) of the ACC and other brain regions such as the lateral prefrontal, primary, and supplementary motor areas above and beyond the main effect of conflict and baseline connectivity. The intrinsic connectivity from the RCZa to the CCZ was modulated by the context of conflict. These findings suggest that conflict processing is associated with the effective contribution of the RCZa to the neuronal activity of CCZ, as well as other cortical regions.
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Thibault, Karine; Rivière, Sébastien; Lenkei, Zsolt; Férézou, Isabelle; Pezet, Sophie
2016-01-01
Chronic pain is a long-lasting debilitating condition that is particularly difficult to treat due to the lack of identified underlying mechanisms. Although several key contributing processes have been described at the level of the spinal cord, very few studies have investigated the supraspinal mechanisms underlying chronic pain. Using a combination of approaches (cortical intrinsic imaging, immunohistochemical and behavioural analysis), our study aimed to decipher the nature of functional and structural changes in a mouse model of orofacial neuropathic pain, focusing on cortical areas involved in various pain components. Our results show that chronic neuropathic orofacial pain is associated with decreased haemodynamic responsiveness to whisker stimulation in the barrel field cortex. This reduced functional activation is likely due to the increased basal neuronal activity (measured indirectly using cFos and phospho-ERK immunoreactivity) observed in several cortical areas, including the contralateral barrel field, motor and cingulate cortices. In the same animals, immunohistochemical analysis of markers for active pre- or postsynaptic elements (Piccolo and phospho-Cofilin, respectively) revealed an increased immunofluorescence in deep cortical layers of the contralateral barrel field, motor and cingulate cortices. These results suggest that long-lasting orofacial neuropathic pain is associated with exacerbated neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity at the cortical level.
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Sequential inhibitory control processes assessed through simultaneous EEG-fMRI.
Baumeister, Sarah; Hohmann, Sarah; Wolf, Isabella; Plichta, Michael M; Rechtsteiner, Stefanie; Zangl, Maria; Ruf, Matthias; Holz, Nathalie; Boecker, Regina; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Holtmann, Martin; Laucht, Manfred; Banaschewski, Tobias; Brandeis, Daniel
2014-07-01
Inhibitory response control has been extensively investigated in both electrophysiological (ERP) and hemodynamic (fMRI) studies. However, very few multimodal results address the coupling of these inhibition markers. In fMRI, response inhibition has been most consistently linked to activation of the anterior insula and inferior frontal cortex (IFC), often also the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). ERP work has established increased N2 and P3 amplitudes during NoGo compared to Go conditions in most studies. Previous simultaneous EEG-fMRI imaging reported association of the N2/P3 complex with activation of areas like the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and anterior insula. In this study we investigated inhibitory control in 23 healthy young adults (mean age=24.7, n=17 for EEG during fMRI) using a combined Flanker/NoGo task during simultaneous EEG and fMRI recording. Separate fMRI and ERP analysis yielded higher activation in the anterior insula, IFG and ACC as well as increased N2 and P3 amplitudes during NoGo trials in accordance with the literature. Combined analysis modelling sequential N2 and P3 effects through joint parametric modulation revealed correlation of higher N2 amplitude with deactivation in parts of the default mode network (DMN) and the cingulate motor area (CMA) as well as correlation of higher central P3 amplitude with activation of the left anterior insula, IFG and posterior cingulate. The EEG-fMRI results resolve the localizations of these sequential activations. They suggest a general role for allocation of attentional resources and motor inhibition for N2 and link memory recollection and internal reflection to P3 amplitude, in addition to previously described response inhibition as reflected by the anterior insula. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain.
Ballotta, Daniela; Lui, Fausta; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Nichelli, Paolo Frigio; Benuzzi, Francesca
2018-01-01
According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a) whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b) the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirty healthy volunteers took part in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a temporal production task and a concurrent gender discrimination task, while viewing faces of unknown people with either pain-related or neutral expressions. Behavioural data showed temporal underestimation (i.e., longer produced intervals) during implicit pain expression processing; this was accompanied by increased activity of right middle temporal gyrus, a region known to be active during the perception of emotional and painful faces. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analyses showed that: 1) the activity of middle temporal gyrus was positively related to that of areas previously reported to play a role in timing: left primary motor cortex, middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, right anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum and basal ganglia; 2) the functional connectivity of supplementary motor area with several frontal regions, anterior cingulate cortex and right angular gyrus was correlated to the produced interval during painful expression processing. Our data support the hypothesis that observing emotional expressions distorts subjective time perception through the interaction of the neural network subserving processing of facial expressions with the brain network involved in timing. Within this frame, middle temporal gyrus appears to be the key region of the interplay between the two neural systems.
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Disrupted functional connectivity of the pain network in fibromyalgia.
Cifre, Ignacio; Sitges, Carolina; Fraiman, Daniel; Muñoz, Miguel Ángel; Balenzuela, Pablo; González-Roldán, Ana; Martínez-Jauand, Mercedes; Birbaumer, Niels; Chialvo, Dante R; Montoya, Pedro
2012-01-01
To investigate the impact of chronic pain on brain dynamics at rest. Functional connectivity was examined in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) (n = 9) and healthy controls (n = 11) by calculating partial correlations between low-frequency blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations extracted from 15 brain regions. Patients with FM had more positive and negative correlations within the pain network than healthy controls. Patients with FM displayed enhanced functional connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with the insula (INS) and basal ganglia (p values between .01 and .05), the secondary somatosensory area with the caudate (CAU) (p = .012), the primary motor cortex with the supplementary motor area (p = .007), the globus pallidus with the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus (both p values < .05), and the medial prefrontal cortex with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and CAU (both p values < .05). Functional connectivity of the ACC with the amygdala and periaqueductal gray (PAG) matter (p values between .001 and .05), the thalamus with the INS and PAG (both p values < .01), the INS with the putamen (p = .038), the PAG with the CAU (p = .038), the secondary somatosensory area with the motor cortex and PCC (both p values < .05), and the PCC with the superior temporal sulcus (p = .002) was also reduced in FM. In addition, significant negative correlations were observed between depression and PAG connectivity strength with the thalamus (r = -0.64, p = .003) and ACC (r = -0.60, p = .004). These findings demonstrate that patients with FM display a substantial imbalance of the connectivity within the pain network during rest, suggesting that chronic pain may also lead to changes in brain activity during internally generated thought processes such as occur at rest.
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The evolution of neocortex in primates
Kaas, Jon H.
2013-01-01
We can learn about the evolution of neocortex in primates through comparative studies of cortical organization in primates and those mammals that are the closest living relatives of primates, in conjunction with brain features revealed by the skull endocasts of fossil archaic primates. Such studies suggest that early primates had acquired a number of features of neocortex that now distinguish modern primates. Most notably, early primates had an array of new visual areas, and those visual areas widely shared with other mammals had been modified. Posterior parietal cortex was greatly expanded with sensorimotor modules for reaching, grasping, and personal defense. Motor cortex had become more specialized for hand use, and the functions of primary motor cortex were enhanced by the addition and development of premotor and cingulate motor areas. Cortical architecture became more varied, and cortical neuron populations became denser overall than in nonprimate ancestors. Primary visual cortex had the densest population of neurons, and this became more pronounced in the anthropoid radiation. Within the primate clade, considerable variability in cortical size, numbers of areas, and architecture evolved. PMID:22230624
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The evolution of neocortex in primates.
Kaas, Jon H
2012-01-01
We can learn about the evolution of neocortex in primates through comparative studies of cortical organization in primates and those mammals that are the closest living relatives of primates, in conjunction with brain features revealed by the skull endocasts of fossil archaic primates. Such studies suggest that early primates had acquired a number of features of neocortex that now distinguish modern primates. Most notably, early primates had an array of new visual areas, and those visual areas widely shared with other mammals had been modified. Posterior parietal cortex was greatly expanded with sensorimotor modules for reaching, grasping, and personal defense. Motor cortex had become more specialized for hand use, and the functions of primary motor cortex were enhanced by the addition and development of premotor and cingulate motor areas. Cortical architecture became more varied, and cortical neuron populations became denser overall than in nonprimate ancestors. Primary visual cortex had the densest population of neurons, and this became more pronounced in the anthropoid radiation. Within the primate clade, considerable variability in cortical size, numbers of areas, and architecture evolved. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Altered cortical processing of motor inhibition in schizophrenia.
Lindberg, Påvel G; Térémetz, Maxime; Charron, Sylvain; Kebir, Oussama; Saby, Agathe; Bendjemaa, Narjes; Lion, Stéphanie; Crépon, Benoît; Gaillard, Raphaël; Oppenheim, Catherine; Krebs, Marie-Odile; Amado, Isabelle
2016-12-01
Inhibition is considered a key mechanism in schizophrenia. Short-latency intracortical inhibition (SICI) in the motor cortex is reduced in schizophrenia and is considered to reflect locally deficient γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic modulation. However, it remains unclear how SICI is modulated during motor inhibition and how it relates to neural processing in other cortical areas. Here we studied motor inhibition Stop signal task (SST) in stabilized patients with schizophrenia (N = 28), healthy siblings (N = 21) and healthy controls (n = 31) matched in general cognitive status and educational level. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used to investigate neural correlates of motor inhibition. SST performance was similar in patients and controls. SICI was modulated by the task as expected in healthy controls and siblings but was reduced in patients with schizophrenia during inhibition despite equivalent motor inhibition performance. fMRI showed greater prefrontal and premotor activation during motor inhibition in schizophrenia. Task-related modulation of SICI was higher in subjects who showed less inhibition-related activity in pre-supplementary motor area (SMA) and cingulate motor area. An exploratory genetic analysis of selected markers of inhibition (GABRB2, GAD1, GRM1, and GRM3) did not explain task-related differences in SICI or cortical activation. In conclusion, this multimodal study provides direct evidence of a task-related deficiency in SICI modulation in schizophrenia likely reflecting deficient GABA-A related processing in motor cortex. Compensatory activation of premotor areas may explain similar motor inhibition in patients despite local deficits in intracortical processing. Task-related modulation of SICI may serve as a useful non-invasive GABAergic marker in development of therapeutic strategies in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Zeharia, Noa; Hertz, Uri; Flash, Tamar; Amedi, Amir
2015-02-18
Topographic organization is one of the main principles of organization in the human brain. Specifically, whole-brain topographic mapping using spectral analysis is responsible for one of the greatest advances in vision research. Thus, it is intriguing that although topography is a key feature also in the motor system, whole-body somatosensory-motor mapping using spectral analysis has not been conducted in humans outside M1/SMA. Here, using this method, we were able to map a homunculus in the globus pallidus, a key target area for deep brain stimulation, which has not been mapped noninvasively or in healthy subjects. The analysis clarifies contradictory and partial results regarding somatotopy in the caudal-cingulate zone and rostral-cingulate zone in the medial wall and in the putamen. Most of the results were confirmed at the single-subject level and were found to be compatible with results from animal studies. Using multivoxel pattern analysis, we could predict movements of individual body parts in these homunculi, thus confirming that they contain somatotopic information. Using functional connectivity, we demonstrate interhemispheric functional somatotopic connectivity of these homunculi, such that the somatotopy in one hemisphere could have been found given the connectivity pattern of the corresponding regions of interest in the other hemisphere. When inspecting the somatotopic and nonsomatotopic connectivity patterns, a similarity index indicated that the pattern of connected and nonconnected regions of interest across different homunculi is similar for different body parts and hemispheres. The results show that topographical gradients are even more widespread than previously assumed in the somatosensory-motor system. Spectral analysis can thus potentially serve as a gold standard for defining somatosensory-motor system areas for basic research and clinical applications. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/352845-15$15.00/0.
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Frolov, A A; Husek, D; Silchenko, A V; Tintera, Y; Rydlo, J
2016-01-01
With the use of functional MRI (fMRI), we studied the changes in brain hemodynamic activity of healthy subjects during motor imagery training with the use brain-computer interface (BCI), which is based on the recognition of EEG patterns of imagined movements. ANOVA dispersion analysis showed there are 14 areas of the brain where statistically sgnificant changes were registered. Detailed analysis of the activity in these areas before and after training (Student's and Mann-Whitney tests) reduced the amount of areas with significantly changed activity to five; these are Brodmann areas 44 and 45, insula, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate gyrus. We suggest that these changes are caused by the formation of memory traces of those brain activity patterns which are most accurately recognized by BCI classifiers as correspondent with limb movements. We also observed a tendency of increase in the activity of motor imagery after training. The hemodynamic activity in all these 14 areas during real movements was either approximatly the same or significantly higher than during motor imagery; activity during imagined leg movements was higher that that during imagined arm movements, except for the areas of representation of arms.
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Motor sequence learning-induced neural efficiency in functional brain connectivity.
Karim, Helmet T; Huppert, Theodore J; Erickson, Kirk I; Wollam, Mariegold E; Sparto, Patrick J; Sejdić, Ervin; VanSwearingen, Jessie M
2017-02-15
Previous studies have shown the functional neural circuitry differences before and after an explicitly learned motor sequence task, but have not assessed these changes during the process of motor skill learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging activity was measured while participants (n=13) were asked to tap their fingers to visually presented sequences in blocks that were either the same sequence repeated (learning block) or random sequences (control block). Motor learning was associated with a decrease in brain activity during learning compared to control. Lower brain activation was noted in the posterior parietal association area and bilateral thalamus during the later periods of learning (not during the control). Compared to the control condition, we found the task-related motor learning was associated with decreased connectivity between the putamen and left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle cingulate brain regions. Motor learning was associated with changes in network activity, spatial extent, and connectivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Isik, Ayse Ilkay; Naumer, Marcus J; Kaiser, Jochen; Buschenlange, Christian; Wiesmann, Sandro; Czoschke, Stefan; Yalachkov, Yavor
2017-01-01
In the later stages of addiction, automatized processes play a prominent role in guiding drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. However, little is known about the neural correlates of automatized drug-taking skills and drug-related action knowledge in humans. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while smokers and non-smokers performed an orientation affordance task, where compatibility between the hand used for a behavioral response and the spatial orientation of a priming stimulus leads to shorter reaction times resulting from activation of the corresponding motor representations. While non-smokers exhibited this behavioral effect only for control objects, smokers showed the affordance effect for both control and smoking-related objects. Furthermore, smokers exhibited reduced fMRI activation for smoking-related as compared to control objects for compatible stimulus-response pairings in a sensorimotor brain network consisting of the right primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, middle occipital gyrus, left fusiform gyrus and bilateral cingulate gyrus. In the incompatible condition, we found higher fMRI activation in smokers for smoking-related as compared to control objects in the right primary motor cortex, cingulate gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus. This suggests that the activation and performance of deeply embedded, automatized drug-taking schemata employ less brain resources. This might reduce the threshold for relapsing in individuals trying to abstain from smoking. In contrast, the interruption or modification of already triggered automatized action representations require increased neural resources.
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Shu, I-Wei; Onton, Julie A; O'Connell, Ryan M; Simmons, Alan N; Matthews, Scott C
2014-10-30
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among combat personnel with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). While patients with either PTSD or mTBI share abnormal activation of multiple frontal brain areas, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity during inhibitory processing may be particularly affected by PTSD. To further test this hypothesis, we recorded electroencephalography from 32 combat veterans with mTBI-17 of whom were also comorbid for PTSD (mTBI+PTSD) and 15 without PTSD (mTBI-only). Subjects performed the Stop Task, a validated inhibitory control task requiring inhibition of initiated motor responses. We observed a larger inhibitory processing eventrelated potential (ERP) in veterans with mTBI+PTSD, including greater N200 negativity. Furthermore, greater N200 negativity correlated with greater PTSD severity. This correlation was most dependent on contributions from the dorsal ACC. Support vector machine analysis demonstrated that N200 and P300 amplitudes objectively classified veterans into mTBI-only or mTBI+PTSD groups with 79.4% accuracy. Our results support a model where, in combat veterans with mTBI, larger ERPs from cingulate areas are associated with greater PTSD severity and likely related to difficulty controlling ongoing brain processes, including trauma-related thoughts and feelings. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
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The effects of stimulation of the anterior cingulate gyrus in cats with freedom of movement
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Dapres, G.; Cadilhac, J.; Passouant, P.
1980-01-01
Stimuli of varying strength, frequency and duration were applied to the anterior cingulate gyrus in unanesthetized cats with freedom of movement. The motor, vegetative and electrical effects of these stimuli, although inconstant, lead to a consideration of the role of this structure in the extrapyramidal control of motricity.
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Neural substrates of resisting craving during cigarette cue exposure.
Brody, Arthur L; Mandelkern, Mark A; Olmstead, Richard E; Jou, Jennifer; Tiongson, Emmanuelle; Allen, Valerie; Scheibal, David; London, Edythe D; Monterosso, John R; Tiffany, Stephen T; Korb, Alex; Gan, Joanna J; Cohen, Mark S
2007-09-15
In cigarette smokers, the most commonly reported areas of brain activation during visual cigarette cue exposure are the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices. We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when smokers actively resist craving. Forty-two tobacco-dependent smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging, during which they were presented with videotaped cues. Three cue presentation conditions were tested: cigarette cues with subjects allowing themselves to crave (cigarette cue crave), cigarette cues with the instruction to resist craving (cigarette cue resist), and matched neutral cues. Activation was found in the cigarette cue resist (compared with the cigarette cue crave) condition in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and precuneus. Lower magnetic resonance signal for the cigarette cue resist condition was found in the cuneus bilaterally, left lateral occipital gyrus, and right postcentral gyrus. These relative activations and deactivations were more robust when the cigarette cue resist condition was compared with the neutral cue condition. Suppressing craving during cigarette cue exposure involves activation of limbic (and related) brain regions and deactivation of primary sensory and motor cortices.
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Bracht, Tobias; Schnell, Susanne; Federspiel, Andrea; Razavi, Nadja; Horn, Helge; Strik, Werner; Wiest, Roland; Dierks, Thomas; Müller, Thomas J; Walther, Sebastian
2013-02-01
Little is known about the neurobiology of hypokinesia in schizophrenia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate alterations of white matter motor pathways in schizophrenia and to relate our findings to objectively measured motor activity. We examined 21 schizophrenia patients and 21 healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging and actigraphy. We applied a probabilistic fibre tracking approach to investigate pathways connecting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), the supplementary motor area proper (SMA-proper), the primary motor cortex (M1), the caudate nucleus, the striatum, the pallidum and the thalamus. Schizophrenia patients had lower activity levels than controls. In schizophrenia we found higher probability indices forming part of a bundle of interest (PIBI) in pathways connecting rACC, pre-SMA and SMA-proper as well as in pathways connecting M1 and pre-SMA with caudate nucleus, putamen, pallidum and thalamus and a reduced spatial extension of motor pathways in schizophrenia. There was a positive correlation between PIBI and activity level in the right pre-SMA-pallidum and the left M1-thalamus connection in healthy controls, and in the left pre-SMA-SMA-proper pathway in schizophrenia. Our results point to reduced volitional motor activity and altered motor pathway organisation in schizophrenia. The identified associations between the amount of movement and structural connectivity of motor pathways suggest dysfunction of cortico-basal ganglia pathways in the pathophysiology of hypokinesia in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia patients may use cortical pathways involving the supplementary motor area to compensate for basal ganglia dysfunction. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Weinstein, Aviv; Brickner, Orit; Lerman, Hedva; Greemland, Mazal; Bloch, Miki; Lester, Hava; Chisin, Roland; Mechoulam, Raphael; Bar-Hamburger, Rachel; Freedman, Nanette; Even-Sapir, Einat
2008-01-01
Twelve regular users of marijuana underwent two positron emission tomography (PET) scans using [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), one while subject to the effects of 17 mg THC, the other without THC. In both sessions, a virtual reality maze task was performed during the FDG uptake period. When subject to the effects of 17 mg THC, regular marijuana smokers hit the walls more often on the virtual maze task than without THC. Compared to results without THC, 17 mg THC increased brain metabolism during task performance in areas that are associated with motor coordination and attention in the middle and medial frontal cortices and anterior cingulate, and reduced metabolism in areas that are related to visual integration of motion in the occipital lobes. These findings suggest that in regular marijuana users, the immediate effects of marijuana may impact on cognitive-motor skills and brain mechanisms that modulate coordinated movement and driving.
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Boeckle, Markus; Liegl, Gregor; Jank, Robert; Pieh, Christoph
2016-06-10
Conversion Disorders (CD) are prevalent functional disorders. Although the pathogenesis is still not completely understood, an interaction of genetic, neurobiological, and psychosocial factors is quite likely. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic overview on imaging studies on CDs and investigate neuronal areas involved in Motor Conversion Disorders (MCD). A systematic literature search was conducted on CD. Subsequently a meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies on MCD was implemented using an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE). We calculated differences between patients and healthy controls as well as between affected versus unaffected sides in addition to an overall analysis in order to identify neuronal areas related to MCD. Patients with MCD differ from healthy controls in the amygdala, superior temporal lobe, retrosplenial area, primary motor cortex, insula, red nucleus, thalamus, anterior as well as dorsolateral prefrontal and frontal cortex. When comparing affected versus unaffected sides, temporal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, supramarginal gyrus, dorsal temporal lobe, anterior insula, primary somatosensory cortex, superior frontal gyrus and anterior prefrontal as well as frontal cortex show significant differences. Neuronal areas seem to be involved in the pathogenesis, maintenance or as a result of MCD. Areas that are important for motor-planning, motor-selection or autonomic response seem to be especially relevant. Our results support the emotional unawareness theory but also underline the need of more support by conduction imaging studies on both CD and MCD.
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Brain representations for acquiring and recalling visual-motor adaptations
Bédard, Patrick; Sanes, Jerome N.
2014-01-01
Humans readily learn and remember new motor skills, a process that likely underlies adaptation to changing environments. During adaptation, the brain develops new sensory-motor relationships, and if consolidation occurs, a memory of the adaptation can be retained for extended periods. Considerable evidence exists that multiple brain circuits participate in acquiring new sensory-motor memories, though the networks engaged in recalling these and whether the same brain circuits participate in their formation and recall has less clarity. To address these issues, we assessed brain activation with functional MRI while young healthy adults learned and recalled new sensory-motor skills by adapting to world-view rotations of visual feedback that guided hand movements. We found cerebellar activation related to adaptation rate, likely reflecting changes related to overall adjustments to the visual rotation. A set of parietal and frontal regions, including inferior and superior parietal lobules, premotor area, supplementary motor area and primary somatosensory cortex, exhibited non-linear learning-related activation that peaked in the middle of the adaptation phase. Activation in some of these areas, including the inferior parietal lobule, intra-parietal sulcus and somatosensory cortex, likely reflected actual learning, since the activation correlated with learning after-effects. Lastly, we identified several structures having recall-related activation, including the anterior cingulate and the posterior putamen, since the activation correlated with recall efficacy. These findings demonstrate dynamic aspects of brain activation patterns related to formation and recall of a sensory-motor skill, such that non-overlapping brain regions participate in distinctive behavioral events. PMID:25019676
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Walther, Sebastian; Stegmayer, Katharina; Federspiel, Andrea; Bohlhalter, Stephan; Wiest, Roland; Viher, Petra V
2017-09-01
Motor abnormalities are frequently observed in schizophrenia and structural alterations of the motor system have been reported. The association of aberrant motor network function, however, has not been tested. We hypothesized that abnormal functional connectivity would be related to the degree of motor abnormalities in schizophrenia. In 90 subjects (46 patients) we obtained resting stated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for 8 minutes 40 seconds at 3T. Participants further completed a motor battery on the scanning day. Regions of interest (ROI) were cortical motor areas, basal ganglia, thalamus and motor cerebellum. We computed ROI-to-ROI functional connectivity. Principal component analyses of motor behavioral data produced 4 factors (primary motor, catatonia and dyskinesia, coordination, and spontaneous motor activity). Motor factors were correlated with connectivity values. Schizophrenia was characterized by hyperconnectivity in 3 main areas: motor cortices to thalamus, motor cortices to cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex to the subthalamic nucleus. In patients, thalamocortical hyperconnectivity was linked to catatonia and dyskinesia, whereas aberrant connectivity between rostral anterior cingulate and caudate was linked to the primary motor factor. Likewise, connectivity between motor cortex and cerebellum correlated with spontaneous motor activity. Therefore, altered functional connectivity suggests a specific intrinsic and tonic neural abnormality in the motor system in schizophrenia. Furthermore, altered neural activity at rest was linked to motor abnormalities on the behavioral level. Thus, aberrant resting state connectivity may indicate a system out of balance, which produces characteristic behavioral alterations. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Voon, V; Brezing, C; Gallea, C; Hallett, M
2014-01-01
Background Conversion disorder is characterized by unexplained neurological symptoms presumed related to psychological issues. The main hypotheses to explain conversion paralysis, characterized by a lack of movement, include impairments in either motor intention or disruption of motor execution, and further, that hyperactive self-monitoring, limbic processing or top-down regulation from higher order frontal regions may interfere with motor execution. We have recently shown that conversion disorder with positive abnormal or excessive motor symptoms was associated with greater amygdala activity to arousing stimuli along with greater functional connectivity between the amgydala and supplementary motor area. Here we studied patients with such symptoms focusing on motor initiation. Methods Subjects performed either an internally or externally generated two-button action selection task in a functional MRI study. Results Eleven conversion disorder patients without major depression and 11 age- and gender-matched normal volunteers were assessed. During both internally and externally generated movement, conversion disorder patients relative to normal volunteers had lower left supplementary motor area (SMA) (implicated in motor initiation) and higher right amygdala, left anterior insula and bilateral posterior cingulate activity (implicated in assigning emotional salience). These findings were confirmed in a subgroup analysis of patients with tremor symptoms. During internally versus externally generated action in CD patients, the left SMA had lower functional connectivity with bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Conclusion We propose a theory in which previously mapped conversion motor representations may in an arousing context hijack the voluntary action selection system which is both hypoactive and functionally disconnected from prefrontal top-down regulation. PMID:21935985
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Voon, Valerie; Brezing, Christina; Gallea, Cecile; Hallett, Mark
2011-11-01
Conversion disorder (CD) is characterized by unexplained neurological symptoms presumed related to psychological issues. The main hypotheses to explain conversion paralysis, characterized by a lack of movement, include impairments in either motor intention or disruption of motor execution, and further, that hyperactive self-monitoring, limbic processing or top-down regulation from higher order frontal regions may interfere with motor execution. We have recently shown that CD with positive abnormal or excessive motor symptoms was associated with greater amygdala activity to arousing stimuli along with greater functional connectivity between the amygdala and supplementary motor area. Here we studied patients with such symptoms focusing on motor initiation. Subjects performed either an internally or externally generated 2-button action selection task in a functional MRI study. Eleven CD patients without major depression and 11 age- and gender-matched normal volunteers were assessed. During both internally and externally generated movement, conversion disorder patients relative to normal volunteers had lower left supplementary motor area (SMA) (implicated in motor initiation) and higher right amygdala, left anterior insula, and bilateral posterior cingulate activity (implicated in assigning emotional salience). These findings were confirmed in a subgroup analysis of patients with tremor symptoms. During internally versus externally generated action in CD patients, the left SMA had lower functional connectivity with bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. We propose a theory in which previously mapped conversion motor representations may in an arousing context hijack the voluntary action selection system, which is both hypoactive and functionally disconnected from prefrontal top-down regulation. Copyright © 2011 Movement Disorder Society.
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Gobel, Eric W; Parrish, Todd B; Reber, Paul J
2011-10-15
Learning of complex motor skills requires learning of component movements as well as the sequential structure of their order and timing. Using a Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL) task, participants learned a sequence of precisely timed interception responses through training with a repeating sequence. Following initial implicit learning of the repeating sequence, functional MRI data were collected during performance of that known sequence and compared with activity evoked during novel sequences of actions, novel timing patterns, or both. Reduced activity was observed during the practiced sequence in a distributed bilateral network including extrastriate occipital, parietal, and premotor cortical regions. These reductions in evoked activity likely reflect improved efficiency in visuospatial processing, spatio-motor integration, motor planning, and motor execution for the trained sequence, which is likely supported by nondeclarative skill learning. In addition, the practiced sequence evoked increased activity in the left ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, while the posterior cingulate was more active during periods of better performance. Many prior studies of perceptual-motor skill learning have found increased activity in motor areas of the frontal cortex (e.g., motor and premotor cortex, SMA) and striatal areas (e.g., the putamen). The change in activity observed here (i.e., decreased activity across a cortical network) may reflect skill learning that is predominantly expressed through more accurate performance rather than decreased reaction time. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Gobel, Eric W.; Parrish, Todd B.; Reber, Paul J.
2011-01-01
Learning of complex motor skills requires learning of component movements as well as the sequential structure of their order and timing. Using a Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL) task, participants learned a sequence of precisely timed interception responses through training with a repeating sequence. Following initial implicit learning of the repeating sequence, functional MRI data were collected during performance of that known sequence and compared with activity evoked during novel sequences of actions, novel timing patterns, or both. Reduced activity was observed during the practiced sequence in a distributed bilateral network including extrastriate occipital, parietal, and premotor cortical regions. These reductions in evoked activity likely reflect improved efficiency in visuospatial processing, spatio-motor integration, motor planning, and motor execution for the trained sequence, which is likely supported by nondeclarative skill learning. In addition, the practiced sequence evoked increased activity in the left ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex, while the posterior cingulate was more active during periods of better performance. Many prior studies of perceptual-motor skill learning have found increased activity in motor areas of frontal cortex (e.g., motor and premotor cortex, SMA) and striatal areas (e.g., the putamen). The change in activity observed here (i.e., decreased activity across a cortical network) may reflect skill learning that is predominantly expressed through more accurate performance rather than decreased reaction time. PMID:21771663
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Collins, Heather R.; Corbly, Christine R.; Liu, Xun; Kelly, Thomas H.; Lynam, Donald; Joseph, Jane E.
2012-01-01
High sensation seeking is associated with strong approach behaviors and weak avoidance responses. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to further characterize the neurobiological underpinnings of this behavioral profile using a Go/No-go task. Analysis of brain activation associated with response inhibition (No-go) versus response initiation and execution (Go) revealed the commonly reported right lateral prefrontal, insula, cingulate, and supplementary motor area network. However, right lateral activation was associated with greater No-go than Go responses only in low sensation seekers. High sensation seekers showed no differential activation in these regions but a more pronounced Go compared to No-go response in several other regions that are involved in salience detection (insula), motor initiation (anterior cingulate) and attention (inferior parietal cortex). Temporal analysis of the hemodynamic response for Go and No-go conditions revealed that the stronger response to Go than No-go trials in high sensation seekers occurred in in the earliest time window in the right middle frontal gyrus, right mid-cingulate and right precuneus. In contrast, the greater No-go than Go response in low sensation seekers occurred in the later time window in these same regions. These findings indicate that high sensation seekers more strongly attend to or process Go trials and show delayed or minimal inhibitory responses on No-go trials in regions that low sensation seekers use for response inhibition. Failure to engage such regions for response inhibition may underlie some of the risky and impulsive behaviors observed in high sensation seekers. PMID:22902769
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Paroxysmal arousal in epilepsy associated with cingulate hyperperfusion.
Vetrugno, R; Mascalchi, M; Vella, A; Della Nave, R; Provini, F; Plazzi, G; Volterrani, D; Bertelli, P; Vattimo, A; Lugaresi, E; Montagna, P
2005-01-25
A patient with nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy characterized by paroxysmal motor attacks during sleep had brief paroxysmal arousals (PAs), complex episodes of nocturnal paroxysmal dystonia, and epileptic nocturnal wandering since childhood. Ictal SPECT during an episode of PA demonstrated increased blood flow in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and cerebellar cortex with hypoperfusion in the right temporal and frontal associative cortices.
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Borra, Elena; Visco-Comandini, Federica; Averbeck, Bruno B.
2017-01-01
The statistical structure of intrinsic parietal and parieto-frontal connectivity in monkeys was studied through hierarchical cluster analysis. Based on their inputs, parietal and frontal areas were grouped into different clusters, including a variable number of areas that in most instances occupied contiguous architectonic fields. Connectivity tended to be stronger locally: that is, within areas of the same cluster. Distant frontal and parietal areas were targeted through connections that in most instances were reciprocal and often of different strength. These connections linked parietal and frontal clusters formed by areas sharing basic functional properties. This led to five different medio-laterally oriented pillar domains spanning the entire extent of the parieto-frontal system, in the posterior parietal, anterior parietal, cingulate, frontal, and prefrontal cortex. Different information processing streams could be identified thanks to inter-domain connectivity. These streams encode fast hand reaching and its control, complex visuomotor action spaces, hand grasping, action/intention recognition, oculomotor intention and visual attention, behavioral goals and strategies, and reward and decision value outcome. Most of these streams converge on the cingulate domain, the main hub of the system. All of them are embedded within a larger eye–hand coordination network, from which they can be selectively set in motion by task demands. PMID:28275714
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Lieberman, Matthew D.; Eisenberger, Naomi I.
2015-01-01
Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation is commonly observed in studies of pain, executive control, conflict monitoring, and salience processing, making it difficult to interpret the dACC’s specific psychological function. Using Neurosynth, an automated brainmapping database [of over 10,000 functional MRI (fMRI) studies], we performed quantitative reverse inference analyses to explore the best general psychological account of the dACC function P(Ψ process|dACC activity). Results clearly indicated that the best psychological description of dACC function was related to pain processing—not executive, conflict, or salience processing. We conclude by considering that physical pain may be an instance of a broader class of survival-relevant goals monitored by the dACC, in contrast to more arbitrary temporary goals, which may be monitored by the supplementary motor area. PMID:26582792
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Kwon, Yong-Hyun; Park, Ji-Won
2011-01-01
Concentric and eccentric muscle contractions have distinct differences in their neuromuscular and neurophysiologic characteristics. However, although many evidences regarding the features of these types of muscle contraction have emerged, there have been few neuroimaging studies to compare the two types of contractions. Therefore, we investigated whether cortical activity associated with eccentric contraction of the wrist extensors differed from that of concentric contraction, using functional MRI (fMRI). Fifteen right-handed healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. During 4 repeating blocks of eccentric and concentric muscle contraction paradigms, the brain was scanned with fMRI. The differences in the BOLD signal intensities during the performance of eccentric and concentric exercise were compared in the predetermined regions of interest. Our findings revealed that many cortical areas associated with motor performance were activated, including the primary motor area, the inferior parietal lobe, the pre-supplementary area (pre-SMA), the anterior cingulate cortex, the prefrontal area, and the cerebellum. In addition, lower signal intensities were seen in the right primary motor cortex and right cerebellum during eccentric contractions compared with concentric contractions, whereas higher signal intensities were detected in other cortical areas during eccentric contractions. In the study, we demonstrated that eccentric and concentric muscle contractions induced quite different patterns of cortical activity respectively. These findings might be attributed to different strategy of neuro-motor processing and a higher level of cognitive demand for the performance of motor task with a higher degree of difficulty such as that required during eccentric contractions in comparison of concentric contractions.
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Attention to Automatic Movements in Parkinson's Disease: Modified Automatic Mode in the Striatum
Wu, Tao; Liu, Jun; Zhang, Hejia; Hallett, Mark; Zheng, Zheng; Chan, Piu
2015-01-01
We investigated neural correlates when attending to a movement that could be made automatically in healthy subjects and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Subjects practiced a visuomotor association task until they could perform it automatically, and then directed their attention back to the automated task. Functional MRI was obtained during the early-learning, automatic stage, and when re-attending. In controls, attention to automatic movement induced more activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex, and rostral supplementary motor area. The motor cortex received more influence from the cortical motor association regions. In contrast, the pattern of the activity and connectivity of the striatum remained at the level of the automatic stage. In PD patients, attention enhanced activity in the DLPFC, premotor cortex, and cerebellum, but the connectivity from the putamen to the motor cortex decreased. Our findings demonstrate that, in controls, when a movement achieves the automatic stage, attention can influence the attentional networks and cortical motor association areas, but has no apparent effect on the striatum. In PD patients, attention induces a shift from the automatic mode back to the controlled pattern within the striatum. The shifting between controlled and automatic behaviors relies in part on striatal function. PMID:24925772
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Brain dynamics associated with face-naming and the tip-of-the-tongue state.
Galdo-Álvarez, Santiago; Lindín, Mónica; Díaz, Fernando
2011-04-01
Active brain areas and their temporal sequence of activation during the successful retrieval and naming of famous faces (KNOW) and during the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state were studied by means of low resolution electromagnetic tomographic analysis (LORETA) applied to event-related potentials. The results provide evidence that adequate activation of a neural network during the first 500 ms following presentation of the photograph--mainly involving the posterior temporal region, the insula, lateral and medial prefrontal areas and the medial temporal lobe--is associated with successful retrieval of lexical-phonological information about the person's name. Significant differences between conditions were observed in the 538-698-ms interval; specifically there was greater activation of the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC) towards the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the KNOW than in the TOT condition, possibly in relation to the motor response and as a consequence of the successful retrieval of lexical-phonological information about the person.
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Frontal beta-theta network during REM sleep
Vijayan, Sujith; Lepage, Kyle Q; Kopell, Nancy J; Cash, Sydney S
2017-01-01
We lack detailed knowledge about the spatio-temporal physiological signatures of REM sleep, especially in humans. By analyzing intracranial electrode data from humans, we demonstrate for the first time that there are prominent beta (15–35 Hz) and theta (4–8 Hz) oscillations in both the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the DLPFC during REM sleep. We further show that these theta and beta activities in the ACC and the DLPFC, two relatively distant but reciprocally connected regions, are coherent. These findings suggest that, counter to current prevailing thought, the DLPFC is active during REM sleep and likely interacting with other areas. Since the DLPFC and the ACC are implicated in memory and emotional regulation, and the ACC has motor areas and is thought to be important for error detection, the dialogue between these two areas could play a role in the regulation of emotions and in procedural motor and emotional memory consolidation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18894.001 PMID:28121613
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Bremner, J. Douglas; Staib, Lawrence H.; Kaloupek, Danny; Southwick, Steven M.; Soufer, Robert; Charney, Dennis S.
2011-01-01
Background Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show a reliable increase in PTSD symptoms and physiological reactivity following exposure to traumatic pictures and sounds. In this study neural correlates of exposure to traumatic pictures and sounds were measured in PTSD. Methods Positron emission tomography and H2[15O] were used to measure cerebral blood flow during exposure to combat-related and neutral pictures and sounds in Vietnam combat veterans with and without PTSD. Results Exposure to traumatic material in PTSD (but not non-PTSD) subjects resulted in a decrease in blood flow in medial prefrontal cortex (area 25), an area postulated to play a role in emotion through inhibition of amygdala responsiveness. Non-PTSD subjects activated anterior cingulate (area 24) to a greater degree than PTSD patients. There were also differences in cerebral blood flow response in areas involved in memory and visuospatial processing (and by extension response to threat), including posterior cingulate (area 23), precentral (motor) and inferior parietal cortex, and lingual gyrus. There was a pattern of increases in PTSD and decreases in non-PTSD subjects in these areas. Conclusions The findings suggest that functional alterations in specific cortical and subcortical brain areas involved in memory, visuospatial processing, and emotion underlie the symptoms of patients with PTSD. PMID:10202567
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Deng, Z; Wei, D; Xue, S; Du, X; Hitchman, G; Qiu, J
2014-09-05
Successful emotion regulation is a fundamental prerequisite for well-being and dysregulation may lead to psychopathology. The ability to inhibit spontaneous emotions while behaving in accordance with desired goals is an important dimension of emotion regulation and can be measured using emotional conflict resolution tasks. Few studies have investigated the gray matter correlates underlying successful emotional conflict resolution at the whole-brain level. We had 190 adults complete an emotional conflict resolution task (face-word task) and examined the brain regions significantly correlated with successful emotional conflict resolution using voxel-based morphometry. We found successful emotional conflict resolution was associated with increased regional gray matter density in widely distributed brain regions. These regions included the dorsal anterior cingulate/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, amygdala, ventral striatum, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobule, superior temporal gyrus and fusiform face area. Together, our results indicate that individual differences in emotional conflict resolution ability may be attributed to regional structural differences across widely distributed brain regions. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Neuronal encoding of subjective value in dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex
Cai, Xinying; Padoa-Schioppa, Camillo
2012-01-01
We examined the activity of individual cells in the primate anterior cingulate cortex during an economic choice task. In the experiments, monkeys chose between different juices offered in variables amounts and subjective values were inferred from the animals’ choices. We analyzed neuronal firing rates in relation to a large number of behaviorally relevant variables. We report three main results. First, there were robust differences between the dorsal bank (ACCd) and the ventral bank (ACCv) of the cingulate sulcus. Specifically, neurons in ACCd but not in ACCv were modulated by the movement direction. Furthermore, neurons in ACCd were most active prior to movement initiation whereas neurons in ACCv were most active after juice delivery. Second, neurons in both areas encoded the identity and the subjective value of the juice chosen by the animal. In contrast, neither region encoded the value of individual offers. Third, the population of value-encoding neurons in both ACCd and ACCv underwent range adaptation. With respect to economic choice, it is interesting to compare these areas with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), previously examined. While neurons in OFC encoded both pre-decision and post-decision variables, neurons in ACCd and ACCv only encoded post-decision variables. Moreover, the encoding of chosen value in ACCd and ACCv trailed that found in OFC. These observations indicate that economic decisions (value comparisons) take place upstream of ACCd and ACCv. The coexistence of choice outcome and movement signals in ACCd suggests that this area constitutes a getaway through which the choice system informs motor systems. PMID:22423100
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Neural Correlates of Lyrical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of Freestyle Rap
Liu, Siyuan; Chow, Ho Ming; Xu, Yisheng; Erkkinen, Michael G.; Swett, Katherine E.; Eagle, Michael W.; Rizik-Baer, Daniel A.; Braun, Allen R.
2012-01-01
The neural correlates of creativity are poorly understood. Freestyle rap provides a unique opportunity to study spontaneous lyrical improvisation, a multidimensional form of creativity at the interface of music and language. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to characterize this process. Task contrast analyses indicate that improvised performance is characterized by dissociated activity in medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, providing a context in which stimulus-independent behaviors may unfold in the absence of conscious monitoring and volitional control. Connectivity analyses reveal widespread improvisation-related correlations between medial prefrontal, cingulate motor, perisylvian cortices and amygdala, suggesting the emergence of a network linking motivation, language, affect and movement. Lyrical improvisation appears to be characterized by altered relationships between regions coupling intention and action, in which conventional executive control may be bypassed and motor control directed by cingulate motor mechanisms. These functional reorganizations may facilitate the initial improvisatory phase of creative behavior. PMID:23155479
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Neural correlates of lyrical improvisation: an FMRI study of freestyle rap.
Liu, Siyuan; Chow, Ho Ming; Xu, Yisheng; Erkkinen, Michael G; Swett, Katherine E; Eagle, Michael W; Rizik-Baer, Daniel A; Braun, Allen R
2012-01-01
The neural correlates of creativity are poorly understood. Freestyle rap provides a unique opportunity to study spontaneous lyrical improvisation, a multidimensional form of creativity at the interface of music and language. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to characterize this process. Task contrast analyses indicate that improvised performance is characterized by dissociated activity in medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, providing a context in which stimulus-independent behaviors may unfold in the absence of conscious monitoring and volitional control. Connectivity analyses reveal widespread improvisation-related correlations between medial prefrontal, cingulate motor, perisylvian cortices and amygdala, suggesting the emergence of a network linking motivation, language, affect and movement. Lyrical improvisation appears to be characterized by altered relationships between regions coupling intention and action, in which conventional executive control may be bypassed and motor control directed by cingulate motor mechanisms. These functional reorganizations may facilitate the initial improvisatory phase of creative behavior.
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Giolli, R A; Gregory, K M; Suzuki, D A; Blanks, R H; Lui, F; Betelak, K F
2001-01-01
Anatomical findings are presented that identify cortical and subcortical sources of afferents to the nucleus reticularis tegmenti pontis (NRTP) and basal pontine nuclei. Projections from the middle temporal visual area (MT), medial superior temporal visual area (MST), lateral intraparietal area (LIP), and areas 7a and 7b to the basal pontine nuclei were studied using 3H-leucine autoradiography. The results complemented a parallel study of retrograde neuronal labeling attributable to injecting WGA-HRP into NRTP and neighboring pontine nuclei. Small 3H-leucine injections confined to MT, MST, LIP, area 7a, or area 7b, produced multiple patches of pontine terminal label distributed as follows: (1) An injection within MT produced terminal label limited to the dorsolateral and lateral pontine nuclei. (2) Injections restricted to MST or LIP showed patches of terminal label in the dorsal, dorsolateral, lateral, and peduncular pontine nuclei. (3) Area 7a targets the dorsal, dorsolateral, lateral, peduncular, and ventral pontine nuclei, whereas area 7b projects, additionally, to the dorsomedial and paramedian pontine nuclei. Notably, no projections were seen to NRTP from any of these cortical areas. In contrast, injections made by other investigators into cortical areas anterior to the central sulcus revealed cerebrocortical afferents to NRTP, in addition to nuclei of the basal pontine gray. With our pontine WGA-HRP injections, retrograde neuronal labeling was observed over a large extent of the frontal cortex continuing onto the medial surface which included the lining of the cingulate sulcus and cingulate gyrus. Significant subcortical sources for afferents to the NRTP and basal pontine nuclei were the zona incerta, ventral mesencephalic tegmentum, dorsomedial hypothalamic area, rostral interstitial nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus, red nucleus, and subthalamic nucleus. The combined anterograde and retrograde labeling data indicated that visuo-motor cortico-pontine pathways arising from parietal cortices target only the basal pontine gray, whereas the NRTP, together with select pontine nuclei, is a recipient of afferents from frontal cortical areas. The present findings implicate the existence of parallel direct and indirect cortico-pontine pathways from frontal motor-related cortices to NRTP and neighboring pontine nuclei.
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Cerebral correlates of the "Kohnstamm phenomenon": an fMRI study.
Duclos, C; Roll, R; Kavounoudias, A; Roll, J-P
2007-01-15
This paper addresses the issue of the central correlates of the "Kohnstamm phenomenon", i.e. the long-lasting involuntary muscle contraction which develops after a prolonged isometric voluntary contraction. Although this phenomenon was described as early as 1915, the mechanisms underlying these post-effects are not yet understood. It was therefore proposed to investigate whether specific brain areas may be involved in the motor post-effects induced by either wrist muscle contraction or vibration using the fMRI method. For this purpose, experiments were carried out on the right wrist of 11 healthy subjects. Muscle activity (EMG) and regional cerebral blood flow were recorded during isometric voluntary muscle contraction and muscle vibration, as well as during the subsequent involuntary contractions (the post-effects) which occurred under both conditions. Brain activations were found to occur during the post-contraction and post-vibration periods, which were very similar under both conditions. Brain activation involved motor-related areas usually responsible for voluntary motor command (primary sensory and motor cortices, premotor cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus) and sensorimotor integration structures such as the posterior parietal cortex. Comparisons between the patterns of brain activation associated with the involuntary post-effects and those accompanying voluntary contraction showed that cerebellar vermis was activated during the post-effect periods whereas the supplementary motor area was activated only during the induction periods. Although post-effects originate from asymmetric proprioceptive inputs, they might also involve a central network where the motor and somatosensory areas and the cerebellum play a key role. In functional terms, they might result from the adaptive recalibration of the postural reference frame altered by the sustained proprioceptive inputs elicited by muscle contraction and vibration.
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Fine motor skills in adult Tourette patients are task-dependent.
Neuner, Irene; Arrubla, Jorge; Ehlen, Corinna; Janouschek, Hildegard; Nordt, Carlos; Fimm, Bruno; Schneider, Frank; Shah, N Jon; Kawohl, Wolfram
2012-10-11
Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and phonic tics. Deficient motor inhibition underlying tics is one of the main hypotheses in its pathophysiology. Therefore the question arises whether this supposed deficient motor inhibition affects also voluntary movements. Despite severe motor tics, different personalities who suffer from Tourette perform successfully as neurosurgeon, pilot or professional basketball player. For the investigation of fine motor skills we conducted a motor performance test battery in an adult Tourette sample and an age matched group of healthy controls. The Tourette patients showed a significant lower performance in the categories steadiness of both hands and aiming of the right hand in comparison to the healthy controls. A comparison of patients' subgroup without comorbidities or medication and healthy controls revealed a significant difference in the category steadiness of the right hand. Our results show that steadiness and visuomotor integration of fine motor skills are altered in our adult sample but not precision and speed of movements. This alteration pattern might be the clinical vignette of complex adaptations in the excitability of the motor system on the basis of altered cortical and subcortical components. The structurally and functionally altered neuronal components could encompass orbitofrontal, ventrolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices, the anterior cingulate, amygdala, primary motor and sensorimotor areas including altered corticospinal projections, the corpus callosum and the basal ganglia.
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Partially Overlapping Brain Networks for Singing and Cello Playing.
Segado, Melanie; Hollinger, Avrum; Thibodeau, Joseph; Penhune, Virginia; Zatorre, Robert J
2018-01-01
This research uses an MR-Compatible cello to compare functional brain activation during singing and cello playing within the same individuals to determine the extent to which arbitrary auditory-motor associations, like those required to play the cello, co-opt functional brain networks that evolved for singing. Musical instrument playing and singing both require highly specific associations between sounds and movements. Because these are both used to produce musical sounds, it is often assumed in the literature that their neural underpinnings are highly similar. However, singing is an evolutionarily old human trait, and the auditory-motor associations used for singing are also used for speech and non-speech vocalizations. This sets it apart from the arbitrary auditory-motor associations required to play musical instruments. The pitch range of the cello is similar to that of the human voice, but cello playing is completely independent of the vocal apparatus, and can therefore be used to dissociate the auditory-vocal network from that of the auditory-motor network. While in the MR-Scanner, 11 expert cellists listened to and subsequently produced individual tones either by singing or cello playing. All participants were able to sing and play the target tones in tune (<50C deviation from target). We found that brain activity during cello playing directly overlaps with brain activity during singing in many areas within the auditory-vocal network. These include primary motor, dorsal pre-motor, and supplementary motor cortices (M1, dPMC, SMA),the primary and periprimary auditory cortices within the superior temporal gyrus (STG) including Heschl's gyrus, anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and Cerebellum but, notably, exclude the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and basal ganglia (Putamen). Second, we found that activity within the overlapping areas is positively correlated with, and therefore likely contributing to, both singing and playing in tune determined with performance measures. Third, we found that activity in auditory areas is functionally connected with activity in dorsal motor and pre-motor areas, and that the connectivity between them is positively correlated with good performance on this task. This functional connectivity suggests that the brain areas are working together to contribute to task performance and not just coincidently active. Last, our findings showed that cello playing may directly co-opt vocal areas (including larynx area of motor cortex), especially if musical training begins before age 7.
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Partially Overlapping Brain Networks for Singing and Cello Playing
Segado, Melanie; Hollinger, Avrum; Thibodeau, Joseph; Penhune, Virginia; Zatorre, Robert J.
2018-01-01
This research uses an MR-Compatible cello to compare functional brain activation during singing and cello playing within the same individuals to determine the extent to which arbitrary auditory-motor associations, like those required to play the cello, co-opt functional brain networks that evolved for singing. Musical instrument playing and singing both require highly specific associations between sounds and movements. Because these are both used to produce musical sounds, it is often assumed in the literature that their neural underpinnings are highly similar. However, singing is an evolutionarily old human trait, and the auditory-motor associations used for singing are also used for speech and non-speech vocalizations. This sets it apart from the arbitrary auditory-motor associations required to play musical instruments. The pitch range of the cello is similar to that of the human voice, but cello playing is completely independent of the vocal apparatus, and can therefore be used to dissociate the auditory-vocal network from that of the auditory-motor network. While in the MR-Scanner, 11 expert cellists listened to and subsequently produced individual tones either by singing or cello playing. All participants were able to sing and play the target tones in tune (<50C deviation from target). We found that brain activity during cello playing directly overlaps with brain activity during singing in many areas within the auditory-vocal network. These include primary motor, dorsal pre-motor, and supplementary motor cortices (M1, dPMC, SMA),the primary and periprimary auditory cortices within the superior temporal gyrus (STG) including Heschl's gyrus, anterior insula (aINS), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and Cerebellum but, notably, exclude the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and basal ganglia (Putamen). Second, we found that activity within the overlapping areas is positively correlated with, and therefore likely contributing to, both singing and playing in tune determined with performance measures. Third, we found that activity in auditory areas is functionally connected with activity in dorsal motor and pre-motor areas, and that the connectivity between them is positively correlated with good performance on this task. This functional connectivity suggests that the brain areas are working together to contribute to task performance and not just coincidently active. Last, our findings showed that cello playing may directly co-opt vocal areas (including larynx area of motor cortex), especially if musical training begins before age 7. PMID:29892211
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Cho, Sang Soo; Yoon, Eun Jin; Bang, Sung Ae; Park, Hyun Soo; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Strafella, Antonio P; Kim, Sang Eun
2012-09-01
To better understand the functional role of cerebellum within the large-scale cerebellocerebral neural network, we investigated the changes of neuronal activity elicited by cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET). Twelve right-handed healthy volunteers were studied with brain FDG PET under two conditions: active rTMS of 1 Hz frequency over the left lateral cerebellum and sham stimulation. Compared to the sham condition, active rTMS induced decreased glucose metabolism in the stimulated left lateral cerebellum, the areas known to be involved in voluntary motor movement (supplementary motor area and posterior parietal cortex) in the right cerebral hemisphere, and the areas known to be involved in cognition and emotion (orbitofrontal, medial frontal, and anterior cingulate gyri) in the left cerebral hemisphere. Increased metabolism was found in cognition- and language-related brain regions such as the left inferior frontal gyrus including Broca's area, bilateral superior temporal gyri including Wernicke's area, and bilateral middle temporal gyri. Left cerebellar rTMS also led to increased metabolism in the left cerebellar dentate nucleus and pons. These results demonstrate that rTMS over the left lateral cerebellum modulates not only the target region excitability but also excitability of remote, but interconnected, motor-, language-, cognition-, and emotion-related cerebral regions. They provide further evidence that the cerebellum is involved not only in motor-related functions but also in higher cognitive abilities and emotion through the large-scale cerebellocereberal neural network.
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Brain responses to bladder filling in older women without urgency incontinence.
Tadic, Stasa D; Tannenbaum, Cara; Resnick, Neil M; Griffiths, Derek
2013-06-01
To investigate normal brain responses to bladder filling, especially when there is little or no sensation as in much of daily life. We performed an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of brain responses to bladder filling in normal female subjects, evoked by infusion and withdrawal of fluid in and out of the bladder. Using the contrast (infusion-withdrawal), we imaged brain activity at small bladder volumes with weak filling sensation and also with full bladder and strong desire to void. Eleven women, average age 65 years (range: 60-71 years) were included. With full bladder and strong desire to void, filling provoked a well-known pattern of activation near the right insula and (as a trend) in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor area. There was no significant deactivation. With small bladder volume filling provoked widespread apparent deactivation and no significant activation. Apparent deactivation was associated with increased fMRI signal during withdrawal rather than decrease during infusion, suggesting artifact. A correction for global changes in cerebral blood flow eliminated it and revealed significant subcortical activation, although none in frontal or parietal cortex. In older women with normal bladder function, infusion into an already full bladder resulted in strong sensation and brain activation near the insula and in the dorsal anterior cingulate/supplementary motor complex. With near-empty bladder and little sensation, the situation during much of daily life, these cortical areas were not detectably activated, but activation in midbrain and parahippocampal regions presumably indicated unconscious monitoring of ascending bladder signals. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Neural correlates of somatoform disorders from a meta-analytic perspective on neuroimaging studies.
Boeckle, Markus; Schrimpf, Marlene; Liegl, Gregor; Pieh, Christoph
2016-01-01
Somatoform disorders (SD) are common medical disorders with prevalence rates between 3.5% and 18.4%, depending on country and medical setting. SD as outlined in the ICD-10 exhibits various biological, social, and psychological pathogenic factors. Little is known about the neural correlates of SD. The aims of this meta-analysis are to identify neuronal areas that are involved in SD and consistently differ between patients and healthy controls. We conducted a systematic literature research on neuroimaging studies of SD. Ten out of 686 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were analyzed using activation likelihood estimation. Five neuronal areas differ between patients with SD and healthy controls namely the premotor and supplementary motor cortexes, the middle frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, and the posterior cingulate cortex. These areas seem to have a particular importance for the occurrence of SD. Out of the ten studies two did not contribute to any of the clusters. Our results seem to largely overlap with the circuit network model of somatosensory amplification for SD. It is conceivable that functional disorders, independent of the clinical impression, show similar neurobiological processes. While overlaps do occur it is necessary to understand single functional somatic syndromes and their aetiology for future research, terminology, and treatment guidelines.
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Zhang, Jin-Tao; Yao, Yuan-Wei; Potenza, Marc N; Xia, Cui-Cui; Lan, Jing; Liu, Lu; Wang, Ling-Jiao; Liu, Ben; Ma, Shan-Shan; Fang, Xiao-Yi
2016-07-06
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a serious mental health issue worldwide. Evaluating the benefits of interventions for IGD is of great significance. Thirty-six young adults with IGD and 19 healthy comparison (HC) subjects were recruited and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. Twenty IGD subjects participated in a group craving behavioral intervention (CBI) and were scanned before and after the intervention. The remaining 16 IGD subjects did not receive an intervention. The results showed that IGD subjects showed decreased amplitude of low fluctuation in the orbital frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, and exhibited increased resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared with HC subjects. Compared with IGD subjects who did not receive the intervention, those receiving CBI demonstrated significantly reduced resting-state functional connectivity between the: (1) orbital frontal cortex with hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus; and, (2) posterior cingulate cortex with supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. These findings suggest that IGD is associated with abnormal resting-state neural activity in reward-related, default mode and executive control networks. Thus, the CBI may exert effects by reducing interactions between regions within a reward-related network, and across the default mode and executive control networks.
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Zhang, Jin-Tao; Yao, Yuan-Wei; Potenza, Marc N.; Xia, Cui-Cui; Lan, Jing; Liu, Lu; Wang, Ling-Jiao; Liu, Ben; Ma, Shan-Shan; Fang, Xiao-Yi
2016-01-01
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a serious mental health issue worldwide. Evaluating the benefits of interventions for IGD is of great significance. Thirty-six young adults with IGD and 19 healthy comparison (HC) subjects were recruited and underwent resting-state fMRI scanning. Twenty IGD subjects participated in a group craving behavioral intervention (CBI) and were scanned before and after the intervention. The remaining 16 IGD subjects did not receive an intervention. The results showed that IGD subjects showed decreased amplitude of low fluctuation in the orbital frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, and exhibited increased resting-state functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared with HC subjects. Compared with IGD subjects who did not receive the intervention, those receiving CBI demonstrated significantly reduced resting-state functional connectivity between the: (1) orbital frontal cortex with hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus; and, (2) posterior cingulate cortex with supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. These findings suggest that IGD is associated with abnormal resting-state neural activity in reward-related, default mode and executive control networks. Thus, the CBI may exert effects by reducing interactions between regions within a reward-related network, and across the default mode and executive control networks. PMID:27381822
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Brain mechanisms of perceiving tools and imagining tool use acts: a functional MRI study.
Wadsworth, Heather M; Kana, Rajesh K
2011-06-01
The ability to conceptualize and manipulate tools in a complex manner is a distinguishing characteristic of humans, and forms a promising milestone in human evolution. While using tools is a motor act, proposals for executing such acts may be evoked by the mere perception of a tool. Imagining an action using a tool may invoke mental readjustment of body posture, planning motor movements, and matching such plans with the model action. This fMRI study examined the brain response in 32 healthy adults when they either viewed a tool or imagined using it. While both viewing and imagining tasks recruited similar regions, imagined tool use showed greater activation in motor areas, and in areas around the bilateral temporoparietal junction. Viewing tools, on the other hand, produced robust activation in the inferior frontal, occipital, parietal, and ventral temporal areas. Analysis of gender differences indicated males recruiting medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices and females, left supramarginal gyrus and left anterior insula. While tool viewing seems to generate prehensions about using them, the imagined action using a tool mirrored brain responses underlying functional use of it. The findings of this study may suggest that perception and imagination of tools may form precursors to overt actions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Regional microstructural organization of the cerebral cortex is affected by preterm birth.
Bouyssi-Kobar, Marine; Brossard-Racine, Marie; Jacobs, Marni; Murnick, Jonathan; Chang, Taeun; Limperopoulos, Catherine
2018-01-01
To compare regional cerebral cortical microstructural organization between preterm infants at term-equivalent age (TEA) and healthy full-term newborns, and to examine the impact of clinical risk factors on cerebral cortical micro-organization in the preterm cohort. We prospectively enrolled very preterm infants (gestational age (GA) at birth<32 weeks; birthweight<1500 g) and healthy full-term controls. Using non-invasive 3T diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics, we quantified regional micro-organization in ten cerebral cortical areas: medial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior/posterior cingulate cortex, insula, posterior parietal cortex, motor/somatosensory/auditory/visual cortex. ANCOVA analyses were performed controlling for sex and postmenstrual age at MRI. We studied 91 preterm infants at TEA and 69 full-term controls. Preterm infants demonstrated significantly higher diffusivity in the prefrontal, parietal, motor, somatosensory, and visual cortices suggesting delayed maturation of these cortical areas. Additionally, postnatal hydrocortisone treatment was related to accelerated microstructural organization in the prefrontal and somatosensory cortices. Preterm birth alters regional microstructural organization of the cerebral cortex in both neurocognitive brain regions and areas with primary sensory/motor functions. We also report for the first time a potential protective effect of postnatal hydrocortisone administration on cerebral cortical development in preterm infants.
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The Iowa Gambling Task in fMRI Images
Li, Xiangrui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; D'Argembeau, Arnaud; Ng, Marie; Bechara, Antoine
2009-01-01
The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a sensitive test for the detection of decision-making impairments in several neurologic and psychiatric populations. Very few studies have employed the IGT in fMRI investigations, in part, because the task is cognitively complex. Here we report a method for exploring brain activity using fMRI during performance of the IGT. Decision-making during the IGT was associated with activity in several brain regions in a group of healthy individuals. The activated regions were consistent with the neural circuitry hypothesized to underlie somatic marker activation and decision-making. Specifically, a neural circuitry involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (for working memory), the insula and posterior cingulate cortex (for representations of emotional states), the mesial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (for coupling the two previous processes), the ventral striatum and anterior cingulate/SMA (supplementary motor area) for implementing behavioral decisions was engaged. These results have implications for using the IGT to study abnormal mechanisms of decision making in a variety of clinical populations. PMID:19777556
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Graded motor imagery and the impact on pain processing in a case of CRPS.
Walz, Andrea D; Usichenko, Taras; Moseley, G Lorimer; Lotze, Martin
2013-03-01
Graded motor imagery (GMI) shows promising results for patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). In a case with chronic unilateral CRPS type I, we applied GMI for 6 weeks and recorded clinical parameters and cerebral activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; pre-GMI, after each GMI block, and after 6 mo). Changes in fMRI activity were mapped during movement execution in areas associated with pain processing. A healthy participant served as a control for habituation effects. Pain intensity decreased over the course of GMI, and relief was maintained at follow-up. fMRI during movement execution revealed marked changes in S1 and S2 (areas of discriminative pain processing), which seemed to be associated with pain reduction, but none in the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex (areas of affective pain processing). After mental rotation training, the activation intensity of the posterior parietal cortex was reduced to one third. Our case report develops a design capable of differentiating cerebral changes associated with behavioral therapy of CRPS type I study.
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Zhang, Yanzhen; Mei, Wei; Zhang, John X; Wu, Qiulin; Zhang, Wei
2016-09-01
The insula is a region that integrates interoception and drug urges, but little is known about its role in behavioral addiction such as internet addiction. We investigated insula-based functional connectivity in participants with internet gaming disorder (IGD) and healthy controls (HC) using resting-state functional MRI. The right and left insula subregions (posterior, ventroanterior, and dorsoanterior) were used as seed regions in a connectivity analysis. Compared with the HC group, the IGD group showed decreased functional connectivity between left posterior insula and bilateral supplementary motor area and middle cingulated cortex, between right posterior insula and right superior frontal gyrus, and decreased functional integration between insular subregions. The finding of reduced functional connectivity between the interoception and the motor/executive control regions is interpreted to reflect reduced ability to inhibit motor responses to internet gaming or diminished executive control over craving for internet gaming in IGD. The results support the hypothesis that IGD is associated with altered insula-based network, similar to substance addiction such as smoking.
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The Neural Correlates of Self-Regulatory Fatigability During Inhibitory Control of Eye Blinking.
Abi-Jaoude, Elia; Segura, Barbara; Cho, Sang Soo; Crawley, Adrian; Sandor, Paul
2018-05-30
The capacity to regulate urges is an important human characteristic associated with a range of social and health outcomes. Self-regulatory capacity has been postulated to have a limited reserve, which when depleted leads to failure. The authors aimed to investigate the neural correlates of self-regulatory fatigability. Functional MRI was used to detect brain activations in 19 right-handed healthy subjects during inhibition of eye blinking, in a block design. The increase in number of blinks during blink inhibition from the first to the last block was used as covariate of interest. There was an increase in the number of eye blinks escaping inhibitory control across blink inhibition blocks, whereas there was no change in the number of eye blinks occurring during rest blocks. Inhibition of blinking activated a wide network bilaterally, including the inferior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and caudate. Deteriorating performance was associated with activity in orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, rostroventral anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, somatosensory, and parietal areas. As anticipated, effortful eye-blink control resulted in activation of prefrontal control areas and regions involved in urge and interoceptive processing. Worsening performance was associated with activations in brain areas involved in urge, as well as regions involved in motivational evaluation. These findings suggest that self-regulatory fatigability is associated with relatively less recruitment of prefrontal cortical regions involved in executive control.
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Rapid treatment-induced brain changes in pediatric CRPS.
Erpelding, Nathalie; Simons, Laura; Lebel, Alyssa; Serrano, Paul; Pielech, Melissa; Prabhu, Sanjay; Becerra, Lino; Borsook, David
2016-03-01
To date, brain structure and function changes in children with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) as a result of disease and treatment remain unknown. Here, we investigated (a) gray matter (GM) differences between patients with CRPS and healthy controls and (b) GM and functional connectivity (FC) changes in patients following intensive interdisciplinary psychophysical pain treatment. Twenty-three patients (13 females, 9 males; average age ± SD = 13.3 ± 2.5 years) and 21 healthy sex- and age-matched controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to controls, patients had reduced GM in the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, midcingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hippocampus. Following treatment, patients had increased GM in the dlPFC, thalamus, basal ganglia, amygdala, and hippocampus, and enhanced FC between the dlPFC and the periaqueductal gray, two regions involved in descending pain modulation. Accordingly, our results provide novel evidence for GM abnormalities in sensory, motor, emotional, cognitive, and pain modulatory regions in children with CRPS. Furthermore, this is the first study to demonstrate rapid treatment-induced GM and FC changes in areas implicated in sensation, emotion, cognition, and pain modulation.
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Brain Mechanisms Underlying Urge Incontinence and its Response to Pelvic Floor Muscle Training.
Griffiths, Derek; Clarkson, Becky; Tadic, Stasa D; Resnick, Neil M
2015-09-01
Urge urinary incontinence is a major problem, especially in the elderly, and to our knowledge the underlying mechanisms of disease and therapy are unknown. We used biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training and functional brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to investigate cerebral mechanisms, aiming to improve the understanding of brain-bladder control and therapy. Before receiving biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training functionally intact, older community dwelling women with urge urinary incontinence as well as normal controls underwent comprehensive clinical and bladder diary evaluation, urodynamic testing and brain functional magnetic resonance imaging. Evaluation was repeated after pelvic floor muscle training in those with urge urinary incontinence. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was done to determine the brain reaction to rapid bladder filling with urgency. Of 65 subjects with urge urinary incontinence 28 responded to biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training with 50% or greater improvement of urge urinary incontinence frequency on diary. However, responders and nonresponders displayed 2 patterns of brain reaction. In pattern 1 in responders before pelvic floor muscle training the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the adjacent supplementary motor area were activated as well as the insula. After the training dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area activation diminished and there was a trend toward medial prefrontal cortex deactivation. In pattern 2 in nonresponders before pelvic floor muscle training the medial prefrontal cortex was deactivated, which changed little after the training. In older women with urge urinary incontinence there appears to be 2 patterns of brain reaction to bladder filling and they seem to predict the response and nonresponse to biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training. Moreover, decreased cingulate activation appears to be a consequence of the improvement in urge urinary incontinence induced by training while prefrontal deactivation may be a mechanism contributing to the success of training. In nonresponders the latter mechanism is unavailable, which may explain why another form of therapy is required. Copyright © 2015 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Kim, Do Hyun; Lee, Jae Jin; You, Sung Joshua Hyun
2018-03-23
To investigate the effects of conscious (ADIM) and subconscious (DNS) core stabilization exercises on cortical changes in adults with core instability. Five non-symptomatic participants with core instability. A novel core stabilization task switching paradigm was designed to separate cortical or subcortical neural substrates during a series of DNS or ADIM core stabilization tasks. fMRI blood BOLD analysis revealed a distinctive subcortical activation pattern during the performance of the DNS, whereas the cortical motor network was primarily activated during an ADIM. Peak voxel volume values showed significantly greater DNS (11.08 ± 1.51) compared with the ADIM (8.81 ± 0.21) (p= 0.043). The ADIM exercise activated the cortical PMC-SMC-SMA motor network, whereas the DNS exercise activated both these same cortical areas and the subcortical cerebellum-BG-thalamus-cingulate cortex network.
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Halari, Rozmin; Simic, Mima; Pariante, Carmine M; Papadopoulos, Andrew; Cleare, Anthony; Brammer, Michael; Fombonne, Eric; Rubia, Katya
2009-03-01
There is increasing recognition of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence. In adult MDD, abnormalities of fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate circuitries mediating cognitive control functions have been implicated in the pathogenesis and been related to problems with controlling negative thoughts. No neuroimaging studies of cognitive control functions, however, exist in paediatric depression. This study investigated whether medication-naïve adolescents with MDD show abnormal brain activation of fronto-striatal and fronto-cingulate networks when performing tasks of attentional and cognitive control. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to compare brain activation between 21 medication-naïve adolescents with a first-episode of MDD aged 14-17 years and 21 healthy adolescents, matched for handedness, age, sex, demographics and IQ. Activation paradigms were tasks of selective attention (Simon task), attentional switching (Switch task), and motor response inhibition and error detection (Stop task). In all three tasks, adolescents with depression compared to healthy controls demonstrated reduced activation in task-relevant right dorsolateral (DLPFC), inferior prefrontal cortex (IFC) and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG). Additional areas of relatively reduced activation were in the parietal lobes during the Stop and Switch tasks, putamen, insula and temporal lobes during the Switch task and precuneus during the Simon task. This study shows first evidence that medication-naïve adolescents with MDD are characterised by abnormal function in ACG and right lateral prefrontal cortex during tasks of attention and performance monitoring, suggesting an early pathogenesis of these functional abnormalities attributed to MDD.
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Lin, Joanne C; Chu, Larry F; Stringer, Elizabeth Ann; Baker, Katharine S; Sayyid, Zahra N; Sun, John; Campbell, Kelsey A; Younger, Jarred W
2016-08-01
Prolonged exposure to opioids is known to produce neuroplastic changes in animals; however, few studies have investigated the effects of short-term prescription opioid use in humans. A previous study from our laboratory demonstrated a dosage-correlated volumetric decrease in the right amygdala of participants administered oral morphine daily for 1 month. The purpose of this current study was to replicate and extend the initial findings. Twenty-one participants with chronic low back pain were enrolled in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Participants were randomized to receive daily morphine (n = 11) or a matched placebo (n = 10) for 1 month. High-resolution anatomical images were acquired immediately before and after the treatment administration period. Morphological gray matter changes were investigated using tensor-based morphometry, and significant regions were subsequently tested for correlation with morphine dosage. Decreased gray matter volume was observed in several reward- and pain-related regions in the morphine group, including the bilateral amygdala, left inferior orbitofrontal cortex, and bilateral pre-supplementary motor areas. Morphine administration was also associated with significant gray matter increases in cingulate regions, including the mid cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and ventral posterior cingulate. Many of the volumetric increases and decreases overlapped spatially with the previously reported changes. Individuals taking placebo for 1 month showed neither gray matter increases nor decreases. The results corroborate previous reports that rapid alterations occur in reward-related networks following short-term prescription opioid use. © 2015 American Academy of Pain Medicine.
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Area 4 has layer IV in adult primates
García-Cabezas, Miguel Ángel; Barbas, Helen
2014-01-01
There are opposing views about the status of layer IV in primary motor cortex (area 4). Cajal described a layer IV in area 4 of adult humans. In contrast, Brodmann found layer IV in development but not in adult primates and called area 4 ‘agranular’. We addressed this issue in rhesus monkeys using the neural marker SMI-32, which labels neurons in lower layer III and upper V, but not in layer IV. SMI-32 delineated a central unlabeled cortical stripe in area 4 that corresponds to layer IV, which was populated with small interneurons also found in layer IV in ‘granular’ areas (such as area 46). We distinguished layer IV interneurons from projection neurons in the layers above and below using cellular criteria. The commonly used term ‘agranular’ for area 4 is also used for the phylogenetically ancient limbic cortices, confusing areas that differ markedly in laminar structure. This issue pertains to the systematic variation in the architecture across cortices, traced from limbic cortices through areas with increasingly more elaborate laminar structure. The principle of systematic variation can be used to predict laminar patterns of connections across cortical systems. This principle places area 4 and agranular anterior cingulate cortices at opposite poles of the graded laminar differentiation of motor cortices. The status of layer IV in area 4 thus pertains to core organizational features of the cortex, its connections and evolution. PMID:24735460
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Spann, Marisa N; Bansal, Ravi; Rosen, Tove S; Peterson, Bradley S
2014-09-01
Knowledge of the role of brain maturation in the development of cognitive abilities derives primarily from studies of school-age children to adults. Little is known about the morphological features of the neonatal brain that support the subsequent development of abilities in early childhood, when maturation of the brain and these abilities are the most dynamic. The goal of our study was to determine whether brain morphology during the neonatal period supports early cognitive development through 2 years of age. We correlated morphological features of the cerebral surface assessed using deformation-based measures (surface distances) of high-resolution MRI scans for 33 healthy neonates, scanned between the first to sixth week of postmenstrual life, with subsequent measures of their motor, language, and cognitive abilities at ages 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. We found that morphological features of the cerebral surface of the frontal, mesial prefrontal, temporal, and occipital regions correlated with subsequent motor scores, posterior parietal regions correlated with subsequent language scores, and temporal and occipital regions correlated with subsequent cognitive scores. Measures of the anterior and middle portions of the cingulate gyrus correlated with scores across all three domains of ability. Most of the significant findings were inverse correlations located bilaterally in the brain. The inverse correlations may suggest either that a more protracted morphological maturation or smaller local volumes of neonatal brain tissue supports better performance on measures of subsequent motor, language, and cognitive abilities throughout the first 2 years of postnatal life. The correlations of morphological measures of the cingulate with measures of performance across all domains of ability suggest that the cingulate supports a broad range of skills in infancy and early childhood, similar to its functions in older children and adults. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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The Integration of Negative Affect, Pain, and Cognitive Control in the Cingulate Cortex
Shackman, Alexander J.; Salomons, Tim V.; Slagter, Heleen A.; Fox, Andrew S.; Winter, Jameel J.; Davidson, Richard J.
2011-01-01
Preface It has been argued that emotion, pain, and cognitive control are functionally segregated in distinct subdivisions of the cingulate cortex. But recent observations encourage a fundamentally different view. Imaging studies indicate that negative affect, pain, and cognitive control activate an overlapping region of dorsal cingulate, the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC). Anatomical studies reveal that aMCC constitutes a hub where information about reinforcers can be linked to motor centers responsible for expressing affect and executing goal-directed behavior. Computational modeling and other kinds of evidence suggest that this intimacy reflects control processes that are common to all three domains. These observations compel a reconsideration of dorsal cingulate’s contribution to negative affect and pain. PMID:21331082
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Mu, Xuetao; Wang, Zhiqun; Nie, Binbin; Duan, Shaofeng; Ma, Qiaozhi; Dai, Guanghui; Wu, Chunnan; Dong, Yuru; Shan, Baoci; Ma, Lin
2017-10-07
Very few studies have been made to investigate functional activity changes in occult spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (SDCP). The purpose of this study was to analyze whole-brain resting state regional brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) changes in patients with SDCP. We examined 12 occult SDCP and 14 healthy control subjects using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The data were analyzed using Resting-State fMRI Data Analysis Toolkit (REST) software. The regional homogeneity (ReHo), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), and whole brain FC of the motor cortex and thalamus were analyzed and compared between the occult SDCP and control groups. Compared with the control group, the occult SDCP group showed decreased ReHo regions, including the bilateral frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes, the cerebellum, right cingulate gyrus, and right lenticular nucleus, whereas an increased ReHo value was observed in the left precuneus, calcarine, fusiform gyrus, and right precuneus. Compared with the control group, no significant differences in ALFF were noted in the occult SDCP group. With the motor cortex as the region of interest, the occult SDCP group showed decreased connectivity regions in the bilateral fusiform and lingual gyrus, but increased connectivity regions in the contralateral precentral and postcentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, and the ipsilateral postcentral gyrus. With the thalamus being regarded as the region of interest, the occult SDCP group showed decreased connectivity regions in the bilateral basal ganglia, cingulate, and prefrontal cortex, but increased connectivity regions in the bilateral precentral gyrus, the contralateral cerebellum, and inferior temporal gyrus. Resting-state regional brain activities and FC changes in the patients with occult SDCP exhibited a special distribution pattern, which is consistent with the pathology of the disease. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Combrisson, Etienne; Perrone-Bertolotti, Marcela; Soto, Juan Lp; Alamian, Golnoush; Kahane, Philippe; Lachaux, Jean-Philippe; Guillot, Aymeric; Jerbi, Karim
2017-02-15
Goal-directed motor behavior is associated with changes in patterns of rhythmic neuronal activity across widely distributed brain areas. In particular, movement initiation and execution are mediated by patterns of synchronization and desynchronization that occur concurrently across distinct frequency bands and across multiple motor cortical areas. To date, motor-related local oscillatory modulations have been predominantly examined by quantifying increases or suppressions in spectral power. However, beyond signal power, spectral properties such as phase and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) have also been shown to carry information with regards to the oscillatory dynamics underlying motor processes. Yet, the distinct functional roles of phase, amplitude and PAC across the planning and execution of goal-directed motor behavior remain largely elusive. Here, we address this question with unprecedented resolution thanks to multi-site intracerebral EEG recordings in human subjects while they performed a delayed motor task. To compare the roles of phase, amplitude and PAC, we monitored intracranial brain signals from 748 sites across six medically intractable epilepsy patients at movement execution, and during the delay period where motor intention is present but execution is withheld. In particular, we used a machine-learning framework to identify the key contributions of various neuronal responses. We found a high degree of overlap between brain network patterns observed during planning and those present during execution. Prominent amplitude increases in the delta (2-4Hz) and high gamma (60-200Hz) bands were observed during both planning and execution. In contrast, motor alpha (8-13Hz) and beta (13-30Hz) power were suppressed during execution, but enhanced during the delay period. Interestingly, single-trial classification revealed that low-frequency phase information, rather than spectral power change, was the most discriminant feature in dissociating action from intention. Additionally, despite providing weaker decoding, PAC features led to statistically significant classification of motor states, particularly in anterior cingulate cortex and premotor brain areas. These results advance our understanding of the distinct and partly overlapping involvement of phase, amplitude and the coupling between them, in the neuronal mechanisms underlying motor intentions and executions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Manza, Peter; Hu, Sien; Chao, Herta H.; Zhang, Sheng; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Li, Chiang-shan R.
2016-01-01
Response inhibition and salience detection are among the most studied psychological constructs of cognitive control. Despite a growing body of work, how inhibition and salience processing interact and engage regional brain activations remains unclear. Here, we examined this issue in a stop signal task (SST), where a prepotent response needs to be inhibited to allow an alternative, less dominant response. Sixteen adult individuals performed two versions of the SST each with 25% (SST25) and 75% (SST75) of stop trials. We posited that greater regional activations to the infrequent trial type in each condition (i.e., to stop as compared to go trials in SST25 and to go as compared to stop trials in SST75) support salience detection. Further, successful inhibition in stop trials requires attention to the stop signal to trigger motor inhibition, and the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) has been used to index the efficiency of motor response inhibition. Therefore, greater regional activations to stop as compared to go success trials in association with the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) serves to expedite response inhibition. In support of an interactive role, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) increases activation to salience detection in both SST25 and SST75, but only mediates response inhibition in SST75. Thus, infrequency response in the dACC supports motor inhibition only when stopping has become a routine. In contrast, although the evidence is less robust, the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) increases activity to the infrequent stimulus and supports inhibition in both SST25 and SST75. These findings clarify a unique role of the dACC and add to the literature that distinguishes dACC and pre-SMA functions in cognitive control. PMID:27126003
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Manza, Peter; Hu, Sien; Chao, Herta H; Zhang, Sheng; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Li, Chiang-Shan R
2016-07-01
Response inhibition and salience detection are among the most studied psychological constructs of cognitive control. Despite a growing body of work, how inhibition and salience processing interact and engage regional brain activations remains unclear. Here, we examined this issue in a stop signal task (SST), where a prepotent response needs to be inhibited to allow an alternative, less dominant response. Sixteen adult individuals performed two versions of the SST each with 25% (SST25) and 75% (SST75) of stop trials. We posited that greater regional activations to the infrequent trial type in each condition (i.e., to stop as compared to go trials in SST25 and to go as compared to stop trials in SST75) support salience detection. Further, successful inhibition in stop trials requires attention to the stop signal to trigger motor inhibition, and the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) has been used to index the efficiency of motor response inhibition. Therefore, greater regional activations to stop as compared to go success trials in association with the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) serve to expedite response inhibition. In support of an interactive role, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) increases activation to salience detection in both SST25 and SST75, but only mediates response inhibition in SST75. Thus, infrequency response in the dACC supports motor inhibition only when stopping has become a routine. In contrast, although the evidence is less robust, the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) increases activity to the infrequent stimulus and supports inhibition in both SST25 and SST75. These findings clarify a unique role of the dACC and add to the literature that distinguishes dACC and pre-SMA functions in cognitive control. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Alkawadri, Rafeed; So, Norman K.; Van Ness, Paul C.; Alexopoulos, Andreas V.
2016-01-01
IMPORTANCE The literature on cingulate gyrus epilepsy in the magnetic resonance imaging era is limited to case reports and small case series. To our knowledge, this is the largest study of surgically confirmed epilepsy arising from the anterior or posterior cingulate region. OBJECTIVE To characterize the clinical and electrophysiological findings of epilepsies arising from the anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We studied consecutive cingulate gyrus epilepsy cases identified retrospectively from the Cleveland Clinic and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center epilepsy databases from 1992 to 2009. Participants included 14 consecutive cases of cingulate gyrus epilepsies confirmed by restricted magnetic resonance image lesions and seizure freedom or marked improvement following lesionectomy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The main outcome measure was improvement in seizure frequency following surgery. The clinical, video electroencephalography, neuroimaging, pathology, and surgical outcome data were reviewed. RESULTS All 14 patients had cingulate epilepsy confirmed by restricted magnetic resonance image lesions and seizure freedom or marked improvement following lesionectomy. They were divided into 3 groups based on anatomical location of the lesion and corresponding seizure semiology. In the posterior cingulate group, all 4 patients had electroclinical findings suggestive of temporal origin of the epilepsy. The anterior cingulate cases were divided into a typical (Bancaud) group (6 cases with hypermotor seizures and infrequent generalization with the presence of fear, laughter, or severe interictal personality changes) and an atypical group (4 cases presenting with simple motor seizures and a tendency for more frequent generalization and less-favorable long-term surgical outcome). All atypical cases were associated with an underlying infiltrative astrocytoma. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Posterior cingulate gyrus epilepsy may present with electroclinical findings that are suggestive of temporal lobe epilepsy and can be considered as another example of pseudotemporal epilepsies. The electroclinical presentation and surgical outcome of lesional anterior cingulate epilepsy is possibly influenced by the underlying pathology. This study highlights the difficulty in localizing seizures arising from the cingulate gyrus in the absence of a magnetic resonance image lesion. PMID:23753910
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Influence of Alcohol Use on Neural Response to Go/No-Go Task in College Drinkers
Ahmadi, Aral; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Meda, Shashwath A; Dager, Alecia; Potenza, Marc N; Rosen, Rivkah; Austad, Carol S; Raskin, Sarah A; Fallahi, Carolyn R; Tennen, Howard; Wood, Rebecca M; Stevens, Michael C
2013-01-01
Impaired inhibition of prepotent motor response may represent an important risk factor for alcoholism. Alcohol use may also increase impulsive behavior, including impaired response inhibition. Little is known about the brain function underlying response inhibition among college-age drinkers based on their drinking patterns, despite college-age drinkers demonstrating high rates of alcohol-use disorders. Our major objective was to compare behavior and associated brain activity measured with fMRI during a response-inhibition task in matched heavy- and light-alcohol-drinking college students. Participants were light (N=36) and heavy (N=56) drinkers, aged 18–20 years. We characterized blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses, while participants performed an fMRI Go/No-Go task to quantify inhibitory behavior and brain activity. Behaviorally, group performance differences were observed for Go correct-hit and No-Go false-alarm reaction times with increased reaction times in heavy compared with light drinkers. During fMRI No-Go correct rejections, light drinkers exhibited greater BOLD response than did heavy drinkers in left supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral parietal lobule, right hippocampus, bilateral middle frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus/anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 24). Group differences in Go/No-Go-related regional activations correlated with alcohol- and impulsivity-related measures. These findings suggest that heavy alcohol drinkers may have dysfunction in brain regions underlying attention and response inhibition, leading to diminished abilities to suppress prepotent responding. The extent to which these tendencies relate to impulsive decision-making and behaviors in real-life settings and may guide intervention development warrants additional investigation. PMID:23670589
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Meier, Timothy B; Lancaster, Melissa A; Mayer, Andrew R; Teague, T Kent; Savitz, Jonathan
2017-02-15
There is a great need to identify potential long-term consequences of contact sport exposure and to identify molecular pathways that may be associated with these changes. We tested the hypothesis that football players with (Ath-mTBI) (n = 25) and without a concussion history (Ath) (n = 24) have altered resting state functional connectivity in regions with previously documented structural changes relative to healthy controls without football or concussion history (HC) (n = 27). As a secondary aim, we tested the hypothesis that group differences in functional connectivity are moderated by the relative ratio of neuroprotective to neurotoxic metabolites of the kynurenine pathway. Ath-mTBI had significantly increased connectivity of motor cortex to the supplementary motor area relative to Ath and HC. In contrast, both Ath-mTBI and Ath had increased connectivity between the left orbital frontal cortex and the right lateral frontal cortex, and between the left cornu ammonis areas 2 and 3/dentate gyrus (CA2-3/DG) of the hippocampus and the middle and posterior cingulate cortices, relative to HC. The relationship between the ratio of plasma concentrations of kynurenic acid to quinolinic acid (KYNA/QUIN) and left pregenual anterior cingulate cortex connectivity to multiple regions as well as KYNA/QUIN and right CA2-3/DG connectivity to multiple regions differed significantly according to football and concussion history. The results suggest that football exposure with and without concussion history can have a significant effect on intrinsic brain connectivity and implicate the kynurenine metabolic pathway as one potential moderator of functional connectivity dependent on football exposure and concussion history.
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Functional anatomic studies of memory retrieval for auditory words and visual pictures.
Buckner, R L; Raichle, M E; Miezin, F M; Petersen, S E
1996-10-01
Functional neuroimaging with positron emission tomography was used to study brain areas activated during memory retrieval. Subjects (n = 15) recalled items from a recent study episode (episodic memory) during two paired-associate recall tasks. The tasks differed in that PICTURE RECALL required pictorial retrieval, whereas AUDITORY WORD RECALL required word retrieval. Word REPETITION and REST served as two reference tasks. Comparing recall with repetition revealed the following observations. (1) Right anterior prefrontal activation (similar to that seen in several previous experiments), in addition to bilateral frontal-opercular and anterior cingulate activations. (2) An anterior subdivision of medial frontal cortex [pre-supplementary motor area (SMA)] was activated, which could be dissociated from a more posterior area (SMA proper). (3) Parietal areas were activated, including a posterior medial area near precuneus, that could be dissociated from an anterior parietal area that was deactivated. (4) Multiple medial and lateral cerebellar areas were activated. Comparing recall with rest revealed similar activations, except right prefrontal activation was minimal and activations related to motor and auditory demands became apparent (e.g., bilateral motor and temporal cortex). Directly comparing picture recall with auditory word recall revealed few notable activations. Taken together, these findings suggest a pathway that is commonly used during the episodic retrieval of picture and word stimuli under these conditions. Many areas in this pathway overlap with areas previously activated by a different set of retrieval tasks using stem-cued recall, demonstrating their generality. Examination of activations within individual subjects in relation to structural magnetic resonance images provided an-atomic information about the location of these activations. Such data, when combined with the dissociations between functional areas, provide an increasingly detailed picture of the brain pathways involved in episodic retrieval tasks.
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The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision.
Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong
2017-01-01
Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants' decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing.
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Sun, Xiaoqiang; Ma, Ren; Jiang, Yali; Gao, Yidian; Ming, Qingsen; Wu, Qiong; Dong, Daifeng; Wang, Xiang; Yao, Shuqiao
2018-05-31
Conduct disorder (CD), a common psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents, is characterized by encroaching upon other rights and violations of age-appropriate social expectations repeatedly and persistently. Individuals with CD often have high aggressiveness and low inhibitory capacity. The monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has long been associated with aggression. Effects of MAOA genotype on inhibitory control have been examined in general population. Several studies had revealed reduced activation in prefrontal areas, especially the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), in low-expression MAOA (MAOA-L) allele carriers compared to high-expression MAOA (MAOA-H) allele carriers. However, little is known about its genetic risk influences on inhibitory processes in clinical samples. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was administered to a sample of adolescent boys with CD during the performance of a GoStop task, 29 of whom carrying MAOA-L allele and 24 carrying MAOA-H allele. Relative to MAOA-H carriers, MAOA-L carriers in CD showed more pronounced deactivation in the precuneus, supplementary motor area (SMA) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Deactivation within the default mode network (DMN) and inhibitory-related areas in MAOA-L carriers may be related to compensation for low sensitivity to inhibition and/or an atypical allocation of cognitive resources. The results suggested a possible neural mechanism through which MAOA affects inhibitory processes in a clinical sample.
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King, Kelly E.; Hernandez, Arturo E.
2012-01-01
The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive control mechanisms in adult English speaking monolinguals compared to early sequential Spanish-English bilinguals during the initial stages of novel word learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a lexico-semantic task after only two hours of exposure to novel German vocabulary flashcards showed that monolinguals activated a broader set of cortical control regions associated with higher-level cognitive processes, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as the caudate, implicated in cognitive control of language. However, bilinguals recruited a more localized subcortical network that included the putamen, associated more with motor control of language. These results suggest that experience managing multiple languages may differentiate the learning strategy and subsequent neural mechanisms of cognitive control used by bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the early stages of novel word learning. PMID:23194816
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Common medial frontal mechanisms of adaptive control in humans and rodents
Frank, Michael J.; Laubach, Mark
2013-01-01
In this report, we describe how common brain networks within the medial frontal cortex facilitate adaptive behavioral control in rodents and humans. We demonstrate that low frequency oscillations below 12 Hz are dramatically modulated after errors in humans over mid-frontal cortex and in rats within prelimbic and anterior cingulate regions of medial frontal cortex. These oscillations were phase-locked between medial frontal cortex and motor areas in both rats and humans. In rats, single neurons that encoded prior behavioral outcomes were phase-coherent with low-frequency field oscillations particularly after errors. Inactivating medial frontal regions in rats led to impaired behavioral adjustments after errors, eliminated the differential expression of low frequency oscillations after errors, and increased low-frequency spike-field coupling within motor cortex. Our results describe a novel mechanism for behavioral adaptation via low-frequency oscillations and elucidate how medial frontal networks synchronize brain activity to guide performance. PMID:24141310
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Brain Activity and Human Unilateral Chewing
Quintero, A.; Ichesco, E.; Myers, C.; Schutt, R.; Gerstner, G.E.
2012-01-01
Brain mechanisms underlying mastication have been studied in non-human mammals but less so in humans. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain activity in humans during gum chewing. Chewing was associated with activations in the cerebellum, motor cortex and caudate, cingulate, and brainstem. We also divided the 25-second chew-blocks into 5 segments of equal 5-second durations and evaluated activations within and between each of the 5 segments. This analysis revealed activation clusters unique to the initial segment, which may indicate brain regions involved with initiating chewing. Several clusters were uniquely activated during the last segment as well, which may represent brain regions involved with anticipatory or motor events associated with the end of the chew-block. In conclusion, this study provided evidence for specific brain areas associated with chewing in humans and demonstrated that brain activation patterns may dynamically change over the course of chewing sequences. PMID:23103631
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Verrel, Julius; Almagor, Eilat; Schumann, Frank; Lindenberger, Ulman; Kühn, Simone
2015-01-01
We use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate short-term neural effects of a brief sensorimotor intervention adapted from the Feldenkrais method, a movement-based learning method. Twenty-one participants (10 men, 19–30 years) took part in the study. Participants were in a supine position in the scanner with extended legs while an experienced Feldenkrais practitioner used a planar board to touch and apply minimal force to different parts of the sole and toes of their left foot under two experimental conditions. In the local condition, the practitioner explored movement within foot and ankle. In the global condition, the practitioner focused on the connection and support from the foot to the rest of the body. Before (baseline) and after each intervention (post-local, post-global), we measured brain activity during intermittent pushing/releasing with the left leg and during resting state. Independent localizer tasks were used to identify regions of interest (ROI). Brain activity during left-foot pushing did not significantly differ between conditions in sensorimotor areas. Resting state activity (regional homogeneity, ReHo) increased from baseline to post-local in medial right motor cortex, and from baseline to post-global in the left supplementary/cingulate motor area. Contrasting post-global to post-local showed higher ReHo in right lateral motor cortex. ROI analyses showed significant increases in ReHo in pushing-related areas from baseline to both post-local and post-global, and this increase tended to be more pronounced post-local. The results of this exploratory study show that a short, non-intrusive sensorimotor intervention can have short-term effects on spontaneous cortical activity in functionally related brain regions. Increased resting state activity in higher-order motor areas supports the hypothesis that the global intervention engages action-related neural processes. PMID:25972804
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Coll, Sélim Yahia; Ceravolo, Leonardo; Frühholz, Sascha; Grandjean, Didier
2018-05-02
Different parts of our brain code the perceptual features and actions related to an object, causing a binding problem, in which the brain has to integrate information related to an event without any interference regarding the features and actions involved in other concurrently processed events. Using a paradigm similar to Hommel, who revealed perception-action bindings, we showed that emotion could bind with motor actions when relevant, and in specific conditions, irrelevant for the task. By adapting our protocol to a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging paradigm we investigated, in the present study, the neural bases of the emotion-action binding with task-relevant angry faces. Our results showed that emotion bound with motor responses. This integration revealed increased activity in distributed brain areas involved in: (i) memory, including the hippocampi; (ii) motor actions with the precentral gyri; (iii) and emotion processing with the insula. Interestingly, increased activations in the cingulate gyri and putamen, highlighted their potential key role in the emotion-action binding, due to their involvement in emotion processing, motor actions, and memory. The present study confirmed our previous results and point out for the first time the functional brain activity related to the emotion-action association.
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Atalayer, Deniz; Pantazatos, Spiro P; Gibson, Charlisa D; McOuatt, Haley; Puma, Lauren; Astbury, Nerys M; Geliebter, Allan
2014-10-15
Sexually-dimorphic behavioral and biological aspects of human eating have been described. Using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis, we investigated sex-based differences in functional connectivity with a key emotion-processing region (amygdala, AMG) and a key reward-processing area (ventral striatum, VS) in response to high vs. low energy-dense (ED) food images using blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in obese persons in fasted and fed states. When fed, in response to high vs. low-ED food cues, obese men (vs. women) had greater functional connectivity with AMG in right subgenual anterior cingulate, whereas obese women had greater functional connectivity with AMG in left angular gyrus and right primary motor areas. In addition, when fed, AMG functional connectivity with pre/post-central gyrus was more associated with BMI in women (vs. men). When fasted, obese men (vs. women) had greater functional connectivity with AMG in bilateral supplementary frontal and primary motor areas, left precuneus, and right cuneus, whereas obese women had greater functional connectivity with AMG in left inferior frontal gyrus, right thalamus, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. When fed, greater functional connectivity with VS was observed in men in bilateral supplementary and primary motor areas, left postcentral gyrus, and left precuneus. These sex-based differences in functional connectivity in response to visual food cues may help partly explain differential eating behavior, pathology prevalence, and outcomes in men and women. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Diwadkar, Vaibhav A.; Asemi, Avisa; Burgess, Ashley; Chowdury, Asadur; Bressler, Steven L.
2017-01-01
The dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC) and the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) are known to interact during motor coordination behavior. We previously discovered that the directional influences underlying this interaction in a visuo-motor coordination task are asymmetric, with the dACC→SMA influence being significantly greater than that in the reverse direction. To assess the specificity of this effect, here we undertook an analysis of the interaction between dACC and SMA in two distinct contexts. In addition to the motor coordination task, we also assessed these effects during a (n-back) working memory task. We applied directed functional connectivity analysis to these two task paradigms, and also to the rest condition of each paradigm, in which rest blocks were interspersed with task blocks. We report here that the previously known asymmetric interaction between dACC and SMA, with dACC→SMA dominating, was significantly larger in the motor coordination task than the memory task. Moreover the asymmetry between dACC and SMA was reversed during the rest condition of the motor coordination task, but not of the working memory task. In sum, the dACC→SMA influence was significantly greater in the motor task than the memory task condition, and the SMA→dACC influence was significantly greater in the motor rest than the memory rest condition. We interpret these results as suggesting that the potentiation of motor sub-networks during the motor rest condition supports the motor control of SMA by dACC during the active motor task condition. PMID:28278267
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Neural correlates of motor recovery after stroke: a longitudinal fMRI study
Ward, N. S.; Brown, M. M.; Thompson, A. J.; Frackowiak, R. S. J.
2013-01-01
Summary Recovery of motor function after stroke may occur over weeks or months and is often attributed to cerebral reorganization. We have investigated the longitudinal relationship between recovery after stroke and task-related brain activation during a motor task as measured using functional MRI (fMRI). Eight first-ever stroke patients presenting with hemiparesis resulting from cerebral infarction sparing the primary motor cortex, and four control subjects were recruited. Subjects were scanned on a number of occasions whilst performing an isometric dynamic visually paced hand grip task. Recovery in the patient group was assessed using a battery of outcome measures at each time point. Task-related brain activations decreased over sessions as a function of recovery in a number of primary and non-primary motor regions in all patients, but no session effects were seen in the controls. Furthermore, consistent decreases across sessions correlating with recovery were seen across the whole patient group independent of rate of recovery or initial severity, in primary motor cortex, premotor and prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor areas, cingulate sulcus, temporal lobe, striate cortex, cerebellum, thalamus and basal ganglia. Although recovery-related increases were seen in different brain regions in four patients, there were no consistent effects across the group. These results further our understanding of the recovery process by demonstrating for the first time a clear temporal relationship between recovery and task-related activation of the motor system after stroke. PMID:12937084
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Neural activation during imitation with or without performance feedback: An fMRI study.
Zhang, Kaihua; Wang, Hui; Dong, Guangheng; Wang, Mengxing; Zhang, Jilei; Zhang, Hui; Meng, Weixia; Du, Xiaoxia
2016-08-26
In our daily lives, we often receive performance feedback (PF) during imitative learning, and we adjust our behaviors accordingly to improve performance. However, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying this learning process. We hypothesized that appropriate PF would enhance neural activation or recruit additional brain areas during subsequent action imitation. Pictures of 20 different finger gestures without any social meaning were shown to participants from the first-person perspective. Imitation with or without PF was investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging in 30 healthy subjects. The PF was given by a real person or by a computer. PF from a real person induced hyperactivation of the parietal lobe (precuneus and cuneus), cingulate cortex (posterior and anterior), temporal lobe (superior and transverse temporal gyri), and cerebellum (posterior and anterior lobes) during subsequent imitation. The positive PF and negative PF from a real person, induced the activation of more brain areas during the following imitation. The hyperactivation of the cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and cuneus suggests that the subjects exhibited enhanced motor control and visual attention during imitation after PF. Additionally, random PF from a computer had a small effect on the next imitation. We suggest that positive and accurate PF may be helpful for imitation learning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Demirakca, Traute; Cardinale, Vita; Dehn, Sven; Ruf, Matthias; Ende, Gabriele
2016-01-01
This study investigated the impact of “life kinetik” training on brain plasticity in terms of an increased functional connectivity during resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The training is an integrated multimodal training that combines motor and cognitive aspects and challenges the brain by introducing new and unfamiliar coordinative tasks. Twenty-one subjects completed at least 11 one-hour-per-week “life kinetik” training sessions in 13 weeks as well as before and after rs-fMRI scans. Additionally, 11 control subjects with 2 rs-fMRI scans were included. The CONN toolbox was used to conduct several seed-to-voxel analyses. We searched for functional connectivity increases between brain regions expected to be involved in the exercises. Connections to brain regions representing parts of the default mode network, such as medial frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, did not change. Significant connectivity alterations occurred between the visual cortex and parts of the superior parietal area (BA7). Premotor area and cingulate gyrus were also affected. We can conclude that the constant challenge of unfamiliar combinations of coordination tasks, combined with visual perception and working memory demands, seems to induce brain plasticity expressed in enhanced connectivity strength of brain regions due to coactivation. PMID:26819776
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Wu, Bing; Liu, Yi; Wu, Xinhuai; Han, Shihui
2015-01-01
Humans show stronger empathy for in-group compared with out-group members’ suffering and help in-group members more than out-group members. Moreover, the in-group bias in empathy and parochial altruism tend to be more salient in collectivistic than individualistic cultures. This work tested the hypothesis that modifying self-construals, which differentiate between collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations, affects in-group bias in empathy for perceived own-race vs other-race pain. By scanning adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found stronger neural activities in the mid-cingulate, left insula and supplementary motor area (SMA) in response to racial in-group compared with out-group members’ pain after participants had been primed with interdependent self-construals. However, the racial in-group bias in neural responses to others’ pain in the left SMA, mid-cingulate cortex and insula was significantly reduced by priming independent self-construals. Our findings suggest that shifting an individual’s self-construal leads to changes of his/her racial in-group bias in neural responses to others’ suffering. PMID:25605968
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Benady-Chorney, Jessica; Yau, Yvonne; Zeighami, Yashar; Bohbot, Veronique D; West, Greg L
2018-03-21
Action video game players (aVGPs) display increased performance in attention-based tasks and enhanced procedural motor learning. In parallel, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is centrally implicated in specific types of reward-based learning and attentional control, the execution or inhibition of motor commands, and error detection. These processes are hypothesized to support aVGP in-game performance and enhanced learning though in-game feedback. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that habitual aVGPs would display increased cortical thickness compared with nonvideo game players (nonVGPs). Results showed that the aVGP group (n=17) displayed significantly higher levels of cortical thickness specifically in the dorsal ACC compared with the nonVGP group (n=16). Results are discussed in the context of previous findings examining video game experience, attention/performance, and responses to affective components such as pain and fear.
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Structural Covariance of the Prefrontal-Amygdala Pathways Associated with Heart Rate Variability.
Wei, Luqing; Chen, Hong; Wu, Guo-Rong
2018-01-01
The neurovisceral integration model has shown a key role of the amygdala in neural circuits underlying heart rate variability (HRV) modulation, and suggested that reciprocal connections from amygdala to brain regions centered on the central autonomic network (CAN) are associated with HRV. To provide neuroanatomical evidence for these theoretical perspectives, the current study used covariance analysis of MRI-based gray matter volume (GMV) to map structural covariance network of the amygdala, and then determined whether the interregional structural correlations related to individual differences in HRV. The results showed that covariance patterns of the amygdala encompassed large portions of cortical (e.g., prefrontal, cingulate, and insula) and subcortical (e.g., striatum, hippocampus, and midbrain) regions, lending evidence from structural covariance analysis to the notion that the amygdala was a pivotal node in neural pathways for HRV modulation. Importantly, participants with higher resting HRV showed increased covariance of amygdala to dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (dmPFC/dACC) extending into adjacent medial motor regions [i.e., pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA)/SMA], demonstrating structural covariance of the prefrontal-amygdala pathways implicated in HRV, and also implying that resting HRV may reflect the function of neural circuits underlying cognitive regulation of emotion as well as facilitation of adaptive behaviors to emotion. Our results, thus, provide anatomical substrates for the neurovisceral integration model that resting HRV may index an integrative neural network which effectively organizes emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral responses in the service of goal-directed behavior and adaptability.
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Dissociation between unconscious motor response facilitation and conflict in medial frontal areas.
D'Ostilio, Kevin; Garraux, Gaëtan
2012-01-01
Masked prime tasks have shown that sensory information that has not been consciously perceived can nevertheless modulate behavior. The neuronal correlates of behavioral manifestations of visuomotor priming remain debated, particularly with respect to the distribution and direction (i.e. increase or decrease) of activity changes in medial frontal areas. Here, we predicted that these discrepant results could be accounted for by two automatic and unconscious processes embedded in this task: response conflict and facilitation. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as 24 healthy participants had to respond, as fast as possible, to a target arrow presented immediately after a subliminal masked prime arrow. There were three experimental conditions defined by the prime-target relationship: compatible, incompatible, and neutral. The classical visuomotor priming effect was reproduced, with relatively longer reaction times (RTs) in incompatible trials. Longer RTs in incompatible than in neutral trials were specifically associated with stronger blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity in a conflict-related network comprising the anterior cingulate cortex and right frontal associative areas. Motor response facilitation as shown by shorter RTs in compatible than in neutral trials was associated with reduced activation in a motor preparation network including the medial and lateral premotor cortices, as a result of the repetition suppression of the fMRI BOLD signal. The present results provide new insights into automatic and unconscious visuomotor priming processes, suggesting an involvement of either a cognitive or motor network, depending on the prime-target relationship. © 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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McLeod, Kevin R; Langevin, Lisa Marie; Dewey, Deborah; Goodyear, Bradley G
2016-01-01
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are highly comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders; however, the neural mechanisms of this comorbidity are poorly understood. Previous research has demonstrated that children with DCD and ADHD have altered brain region communication, particularly within the motor network. The structure and function of the motor network in a typically developing brain exhibits hemispheric dominance. It is plausible that functional deficits observed in children with DCD and ADHD are associated with neurodevelopmental alterations in within- and between-hemisphere motor network functional connection strength that disrupt this hemispheric dominance. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine functional connections of the left and right primary and sensory motor (SM1) cortices in children with DCD, ADHD and DCD + ADHD, relative to typically developing children. Our findings revealed that children with DCD, ADHD and DCD + ADHD exhibit atypical within- and between-hemisphere functional connection strength between SM1 and regions of the basal ganglia, as well as the cerebellum. Our findings further support the assertion that development of atypical motor network connections represents common and distinct neural mechanisms underlying DCD and ADHD. In children with DCD and DCD + ADHD (but not ADHD), a significant correlation was observed between clinical assessment of motor function and the strength of functional connections between right SM1 and anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and regions involved in visuospatial processing. This latter finding suggests that behavioral phenotypes associated with atypical motor network development differ between individuals with DCD and those with ADHD.
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Wang, Zhuo; Myers, Kalisa G.; Guo, Yumei; Ocampo, Marco A.; Pang, Raina D.; Jakowec, Michael W.; Holschneider, Daniel P.
2013-01-01
Exercise training is widely used for neurorehabilitation of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, little is known about the functional reorganization of the injured brain after long-term aerobic exercise. We examined the effects of 4 weeks of forced running wheel exercise in a rat model of dopaminergic deafferentation (bilateral, dorsal striatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions). One week after training, cerebral perfusion was mapped during treadmill walking or at rest using [14C]-iodoantipyrine autoradiography. Regional cerebral blood flow-related tissue radioactivity (rCBF) was analyzed in three-dimensionally reconstructed brains by statistical parametric mapping. In non-exercised rats, lesions resulted in persistent motor deficits. Compared to sham-lesioned rats, lesioned rats showed altered functional brain activation during walking, including: 1. hypoactivation of the striatum and motor cortex; 2. hyperactivation of non-lesioned areas in the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit; 3. functional recruitment of the red nucleus, superior colliculus and somatosensory cortex; 4. hyperactivation of the ventrolateral thalamus, cerebellar vermis and deep nuclei, suggesting recruitment of the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit; 5. hyperactivation of limbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, septum, raphe, insula). These findings show remarkable similarities to imaging findings reported in PD patients. Exercise progressively improved motor deficits in lesioned rats, while increasing activation in dorsal striatum and rostral secondary motor cortex, attenuating a hyperemia of the zona incerta and eliciting a functional reorganization of regions participating in the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit. Both lesions and exercise increased activation in mesolimbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, laterodorsal tegmental n., ventral pallidum), as well as in related paralimbic regions (septum, raphe, insula). Exercise, but not lesioning, resulted in decreases in rCBF in the medial prefrontal cortex (cingulate, prelimbic, infralimbic). Our results in this PD rat model uniquely highlight the breadth of functional reorganizations in motor and limbic circuits following lesion and long-term, aerobic exercise, and provide a framework for understanding the neural substrates underlying exercise-based neurorehabilitation. PMID:24278239
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Age-related changes in the functional neuroanatomy of overt speech production.
Sörös, Peter; Bose, Arpita; Sokoloff, Lisa Guttman; Graham, Simon J; Stuss, Donald T
2011-08-01
Alterations of existing neural networks during healthy aging, resulting in behavioral deficits and changes in brain activity, have been described for cognitive, motor, and sensory functions. To investigate age-related changes in the neural circuitry underlying overt non-lexical speech production, functional MRI was performed in 14 healthy younger (21-32 years) and 14 healthy older individuals (62-84 years). The experimental task involved the acoustically cued overt production of the vowel /a/ and the polysyllabic utterance /pataka/. In younger and older individuals, overt speech production was associated with the activation of a widespread articulo-phonological network, including the primary motor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the cingulate motor areas, and the posterior superior temporal cortex, similar in the /a/ and /pataka/ condition. An analysis of variance with the factors age and condition revealed a significant main effect of age. Irrespective of the experimental condition, significantly greater activation was found in the bilateral posterior superior temporal cortex, the posterior temporal plane, and the transverse temporal gyri in younger compared to older individuals. Significantly greater activation was found in the bilateral middle temporal gyri, medial frontal gyri, middle frontal gyri, and inferior frontal gyri in older vs. younger individuals. The analysis of variance did not reveal a significant main effect of condition and no significant interaction of age and condition. These results suggest a complex reorganization of neural networks dedicated to the production of speech during healthy aging. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Encoding of speed and direction of movement in the human supplementary motor area
Tankus, Ariel; Yeshurun, Yehezkel; Flash, Tamar; Fried, Itzhak
2010-01-01
Object The supplementary motor area (SMA) plays an important role in planning, initiation, and execution of motor acts. Patients with SMA lesions are impaired in various kinematic parameters, such as velocity and duration of movement. However, the relationships between neuronal activity and these parameters in the human brain have not been fully characterized. This is a study of single-neuron activity during a continuous volitional motor task, with the goal of clarifying these relationships for SMA neurons and other frontal lobe regions in humans. Methods The participants were 7 patients undergoing evaluation for epilepsy surgery requiring implantation of intracranial depth electrodes. Single-unit recordings were conducted while the patients played a computer game involving movement of a cursor in a simple maze. Results In the SMA proper, most of the recorded units exhibited a monotonic relationship between the unit firing rate and hand motion speed. The vast majority of SMA proper units with this property showed an inverse relation, that is, firing rate decrease with speed increase. In addition, most of the SMA proper units were selective to the direction of hand motion. These relationships were far less frequent in the pre-SMA, anterior cingulate gyrus, and orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusions The findings suggest that the SMA proper takes part in the control of kinematic parameters of end-effector motion, and thus lend support to the idea of connecting neuroprosthetic devices to the human SMA. PMID:19231930
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Hashimoto, Takanori; Bazmi, H Holly; Mirnics, Karoly; Wu, Qiang; Sampson, Allan R; Lewis, David A
2008-04-01
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit disturbances in a number of cognitive, affective, sensory, and motor functions that depend on the circuitry of different cortical areas. The cognitive deficits associated with dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex result, at least in part, from abnormalities in GABA neurotransmission, as reflected in a specific pattern of altered expression of GABA-related genes. Consequently, the authors sought to determine whether this pattern of altered gene expression is restricted to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or could also contribute to the dysfunction of other cortical areas in subjects with schizophrenia. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the levels of eight GABA-related transcripts in four cortical areas (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and primary motor and primary visual cortices) of subjects (N=12) with schizophrenia and matched normal comparison subjects. Expression levels of seven transcripts were lower in subjects with schizophrenia, with the magnitude of reduction for each transcript comparable across the four areas. The largest reductions were detected for mRNA encoding somatostatin and parvalbumin, followed by moderate decreases in mRNA expression for the 67-kilodalton isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase, the GABA membrane transporter GAT-1, and the alpha 1 and delta subunits of GABA(A) receptors. In contrast, the expression of calretinin mRNA did not differ between the subject groups in any of the four areas. Because the areas examined represent the major functional domains (e.g., association, limbic, motor, and sensory) of the cerebral cortex, our findings suggest that a conserved set of molecular alterations affecting GABA neurotransmission contribute to the pathophysiology of different clinical features of schizophrenia.
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Ross, Elliott D; Gupta, Smita S; Adnan, Asif M; Holden, Thomas L; Havlicek, Joseph; Radhakrishnan, Sridhar
2016-03-01
Facial expressions are described traditionally as monolithic entities. However, humans have the capacity to produce facial blends, in which the upper and lower face simultaneously display different emotional expressions. This, in turn, has led to the Component Theory of facial expressions. Recent neuroanatomical studies in monkeys have demonstrated that there are separate cortical motor areas for controlling the upper and lower face that, presumably, also occur in humans. The lower face is represented on the posterior ventrolateral surface of the frontal lobes in the primary motor and premotor cortices and the upper face is represented on the medial surface of the posterior frontal lobes in the supplementary motor and anterior cingulate cortices. Our laboratory has been engaged in a series of studies exploring the perception and production of facial blends. Using high-speed videography, we began measuring the temporal aspects of facial expressions to develop a more complete understanding of the neurophysiology underlying facial expressions and facial blends. The goal of the research presented here was to determine if spontaneous facial expressions in adults are predominantly monolithic or exhibit independent motor control of the upper and lower face. We found that spontaneous facial expressions are very complex and that the motor control of the upper and lower face is overwhelmingly independent, thus robustly supporting the Component Theory of facial expressions. Seemingly monolithic expressions, be they full facial or facial blends, are most likely the result of a timing coincident rather than a synchronous coordination between the ventrolateral and medial cortical motor areas responsible for controlling the lower and upper face, respectively. In addition, we found evidence that the right and left face may also exhibit independent motor control, thus supporting the concept that spontaneous facial expressions are organized predominantly across the horizontal facial axis and secondarily across the vertical axis. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision
Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong
2017-01-01
Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants’ decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing. PMID:29375412
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Segregated and integrated coding of reward and punishment in the cingulate cortex.
Fujiwara, Juri; Tobler, Philippe N; Taira, Masato; Iijima, Toshio; Tsutsui, Ken-Ichiro
2009-06-01
Reward and punishment have opposite affective value but are both processed by the cingulate cortex. However, it is unclear whether the positive and negative affective values of monetary reward and punishment are processed by separate or common subregions of the cingulate cortex. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using a free-choice task and compared cingulate activations for different levels of monetary gain and loss. Gain-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing gain, but no activation change in relation to loss) occurred mainly in the anterior part of the anterior cingulate and in the posterior cingulate cortex. Conversely, loss-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing loss, but no activation change in relation to gain) occurred between these areas, in the middle and posterior part of the anterior cingulate. Integrated coding of gain and loss (increasing activation throughout the full range, from biggest loss to biggest gain) occurred in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate, at the border with the medial prefrontal cortex. Finally, unspecific activation increases to both gains and losses (increasing activation to increasing gains and increasing losses, possibly reflecting attention) occurred in dorsal and middle regions of the cingulate cortex. Together, these results suggest separate and common coding of monetary reward and punishment in distinct subregions of the cingulate cortex. Further meta-analysis suggested that the presently found reward- and punishment-specific areas overlapped with those processing positive and negative emotions, respectively.
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Tuleasca, Constantin; Najdenovska, Elena; Régis, Jean; Witjas, Tatiana; Girard, Nadine; Champoudry, Jérôme; Faouzi, Mohamed; Thiran, Jean-Philippe; Cuadra, Meritxell Bach; Levivier, Marc; Van De Ville, Dimitri
2018-05-01
To evaluate functional connectivity (FC) of the ventrolateral thalamus, a common target for drug-resistant essential tremor (ET), resting-state data were analyzed before and 1 year after stereotactic radiosurgical thalamotomy and compared against healthy controls (HCs). In total, 17 consecutive patients with ET and 10 HCs were enrolled. Tremor network was investigated using the ventrolateral ventral (VLV) thalamic nucleus as the region of interest, extracted with automated segmentation from pretherapeutic diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. Temporal correlations of VLV at whole brain level were evaluated by comparing drug-naïve patients with ET with HCs, and longitudinally, 1 year after stereotactic radiosurgical thalamotomy. 1 year thalamotomy MR signature was always located inside VLV and did not correlate with any of FC measures (P > 0.05). This suggested presence of longitudinal changes in VLV FC independently of the MR signature volume. Pretherapeutic ET displayed altered VLV FC with left primary sensory-motor cortex, pedunculopontine nucleus, dorsal anterior cingulate, left visual association, and left superior parietal areas. Pretherapeutic negative FC with primary somatosensory cortex and pedunculopontine nucleus correlated with poorer baseline tremor scores (Spearman = 0.04 and 0.01). Longitudinal study displayed changes within right dorsal attention (frontal eye-fields and posterior parietal) and salience (anterior insula) networks, as well as areas involved in hand movement planning or language production. Our results demonstrated that patients with ET and HCs differ in their left VLV FC to primary somatosensory and supplementary motor, visual association, or brainstem areas (pedunculopontine nucleus). Longitudinal changes display reorganization of dorsal attention and salience networks after thalamotomy. Beside attentional gateway, they are also known for their major role in facilitating a rapid access to the motor system. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Loss of integrity and atrophy in cingulate structural covariance networks in Parkinson's disease.
de Schipper, Laura J; van der Grond, Jeroen; Marinus, Johan; Henselmans, Johanna M L; van Hilten, Jacobus J
2017-01-01
In Parkinson's disease (PD), the relation between cortical brain atrophy on MRI and clinical progression is not straightforward. Determination of changes in structural covariance networks - patterns of covariance in grey matter density - has shown to be a valuable technique to detect subtle grey matter variations. We evaluated how structural network integrity in PD is related to clinical data. 3 Tesla MRI was performed in 159 PD patients. We used nine standardized structural covariance networks identified in 370 healthy subjects as a template in the analysis of the PD data. Clinical assessment comprised motor features (Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; MDS-UPDRS motor scale) and predominantly non-dopaminergic features (SEverity of Non-dopaminergic Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease; SENS-PD scale: postural instability and gait difficulty, psychotic symptoms, excessive daytime sleepiness, autonomic dysfunction, cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms). Voxel-based analyses were performed within networks significantly associated with PD. The anterior and posterior cingulate network showed decreased integrity, associated with the SENS-PD score, p = 0.001 (β = - 0.265, η p 2 = 0.070) and p = 0.001 (β = - 0.264, η p 2 = 0.074), respectively. Of the components of the SENS-PD score, cognitive impairment and excessive daytime sleepiness were associated with atrophy within both networks. We identified loss of integrity and atrophy in the anterior and posterior cingulate networks in PD patients. Abnormalities of both networks were associated with predominantly non-dopaminergic features, specifically cognition and excessive daytime sleepiness. Our findings suggest that (components of) the cingulate networks display a specific vulnerability to the pathobiology of PD and may operate as interfaces between networks involved in cognition and alertness.
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Neurobiological insight into hyperbaric hyperoxia.
Micarelli, A; Jacobsson, H; Larsson, S A; Jonsson, C; Pagani, M
2013-09-01
Hyperbaric hyperoxia (HBO) is known to modulate aerobic metabolism, vasoreactivity and blood flow in the brain. Nevertheless, mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects, especially in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke patients, are debated. The present study aimed at investigating regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) distribution during acute HBO exposure. Regional cerebral blood flow response was investigated in seven healthy subjects exposed to either normobaric normoxia or HBO with ambient pressure/inspired oxygen pressure of 101/21 and 250/250 kPa respectively. After 40 min at the desired pressure, they were injected a perfusion tracer and subsequently underwent brain single photon emission computed tomography. rCBF distribution changes in the whole brain were assessed by Statistical Parametric Mapping. During HBO, an increased relative rCBF distribution was found in sensory-motor, premotor, visual and posterior cingulate cortices as well as in superior frontal gyrus, middle/inferior temporal and angular gyrus and cerebellum, mainly in the dominant hemisphere. During normobaric normoxia, a higher (99m) Tc-HMPAO distribution in the right insula and subcortical structures as well as in bilateral hippocampi and anterior cingulated cortex was found. The present study firstly confirmed the rCBF distribution increase during HBO in sensory-motor and visual cortices, and it showed for the first time a higher perfusion tracer distribution in areas encompassed in dorsal attention system and in default mode network. These findings unfold both the externally directed cognition performance improvement related to the HBO and the internally directed cognition states during resting-state conditions, suggesting possible beneficial effects in TBI and stroke patients. © 2013 Scandinavian Physiological Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Structural Covariance of the Prefrontal-Amygdala Pathways Associated with Heart Rate Variability
Wei, Luqing; Chen, Hong; Wu, Guo-Rong
2018-01-01
The neurovisceral integration model has shown a key role of the amygdala in neural circuits underlying heart rate variability (HRV) modulation, and suggested that reciprocal connections from amygdala to brain regions centered on the central autonomic network (CAN) are associated with HRV. To provide neuroanatomical evidence for these theoretical perspectives, the current study used covariance analysis of MRI-based gray matter volume (GMV) to map structural covariance network of the amygdala, and then determined whether the interregional structural correlations related to individual differences in HRV. The results showed that covariance patterns of the amygdala encompassed large portions of cortical (e.g., prefrontal, cingulate, and insula) and subcortical (e.g., striatum, hippocampus, and midbrain) regions, lending evidence from structural covariance analysis to the notion that the amygdala was a pivotal node in neural pathways for HRV modulation. Importantly, participants with higher resting HRV showed increased covariance of amygdala to dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (dmPFC/dACC) extending into adjacent medial motor regions [i.e., pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA)/SMA], demonstrating structural covariance of the prefrontal-amygdala pathways implicated in HRV, and also implying that resting HRV may reflect the function of neural circuits underlying cognitive regulation of emotion as well as facilitation of adaptive behaviors to emotion. Our results, thus, provide anatomical substrates for the neurovisceral integration model that resting HRV may index an integrative neural network which effectively organizes emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral responses in the service of goal-directed behavior and adaptability. PMID:29545744
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Brain connectivity and psychiatric comorbidity in adolescents with Internet gaming disorder.
Han, Doug Hyun; Kim, Sun Mi; Bae, Sujin; Renshaw, Perry F; Anderson, Jeffrey S
2017-05-01
Prolonged Internet video game play may have multiple and complex effects on human cognition and brain development in both negative and positive ways. There is not currently a consensus on the principle effects of video game play neither on brain development nor on the relationship to psychiatric comorbidity. In this study, 78 adolescents with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and 73 comparison subjects without IGD, including subgroups with no other psychiatric comorbid disease, with major depressive disorder and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), were included in a 3 T resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. The severity of Internet gaming disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD symptoms were assessed with the Young Internet Addiction Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Korean ADHD rating scales, respectively. Patients with IGD showed an increased functional correlation between seven pairs of regions, all satisfying q < 0.05 False discovery rates in light of multiple statistical tests: left frontal eye field to dorsal anterior cingulate, left frontal eye field to right anterior insula, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), right DLPFC to right TPJ, right auditory cortex to right motor cortex, right auditory cortex to supplementary motor area and right auditory cortex to dorsal anterior cingulate. These findings may represent a training effect of extended game play and suggest a risk or predisposition in game players for over-connectivity of the default mode and executive control networks that may relate to psychiatric comorbidity. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.
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Pandey, AK; Kamarajan, C; Tang, Y; Chorlian, DB; Roopesh, BN; Manz, N; Stimus, A; Rangaswamy, M; Porjesz, B
2011-01-01
In alcoholism research, studies concerning time-locked electrophysiological aspects of response inhibition have concentrated mainly on the P3 component of the event-related potential (ERP). The objective of the present study was to investigate the N2 component of the ERP to elucidate possible brain dysfunction related to the motor response and its inhibition using a Go/NoGo task in alcoholics. The sample consisted of 78 abstinent alcoholic males and 58 healthy male controls. The N2 peak was compared across group and task conditions. Alcoholics showed significantly reduced N2 peak amplitudes compared to normal controls for Go as well as NoGo task conditions. Control subjects showed significantly larger NoGo than Go N2 amplitudes at frontal regions, whereas alcoholics did not show any differences between task conditions at frontal regions. Standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) indicated that alcoholics had significantly lower current density at the source than control subjects for the NoGo condition at bilateral anterior prefrontal regions, whereas the differences between groups during the Go trials was not statistically significant. Furthermore, NoGo current density across both groups revealed significantly more activation in bilateral anterior cingulate cortical (ACC) areas, with the maximum activation in the right cingulate regions. However, the magnitude of this difference was much less in alcoholics compared to control subjects. These findings suggest that alcoholics may have deficits in effortful processing during the motor response and its inhibition, suggestive of possible frontal lobe dysfunction. PMID:22024409
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A Functional Imaging Study of Self-Regulatory Capacities in Persons Who Stutter
Liu, Jie; Wang, Zhishun; Huo, Yuankai; Davidson, Stephanie M.; Klahr, Kristin; Herder, Carl L.; Sikora, Chamonix O.; Peterson, Bradley S.
2014-01-01
Developmental stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency with an unknown pathogenesis. The similarity of its phenotype and natural history with other childhood neuropsychiatric disorders of frontostriatal pathology suggests that stuttering may have a closely related pathogenesis. We investigated in this study the potential involvement of frontostriatal circuits in developmental stuttering. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 46 persons with stuttering and 52 fluent controls during performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility Task. We examined differences between the two groups of blood-oxygen-level-dependent activation associated with two neural processes, the resolution of cognitive conflict and the context-dependent adaptation to changes in conflict. Stuttering speakers and controls did not differ on behavioral performance on the task. In the presence of conflict-laden stimuli, however, stuttering speakers activated more strongly the cingulate cortex, left anterior prefrontal cortex, right medial frontal cortex, left supplementary motor area, right caudate nucleus, and left parietal cortex. The magnitude of activation in the anterior cingulate cortex correlated inversely in stuttering speakers with symptom severity. Stuttering speakers also showed blunted activation during context-dependent adaptation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region that mediates cross-temporal contingencies. Frontostriatal hyper-responsivity to conflict resembles prior findings in other disorders of frontostriatal pathology, and therefore likely represents a general mechanism supporting functional compensation for an underlying inefficiency of neural processing in these circuits. The reduced activation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex likely represents the inadequate readiness of stuttering speakers to execute a sequence of motor responses. PMID:24587104
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Amlung, Michael; Sweet, Lawrence H.; Acker, John; Brown, Courtney L.; MacKillop, James
2013-01-01
Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an important behavioral process in alcohol use disorders (AUDs), reflecting incapacity to delay gratification. Recent work in neuroeconomics has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms supporting DRD, but applications of neuroeconomics in relation to AUDs have been limited. This study examined the neural mechanisms of DRD preferences in AUDs, with emphasis on dissociating activation patterns based on DRD choice type and level of cognitive conflict. Heavy drinking adult males with (n = 13) and without (n = 12) a diagnosis of an AUD completed a monetary DRD task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participant responses were coded based on choice type (impulsive vs. restrained) and level of cognitive conflict (easy vs. hard). AUD+ participants exhibited significantly more impulsive DRD decision-making. Significant activation during DRD was found in several decision-making regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and posterior cingulate. An axis of cognitive conflict was also observed, with hard choices associated with anterior cingulate cortex and easy choices associated with activation in supplementary motor area. AUD+ individuals exhibited significant hyperactivity in regions associated with cognitive control (DLPFC) and prospective thought (PPC) and exhibited less task-related deactivation of areas associated with the brain's default network during DRD decisions. This study provides further clarification of the brain systems supporting DRD in general and in relation to AUDs. PMID:23231650
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Stone, Eric A; Lehmann, Michael L; Lin, Yan; Quartermain, David
2007-08-15
A previous study showed that two mouse models of behavioral depression, immune system activation and depletion of brain monoamines, are accompanied by marked reductions in stimulated neural activity in brain regions involved in motivated behavior. The present study tested whether this effect is common to other depression models by examining the effects of repeated forced swimming, chronic subordination stress or acute intraventricular galanin injection - three additional models - on baseline or stimulated c-fos expression in several brain regions known to be involved in motor or motivational processes (secondary motor, M2, anterior piriform cortex, APIR, posterior cingulate gyrus, CG, nucleus accumbens, NAC). Each of the depression models was found to reduce the fos response stimulated by exposure to a novel cage or a swim stress in all four of these brain areas but not to affect the response of a stress-sensitive region (paraventricular hypothalamus, PVH) that was included for control purposes. Baseline fos expression in these structures was either unaffected or affected in an opposite direction to the stimulated response. Pretreatment with either desmethylimipramine (DMI) or tranylcypromine (tranyl) attenuated these changes. It is concluded that the pattern of a reduced neural function of CNS motor/motivational regions with an increased function of stress areas is common to 5 models of behavioral depression in the mouse and is a potential experimental analog of the neural activity changes occurring in the clinical condition.
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Toogood, Jillian A; Smith, Rebecca C; Stevens, Todd K; Gati, Joe S; Menon, Ravi S; Theurer, Julie; Weisz, Sarah; Affoo, Rebecca H; Martin, Ruth E
2017-08-01
The present study sought to elucidate the functional contributions of sub-regions of the swallowing neural network in swallowing preparation and swallowing motor execution. Seven healthy volunteers participated in a delayed-response, go, no-go functional magnetic resonance imaging study involving four semi-randomly ordered activation tasks: (i) "prepare to swallow," (ii) "voluntary saliva swallow," (iii) "do not prepare to swallow," and (iv) "do not swallow." Results indicated that brain activation was significantly greater during swallowing preparation, than during swallowing execution, within the rostral and intermediate anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, premotor cortex (left > right hemisphere), pericentral cortex (left > right hemisphere), and within several subcortical nuclei including the bilateral thalamus, caudate, and putamen. In contrast, activation within the bilateral insula and the left dorsolateral pericentral cortex was significantly greater in relation to swallowing execution, compared with swallowing preparation. Still other regions, including a more inferior ventrolateral pericentral area, and adjoining Brodmann area 43 bilaterally, and the supplementary motor area, were activated in relation to both swallowing preparation and execution. These findings support the view that the preparation, and subsequent execution, of swallowing are mediated by a cascading pattern of activity within the sub-regions of the bilateral swallowing neural network.
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Behavioral and brain pattern differences between acting and observing in an auditory task
Karanasiou, Irene S; Papageorgiou, Charalabos; Tsianaka, Eleni I; Matsopoulos, George K; Ventouras, Errikos M; Uzunoglu, Nikolaos K
2009-01-01
Background Recent research has shown that errors seem to influence the patterns of brain activity. Additionally current notions support the idea that similar brain mechanisms are activated during acting and observing. The aim of the present study was to examine the patterns of brain activity of actors and observers elicited upon receiving feedback information of the actor's response. Methods The task used in the present research was an auditory identification task that included both acting and observing settings, ensuring concurrent ERP measurements of both participants. The performance of the participants was investigated in conditions of varying complexity. ERP data were analyzed with regards to the conditions of acting and observing in conjunction to correct and erroneous responses. Results The obtained results showed that the complexity induced by cue dissimilarity between trials was a demodulating factor leading to poorer performance. The electrophysiological results suggest that feedback information results in different intensities of the ERP patterns of observers and actors depending on whether the actor had made an error or not. The LORETA source localization method yielded significantly larger electrical activity in the supplementary motor area (Brodmann area 6), the posterior cingulate gyrus (Brodmann area 31/23) and the parietal lobe (Precuneus/Brodmann area 7/5). Conclusion These findings suggest that feedback information has a different effect on the intensities of the ERP patterns of actors and observers depending on whether the actor committed an error. Certain neural systems, including medial frontal area, posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus may mediate these modulating effects. Further research is needed to elucidate in more detail the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological substrates of these systems. PMID:19154586
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Bradley, Kailyn A L; King, Kelly E; Hernandez, Arturo E
2013-02-15
The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive control mechanisms in adult English speaking monolinguals compared to early sequential Spanish-English bilinguals during the initial stages of novel word learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a lexico-semantic task after only 2h of exposure to novel German vocabulary flashcards showed that monolinguals activated a broader set of cortical control regions associated with higher-level cognitive processes, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as the caudate, implicated in cognitive control of language. However, bilinguals recruited a more localized subcortical network that included the putamen, associated more with motor control of language. These results suggest that experience managing multiple languages may differentiate the learning strategy and subsequent neural mechanisms of cognitive control used by bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the early stages of novel word learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The reorganization of functional architecture in the early-stages of Parkinson's disease.
Tuovinen, Noora; Seppi, Klaus; de Pasquale, Francesco; Müller, Christoph; Nocker, Michael; Schocke, Michael; Gizewski, Elke R; Kremser, Christian; Wenning, Gregor K; Poewe, Werner; Djamshidian, Atbin; Scherfler, Christoph; Seki, Morinobu
2018-05-01
The study aim was to identify longitudinal abnormalities of functional connectivity and its relation with motor disability in early to moderately advanced stages of Parkinson's disease patients. 3.0T structural and resting-state functional MRI was performed in healthy subjects (n = 16) and Parkinson's disease patients (n = 16) with mean disease duration of 2.2 ± 1.2 years at baseline with a clinical follow-up of 1.5 ± 0.3 years. Resting-state fMRI analysis included region-to-region connectivity in correlation with UPDRS-III scores and computation of Global Efficiency and Degree Centrality. At baseline, patients' connectivity increased between the cerebellum and somatomotor network, and decreased between motor regions (Rolandic operculum, precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, postcentral gyrus) and cingulate connectivity. At 1.5 years follow-up, connectivity remained altered in the same regions identified at baseline. The cerebellum showed additional hyperconnectivity within itself and to the caudate nucleus, thalamus and amygdala compared to controls. These differences correlated with UPDRS-III scores. Seed-based connectivity revealed increased involvement of the default mode network with precentral gyrus in patients at follow-up investigation. Resting-state fMRI identified marked disturbances of the overall architecture of connectivity in Parkinson's disease. The noted alterations in cortical motor areas were associated with cerebellar hyperconnectivity in early to moderately advanced stages of Parkinson's disease suggesting ongoing attempts of recovery and compensatory mechanism for affected functions. The potential to identify connectivity alterations in regions related to both motor and attentional functions requires further evaluation as an objective marker to monitor disease progression, and medical, as well as surgical interventions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Structural brain correlates associated with professional handball playing.
Hänggi, Jürgen; Langer, Nicolas; Lutz, Kai; Birrer, Karin; Mérillat, Susan; Jäncke, Lutz
2015-01-01
There is no doubt that good bimanual performance is very important for skilled handball playing. The control of the non-dominant hand is especially demanding since efficient catching and throwing needs both hands. We investigated training-induced structural neuroplasticity in professional handball players using several structural neuroimaging techniques and analytic approaches and also provide a review of the literature about sport-induced structural neuroplastic alterations. Structural brain adaptations were expected in regions relevant for motor and somatosensory processing such as the grey matter (GM) of the primary/secondary motor (MI/supplementary motor area, SMA) and somatosensory cortex (SI/SII), basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum and in the white matter (WM) of the corticospinal tract (CST) and corpus callosum, stronger in brain regions controlling the non-dominant left hand. Increased GM volume in handball players compared with control subjects were found in the right MI/SI, bilateral SMA/cingulate motor area, and left intraparietal sulcus. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and axial diffusivity were increased within the right CST in handball players compared with control women. Age of handball training commencement correlated inversely with GM volume in the right and left MI/SI and years of handball training experience correlated inversely with radial diffusivity in the right CST. Subcortical structures tended to be larger in handball players. The anatomical measures of the brain regions associated with handball playing were positively correlated in handball players, but not interrelated in control women. Training-induced structural alterations were found in the somatosensory-motor network of handball players, more pronounced in the right hemisphere controlling the non-dominant left hand. Correlations between handball training-related measures and anatomical differences suggest neuroplastic adaptations rather than a genetic predisposition for a ball playing affinity. Investigations of neuroplasticity specifically in sportsmen might help to understand the neural mechanisms of expertise in general.
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Zhou, Chaoyang; Hu, Xiaofei; Hu, Jun; Liang, Minglong; Yin, Xuntao; Chen, Lin; Zhang, Jiuquan; Wang, Jian
2016-01-01
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare degenerative disorder characterized by loss of upper and lower motor neurons. Neuroimaging has provided noticeable evidence that ALS is a complex disease, and shown that anatomical and functional lesions extend beyond precentral cortices and corticospinal tracts, to include the corpus callosum; frontal, sensory, and premotor cortices; thalamus; and midbrain. The aim of this study is to investigate graph theory-based functional network abnormalities at voxel-wise level in ALS patients on a whole brain scale. Forty-three ALS patients and 44 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled. The voxel-wise network degree centrality (DC), a commonly employed graph-based measure of network organization, was used to characterize the alteration of whole brain functional network. Compared with the controls, the ALS patients showed significant increase of DC in the left cerebellum posterior lobes, bilateral cerebellum crus, bilateral occipital poles, right orbital frontal lobe, and bilateral prefrontal lobes; significant decrease of DC in the bilateral primary motor cortex, bilateral sensory motor region, right prefrontal lobe, left bilateral precuneus, bilateral lateral temporal lobes, left cingulate cortex, and bilateral visual processing cortex. The DC's z-scores of right inferior occipital gyrus were significant negative correlated with the ALSFRS-r scores. Our findings confirm that the regions with abnormal network DC in ALS patients were located in multiple brain regions including primary motor, somatosensory and extra-motor areas, supporting the concept that ALS is a multisystem disorder. Specifically, our study found that DC in the visual areas was altered and ALS patients with higher DC in right inferior occipital gyrus have more severity of disease. The result demonstrated that the altered DC value in this region can probably be used to assess severity of ALS.
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Bracht, Tobias; Federspiel, Andrea; Schnell, Susanne; Horn, Helge; Höfle, Oliver; Wiest, Roland; Dierks, Thomas; Strik, Werner; Müller, Thomas J.; Walther, Sebastian
2012-01-01
Alterations of brain structure and function have been associated with psychomotor retardation in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the association of motor behaviour and white matter integrity of motor pathways in MDD is unclear. The aim of the present study was to first investigate structural connectivity of white matter motor pathways in MDD. Second, we explore the relation of objectively measured motor activity and white matter integrity of motor pathways in MDD. Therefore, 21 patients with MDD and 21 healthy controls matched for age, gender, education and body mass index underwent diffusion tensor imaging and 24 hour actigraphy (measure of the activity level) the same day. Applying a probabilistic fibre tracking approach we extracted connection pathways between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), the SMA-proper, the primary motor cortex (M1), the caudate nucleus, the putamen, the pallidum and the thalamus. Patients had lower activity levels and demonstrated increased mean diffusivity (MD) in pathways linking left pre-SMA and SMA-proper, and right SMA-proper and M1. Exploratory analyses point to a positive association of activity level and mean-fractional anisotropy in the right rACC-pre-SMA connection in MDD. Only MDD patients with low activity levels had a negative linear association of activity level and mean-MD in the left dlPFC-pre-SMA connection. Our results point to structural alterations of cortico-cortical white matter motor pathways in MDD. Altered white matter organisation of rACC-pre-SMA and dlPFC-pre-SMA pathways may contribute to movement initiation in MDD. PMID:23284950
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Bracht, Tobias; Federspiel, Andrea; Schnell, Susanne; Horn, Helge; Höfle, Oliver; Wiest, Roland; Dierks, Thomas; Strik, Werner; Müller, Thomas J; Walther, Sebastian
2012-01-01
Alterations of brain structure and function have been associated with psychomotor retardation in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the association of motor behaviour and white matter integrity of motor pathways in MDD is unclear. The aim of the present study was to first investigate structural connectivity of white matter motor pathways in MDD. Second, we explore the relation of objectively measured motor activity and white matter integrity of motor pathways in MDD. Therefore, 21 patients with MDD and 21 healthy controls matched for age, gender, education and body mass index underwent diffusion tensor imaging and 24 hour actigraphy (measure of the activity level) the same day. Applying a probabilistic fibre tracking approach we extracted connection pathways between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), the SMA-proper, the primary motor cortex (M1), the caudate nucleus, the putamen, the pallidum and the thalamus. Patients had lower activity levels and demonstrated increased mean diffusivity (MD) in pathways linking left pre-SMA and SMA-proper, and right SMA-proper and M1. Exploratory analyses point to a positive association of activity level and mean-fractional anisotropy in the right rACC-pre-SMA connection in MDD. Only MDD patients with low activity levels had a negative linear association of activity level and mean-MD in the left dlPFC-pre-SMA connection. Our results point to structural alterations of cortico-cortical white matter motor pathways in MDD. Altered white matter organisation of rACC-pre-SMA and dlPFC-pre-SMA pathways may contribute to movement initiation in MDD.
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The brain map of gait variability in aging, cognitive impairment and dementia. A systematic review
Tian, Qu; Chastan, Nathalie; Bair, Woei-Nan; Resnick, Susan M.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Studenski, Stephanie A.
2017-01-01
While gait variability may reflect subtle changes due to aging or cognitive impairment (CI), associated brain characteristics remain unclear. We summarize structural and functional neuroimaging findings associated with gait variability in older adults with and without CI and dementia. We identified 17 eligible studies; all were cross-sectional; few examined multiple brain areas. In older adults, temporal gait variability was associated with structural differences in medial areas important for lower limb coordination and balance. Both temporal and spatial gait variability were associated with structural and functional differences in hippocampus and primary sensorimotor cortex and structural differences in anterior cingulate cortex, basal ganglia, association tracts, and posterior thalamic radiation. In CI or dementia, some associations were found in primary motor cortex, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. In older adults, gait variability may be associated with areas important for sensorimotor integration and coordination. To comprehend the neural basis of gait variability with aging and CI, longitudinal studies of multiple brain areas are needed. PMID:28115194
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Wang, Chenbo; Wu, Bing; Liu, Yi; Wu, Xinhuai; Han, Shihui
2015-09-01
Humans show stronger empathy for in-group compared with out-group members' suffering and help in-group members more than out-group members. Moreover, the in-group bias in empathy and parochial altruism tend to be more salient in collectivistic than individualistic cultures. This work tested the hypothesis that modifying self-construals, which differentiate between collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations, affects in-group bias in empathy for perceived own-race vs other-race pain. By scanning adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found stronger neural activities in the mid-cingulate, left insula and supplementary motor area (SMA) in response to racial in-group compared with out-group members' pain after participants had been primed with interdependent self-construals. However, the racial in-group bias in neural responses to others' pain in the left SMA, mid-cingulate cortex and insula was significantly reduced by priming independent self-construals. Our findings suggest that shifting an individual's self-construal leads to changes of his/her racial in-group bias in neural responses to others' suffering. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Surgery or gamma -knife for the treatment of arteriovenous malformations?
Shigeno, T; Atsuchi, M; Tanaka, J; Goto, K; Ogata, N
2000-09-01
Decision making for either surgery or gamma-knife for the treatment of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) cannot be uniform. The skill of the neurosurgeon in operating on AVMs is now being compared with that of the gamma-knife. The decision varies from case to case and is to be taken by the neurosurgeon. This report presents three cases in which such decision making was not easy. Case 1 was a non-ruptured cingulate AVM of 2.5 cm diameter in the cingulate cortex. The operative field was anticipated to be very narrow between the parietal bridging veins. Case 2 was a tiny ruptured AVM in the speech-motor area which was buried underneath the cortex. Case 3 was a large ruptured thalamo-stiriate-capsular AVM with feeders from the anterior and posterior choroidal arteries. All cases were operated without serious morbidity. A combination of pre-operative intravascular surgery (cases 1 and 3) or postoperative gamma-knife (case 3) was adopted. In conclusion, there is no unitary rule to decide on surgery or gamma-knife for the treatment of AVMs. It depends on what good or harm the responsible surgeon or the gamma-knife does.
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Liu, Tao; Li, Jianjun; Huang, Shixiong; Li, Changqinq; Zhao, Zhongyan; Wen, Guoqiang; Chen, Feng
2017-10-13
We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the global spontaneous neural activity involved in pathological laughing and crying after stroke. Twelve pathological laughing and crying patients with isolated pontine infarction were included, along with 12 age- and gender-matched acute isolated pontine infarction patients without pathological laughing and crying, and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. We examined both the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and the regional homogeneity in order to comprehensively evaluate the intrinsic activity in patients with post-stroke pathological laughing and crying. In the post-stroke pathological laughing and crying group, changes in these measures were observed mainly in components of the default mode network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule), sensorimotor network (supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus and paracentral lobule), affective network (medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus) and cerebellar lobes (cerebellum posterior lobe). We therefore speculate that when disinhibition of the volitional system is lost, increased activation of the emotional system causes pathological laughing and crying.
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Deng, Demao; Duan, Gaoxiong; Liao, Hai; Liu, Yanfei; Wang, Geliang; Liu, Huimei; Tang, Lijun; Pang, Yong; Tao, Jien; He, Xin; Yuan, Wenzhao; Liu, Peng
2016-10-01
According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of acupuncture, Baihui (GV20) is applied to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the relationships between neural responses and GV20 remain unknown. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the brain responses induced by electro-acupuncture stimulation (EAS) at GV20. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in 33 healthy subjects. Based on the non-repeated event-related (NRER) paradigm, group differences were examined between GV20 and a sham acupoint using the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method. Compared with the sham acupoint, EAS at GV20 induced increased ReHo in regions including the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC), precentral cortex, and precuneus (preCUN). Decreased ReHo was found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supplementary motor area (SMA), thalamus, putamen, and cerebellum. The current findings provide preliminary neuroimaging evidence to indicate that EAS at GV20 could induce a specific pattern of neural responses by analysis of ReHo of brain activity. These findings might improve the understanding of mechanisms of acupuncture stimulation at GV20.
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Loss of laterality in chronic cocaine users: an fMRI investigation of sensorimotor control.
Hanlon, Colleen A; Wesley, Michael J; Roth, Alicia J; Miller, Mack D; Porrino, Linda J
2010-01-30
Movement disturbances are often overlooked consequences of chronic cocaine abuse. The purpose of this study was to systematically investigate sensorimotor performance in chronic cocaine users and characterize changes in brain activity among movement-related regions of interest (ROIs) in these users. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 14 chronic cocaine users and 15 age- and gender-matched controls. All participants performed a sequential finger-tapping task with their dominant, right hand interleaved with blocks of rest. For each participant, percent signal change from rest was calculated for seven movement-related ROIs in both the left and right hemisphere. Cocaine users had significantly longer reaction times and higher error rates than controls. Whereas the controls used a left-sided network of motor-related brain areas to perform the task, cocaine users activated a less lateralized pattern of brain activity. Users had significantly more activity in the ipsilateral (right) motor and premotor cortical areas, anterior cingulate cortex and the putamen than controls. These data demonstrate that, in addition to the cognitive and affective consequences of chronic cocaine abuse, there are also pronounced alterations in sensorimotor control in these individuals, which are associated with functional alterations throughout movement-related neural networks.
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Altered motor network activation and functional connectivity in adult Tourette's syndrome.
Werner, Cornelius J; Stöcker, Tony; Kellermann, Thilo; Bath, Jessica; Beldoch, Margarete; Schneider, Frank; Wegener, Hans Peter; Shah, Jon N; Neuner, Irene
2011-11-01
Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a developmental neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics as well as psychiatric comorbidities. Disturbances of the fronto-striatal-thalamic pathways responsible for motor control and impulse inhibition have been previously described in other studies. Although differences in motor performance are well recognized, imaging data elucidating the neuronal correlates are scarce. Here, we examined 19 adult TS patients (13 men, aged 22-52 years, mean = 34.3 years) and 18 age- and sex-matched controls (13 men, aged 24-57 years, mean = 37.6 years) in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study at 1.5 T. We corrected for possible confounds introduced by tics, motion, and brain-structural differences as well as age, sex, comorbidities, and medication. Patients and controls were asked to perform a sequential finger-tapping task using their right, left, and both hands, respectively. Task performance was monitored by simultaneous MR-compatible video recording. Although behavioral data obtained during scanning did not show significant differences across groups, we observed differential neuronal activation patterns depending on both handedness (dominant vs. nondominant) and tapping frequency in frontal, parietal, and subcortical areas. When controlling for open motor performance, a failure of deactivation in easier task conditions was found in the subgenual cingulate cortex in the TS patients. In addition, performance-related functional connectivity of lower- and higher-order motor networks differed between patients and controls. In summary, although open performance was comparable, patients showed different neuronal networks and connectivity patterns when performing increasingly demanding tasks, further illustrating the impact of the disease on the motor system. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Moseley, Rachel L.; Shtyrov, Yury; Mohr, Bettina; Lombardo, Michael V.; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Pulvermüller, Friedemann
2015-01-01
Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) are characterised by deficits in understanding and expressing emotions and are frequently accompanied by alexithymia, a difficulty in understanding and expressing emotion words. Words are differentially represented in the brain according to their semantic category and these difficulties in ASC predict reduced activation to emotion-related words in limbic structures crucial for affective processing. Semantic theories view ‘emotion actions’ as critical for learning the semantic relationship between a word and the emotion it describes, such that emotion words typically activate the cortical motor systems involved in expressing emotion actions such as facial expressions. As ASC are also characterised by motor deficits and atypical brain structure and function in these regions, motor structures would also be expected to show reduced activation during emotion-semantic processing. Here we used event-related fMRI to compare passive processing of emotion words in comparison to abstract verbs and animal names in typically-developing controls and individuals with ASC. Relatively reduced brain activation in ASC for emotion words, but not matched control words, was found in motor areas and cingulate cortex specifically. The degree of activation evoked by emotion words in the motor system was also associated with the extent of autistic traits as revealed by the Autism Spectrum Quotient. We suggest that hypoactivation of motor and limbic regions for emotion word processing may underlie difficulties in processing emotional language in ASC. The role that sensorimotor systems and their connections might play in the affective and social-communication difficulties in ASC is discussed. PMID:25278250
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Aversive stimuli exacerbate defensive motor behaviour in motor conversion disorder.
Blakemore, Rebekah L; Sinanaj, Indrit; Galli, Silvio; Aybek, Selma; Vuilleumier, Patrik
2016-12-01
Conversion disorder or functional neurological symptom disorder (FND) can affect the voluntary motor system, without an organic cause. Functional symptoms are thought to be generated unconsciously, arising from underlying psychological stressors. However, attempts to demonstrate a direct relationship between the limbic system and disrupted motor function in FND are lacking. We tested whether negative affect would exacerbate alterations of motor control and corresponding brain activations in individuals with FND. Ten patients and ten healthy controls produced an isometric precision-grip contraction at 10% of maximum force while either viewing visual feedback of their force output, or unpleasant or pleasant emotional images (without feedback). Force magnitude was continuously recorded together with change in brain activity using fMRI. For controls, force output decayed from the target level while viewing pleasant and unpleasant images. Patients however, maintained force at the target level without decay while viewing unpleasant images, indicating a pronounced effect of negative affect on force output in FND. This emotional modulation of force control was associated with different brain activation patterns between groups. Contrasting the unpleasant with the pleasant condition, controls showed increased activity in the inferior frontal cortex and pre-supplementary motor area, whereas patients had greater activity in the cerebellum (vermis), posterior cingulate cortex, and hippocampus. Engagement of a cerebellar-limbic network in patients is consistent with heightened processing of emotional salience, and supports the role of the cerebellum in freezing responses in the presence of aversive events. These data highlight a possible neural circuit through which psychological stressors elicit defensive behaviour and modulate motor function in FND. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Chen, Mu-Hong; Li, Cheng-Ta; Lin, Wei-Chen; Hong, Chen-Jee; Tu, Pei-Chi; Bai, Ya-Mei; Cheng, Chih-Ming; Su, Tung-Ping
2018-01-01
A single low-dose ketamine infusion exhibited a rapid antidepressant effect within 1h. Despite its short biological half-life (approximately 3h), the antidepressant effect of ketamine has been demonstrated to persist for several days. However, changes in brain function responsible for the persistent antidepressant effect of a single low-dose ketamine infusion remain unclear METHODS: Twenty-four patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) were randomized into three groups according to the treatment received: 0.5mg/kg ketamine, 0.2mg/kg ketamine, and normal saline infusion. Standardized uptake values (SUVs) of glucose metabolism measured through 18 F-FDG positron-emission-tomography before infusion and 1day after a 40-min ketamine or normal saline infusion were used for subsequent whole-brain voxel-wise analysis and were correlated with depressive symptoms, as defined using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS-17) score RESULTS: The voxel-wise analysis revealed that patients with TRD receiving the 0.5mg/kg ketamine infusion had significantly higher SUVs (corrected for family-wise errors, P = 0.014) in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) than did those receiving the 0.2mg/kg ketamine infusion. The increase in the SUV in the dACC was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms at 1day after ketamine infusion DISCUSSION: The persistent antidepressant effect of a 0.5mg/kg ketamine infusion may be mediated by increased activation in the SMA and dACC. The higher increase in dACC activation was related to the reduction in depressive symptoms after ketamine infusion. A 0.5mg/kg ketamine infusion facilitated the glutamatergic neurotransmission in the SMA and dACC, which may be responsible for the persistent antidepressant effect of ketamine much beyond its half-life. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Kakita, Akiyoshi; Zerlin, Marielba; Takahashi, Hitoshi; Goldman, James E
2003-04-14
The great majority of glial cells of the mammalian forebrain are generated in the perinatal period from progenitors in the subventricular zone (SVZ). We investigated the migration of progenitors from the neonatal (postnatal day 0, P0) rat forebrain SVZ by labeling them in vivo with a green fluorescence protein (GFP) retrovirus and monitoring their movements by time-lapse video microscopy in P3 slices. We identified a small number of progenitors that migrated tangentially within the corpus callosum (CC) and crossed the midline. These cells retained a relatively uniform morphology: the leading process was extended toward the contralateral side but showed no process branching or turning away from the migratory direction. Net migration requires the elongation of the leading process and nuclear translocation, and the migrating cells in the CC showed both modes. We confirmed the presence of unmyelinated axon bundles within the P3 CC, but failed to detect any radially directed glial processes (vimentin- or GLAST-immunolabeled fibers) spanning through the CC. Confocal images showed a close proximity between neurofilament-immunolabeled axons and the leading process of the GFP-expressing progenitors in the CC. The destination of the callosal fibers was examined by applying DiI to the right cingulum; the labeled fibers ran throughout the CC and reached the left cingulate and motor areas. The distribution and final fates of the retrovirus-labeled cells were examined in P28 brains. A small proportion of the labeled cells were found in the contralateral hemisphere, where, as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes, they colonized predominantly the cortex and the underlying white matter of the cingulate and secondary motor areas. The distribution pattern appears to coincide well with the projection direction of the callosal fibers. Thus, glial progenitors migrate across the CC, presumably in conjunction with unmyelinated axons, to colonize the contralateral hemisphere. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Neural Responses to Complex Auditory Rhythms: The Role of Attending
Chapin, Heather L.; Zanto, Theodore; Jantzen, Kelly J.; Kelso, Scott J. A.; Steinberg, Fred; Large, Edward W.
2010-01-01
The aim of this study was to explore the role of attention in pulse and meter perception using complex rhythms. We used a selective attention paradigm in which participants attended to either a complex auditory rhythm or a visually presented word list. Performance on a reproduction task was used to gauge whether participants were attending to the appropriate stimulus. We hypothesized that attention to complex rhythms – which contain no energy at the pulse frequency – would lead to activations in motor areas involved in pulse perception. Moreover, because multiple repetitions of a complex rhythm are needed to perceive a pulse, activations in pulse-related areas would be seen only after sufficient time had elapsed for pulse perception to develop. Selective attention was also expected to modulate activity in sensory areas specific to the modality. We found that selective attention to rhythms led to increased BOLD responses in basal ganglia, and basal ganglia activity was observed only after the rhythms had cycled enough times for a stable pulse percept to develop. These observations suggest that attention is needed to recruit motor activations associated with the perception of pulse in complex rhythms. Moreover, attention to the auditory stimulus enhanced activity in an attentional sensory network including primary auditory cortex, insula, anterior cingulate, and prefrontal cortex, and suppressed activity in sensory areas associated with attending to the visual stimulus. PMID:21833279
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[Changes of brain function and cognitive function after carotid artery stenting].
Lu, Z X; Deng, G; Wei, H L; Zhao, G F; Wen, L Z; Chen, X
2017-10-24
Objective: To investigate the effect of carotid artery stenting(CAS) on cognitive function and brain function based on changes of a battery of neuropsychological tests and magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Thirty-three patients were included with 17 in the stent-placement group and 16 in the control group (receiving medical treatment), among whom, the unilateral or bilateral severe internal carotid artery stenosis was confirmed by cerebral vascular angiography in the department of Interventional Radiology and Vascular Surgery of Zhongda Hospital Southeast University from June 2015 to September 2016.Neuropsychological tests and rest-state blood oxygenation level dependent fMRI were performed at the baseline and six months follow-up.The baseline characteristics and follow-up changes were compared in each group. Results: The overall cognitive function of the stent-placement group was statistically significantly improved ( P <0.05) compared with control group, mainly in the executive function, memory, attention and other aspects.The value of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation(ALFF) showed statistically significant increase ( P <0.05, Alphasim correction) in left prefrontal cortex ( t =5.861 3, P <0.05), the somatosensory association cortex in left superior parietal lobe( t =5.601 2, P <0.05) and bilateral motor cortical area in posterior frontal lobe ( t =5.288 5, P <0.05). The ALFF showed statistically significant decrease ( P <0.05, Alphasim correction) in left retrosplenial cingulate cortex( t =-5.590 4, P <0.05), left insular cortex ( t =-6.340 8, P <0.05), right insular cortex ( t =-8.129 9, P <0.05) and left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex ( t =-5.584 8, P <0.05). There was no statistically significant difference ( P >0.05, Alphasim correction)between baseline and follow-up results in control group.Besides, the ALFF changes of the left insular cortex ( r =-0.591, P =0.033) and bilateral motor cortical area ( r =-0.659, P =0.014) were negatively correlated with auditory verb learning test (AVLT) score changes.The ALFF change of bilateral motor cortical area was negatively correlated with the AVLT-delay score change ( r =-0.588, P =0.034). And the ALFF change on right insular cortex and the frontal assessment battery (FAB) score change was positively correlated ( r =0.638, P =0.025). Conclusions: The overall cognitive function of patients with carotid artery stenosis significantly improve after CAS compared with medical treatment.The change of ALFF value in related brain area is also statistically significant.ALFF Change most in area of Default Mode Network may suggest a mechanism of postoperative neurological recovery in patients with carotid artery stenosis.
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Distinct Regions within Medial Prefrontal Cortex Process Pain and Cognition
Jahn, Andrew; Nee, Derek Evan; Alexander, William H.
2016-01-01
Neuroimaging studies of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) suggest that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) region is responsive to a wide variety of stimuli and psychological states, such as pain, cognitive control, and prediction error (PE). In contrast, a recent meta-analysis argues that the dACC is selective for pain, whereas the supplementary motor area (SMA) and pre-SMA are specifically associated with higher-level cognitive processes (Lieberman and Eisenberger, 2015). To empirically test this claim, we manipulated effects of pain, conflict, and PE in a single experiment using human subjects. We observed a robust dorsal-ventral dissociation within the mPFC with cognitive effects of PE and conflict overlapping dorsally and pain localized more ventrally. Classification of subjects based on the presence or absence of a paracingulate sulcus showed that PE effects extended across the dorsal area of the dACC and into the pre-SMA. These results begin to resolve recent controversies by showing the following: (1) the mPFC includes dissociable regions for pain and cognitive processing; and (2) meta-analyses are correct in localizing cognitive effects to the dACC, although these effects extend to the pre-SMA as well. These results both provide evidence distinguishing between different theories of mPFC function and highlight the importance of taking individual anatomical variability into account when conducting empirical studies of the mPFC. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decades of neuroimaging research have shown the mPFC to represent a wide variety of stimulus processing and cognitive states. However, recently it has been argued whether distinct regions of the mPFC separately process pain and cognitive phenomena. To address this controversy, this study directly compared pain and cognitive processes within subjects. We found a double dissociation within the mPFC with pain localized ventral to the cingulate sulcus and cognitive effects localized more dorsally within the dACC and spreading into the pre-supplementary motor area. This provides empirical evidence to help resolve the current debate about the functional architecture of the mPFC. PMID:27807031
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Ishiuji, Y.; Coghill, R.C.; Patel, T.S.; Oshiro, Y.; Kraft, R.A.; Yosipovitch, G.
2009-01-01
Summary Background Little is known about brain mechanisms supporting the experience of chronic puritus in disease states. Objectives To examine the difference in brain processing of histamine-induced itch in patients with active atopic dermatitis (AD) vs. healthy controls with the emerging technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using arterial spin labelling (ASL). Methods Itch was induced with histamine iontophoresis in eight patients with AD and seven healthy subjects. Results We found significant differences in brain processing of histamine-induced itch between patients with AD and healthy subjects. Patients with AD exhibited bilateral activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), retrosplenial cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as well as contralateral activation of the caudate nucleus and putamen. In contrast, healthy subjects activated the primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and superior parietal lobe. The PCC and precuneus exhibited significantly greater activity in patients vs. healthy subjects. A significant correlation between percentage changes of brain activation was noted in the activation of the ACC and contralateral insula and histamine-induced itch intensity as well as disease severity in patients with AD. In addition, an association was noted between DLPFC activity and disease severity. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that ASL fMRI is a promising technique to assess brain activity in chronic itch. Brain activity of acute itch in AD seems to differ from that in healthy subjects. Moreover, the activity in cortical areas involved in affect and emotion correlated to measures of disease severity. PMID:19663870
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Resting-State Hyperperfusion of the Supplementary Motor Area in Catatonia
Schäppi, Lea; Federspiel, Andrea; Bohlhalter, Stephan; Wiest, Roland; Strik, Werner; Stegmayer, Katharina
2017-01-01
Abstract Catatonia is a psychomotor syndrome that not only frequently occurs in the context of schizophrenia but also in other conditions. The neural correlates of catatonia remain unclear due to small-sized studies. We therefore compared resting-state cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and gray matter (GM) density between schizophrenia patients with current catatonia and without catatonia and healthy controls. We included 42 schizophrenia patients and 41 controls. Catatonia was currently present in 15 patients (scoring >2 items on the Bush Francis Catatonia Rating Scale screening). Patients did not differ in antipsychotic medication or positive symptoms. We acquired whole-brain rCBF using arterial spin labeling and GM density. We compared whole-brain perfusion and GM density over all and between the groups using 1-way ANCOVAs (F and T tests). We found a group effect (F test) of rCBF within bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left interior parietal lobe, and cerebellum. T tests indicated 1 cluster (SMA) to be specific to catatonia. Moreover, catatonia of excited and retarded types differed in SMA perfusion. Furthermore, increased catatonia severity was associated with higher perfusion in SMA. Finally, catatonia patients had a distinct pattern of GM density reduction compared to controls with prominent GM loss in frontal and insular cortices. SMA resting-state hyperperfusion is a marker of current catatonia in schizophrenia. This is highly compatible with a dysregulated motor system in catatonia, particularly affecting premotor areas. Moreover, SMA perfusion was differentially altered in retarded and excited catatonia subtypes, arguing for distinct pathobiology. PMID:27729486
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Spatial Attention, Motor Intention, and Bayesian Cue Predictability in the Human Brain.
Kuhns, Anna B; Dombert, Pascasie L; Mengotti, Paola; Fink, Gereon R; Vossel, Simone
2017-05-24
Predictions about upcoming events influence how we perceive and respond to our environment. There is increasing evidence that predictions may be generated based upon previous observations following Bayesian principles, but little is known about the underlying cortical mechanisms and their specificity for different cognitive subsystems. The present study aimed at identifying common and distinct neural signatures of predictive processing in the spatial attentional and motor intentional system. Twenty-three female and male healthy human volunteers performed two probabilistic cueing tasks with either spatial or motor cues while lying in the fMRI scanner. In these tasks, the percentage of cue validity changed unpredictably over time. Trialwise estimates of cue predictability were derived from a Bayesian observer model of behavioral responses. These estimates were included as parametric regressors for analyzing the BOLD time series. Parametric effects of cue predictability in valid and invalid trials were considered to reflect belief updating by precision-weighted prediction errors. The brain areas exhibiting predictability-dependent effects dissociated between the spatial attention and motor intention task, with the right temporoparietal cortex being involved during spatial attention and the left angular gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex during motor intention. Connectivity analyses revealed that all three areas showed predictability-dependent coupling with the right hippocampus. These results suggest that precision-weighted prediction errors of stimulus locations and motor responses are encoded in distinct brain regions, but that crosstalk with the hippocampus may be necessary to integrate new trialwise outcomes in both cognitive systems. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The brain is able to infer the environments' statistical structure and responds strongly to expectancy violations. In the spatial attentional domain, it has been shown that parts of the attentional networks are sensitive to the predictability of stimuli. It remains unknown, however, whether these effects are ubiquitous or if they are specific for different cognitive systems. The present study compared the influence of model-derived cue predictability on brain activity in the spatial attentional and motor intentional system. We identified areas with distinct predictability-dependent activation for spatial attention and motor intention, but also common connectivity changes of these regions with the hippocampus. These findings provide novel insights into the generality and specificity of predictive processing signatures in the human brain. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/375334-11$15.00/0.
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The experience of beauty derived from sorrow
2017-01-01
Abstract We studied the neural mechanisms that are engaged during the experience of beauty derived from sorrow and from joy, two experiences that share a common denominator (beauty) but are linked to opposite emotional valences. Twenty subjects viewed and rerated, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, 120 images which each had classified into the following four categories: beautiful and sad; beautiful and joyful; neutral; ugly. The medial orbito‐frontal cortex (mOFC) was active during the experience of both types of beauty. Otherwise, the two experiences engaged different parts of the brain: joyful beauty engaged areas linked to positive emotions while sorrowful beauty engaged areas linked to negative experiences. Separate regions of the cerebellum were engaged during experience of the two conditions. A functional connectivity analysis indicated that the activity within the mOFC was modulated by the supplementary motor area/middle cingulate cortex, known to be engaged during empathetic experiences provoked by other peoples' sadness. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4185–4200, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:28544456
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Astafiev, Serguei V.; Shulman, Gordon L.; Stanley, Christine M.; Snyder, Abraham Z.; Van Essen, David C.; Corbetta, Maurizio
2003-01-01
We studied the functional organization of human posterior parietal and frontal cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map preparatory signals for attending, looking, and pointing to a peripheral visual location. The human frontal eye field and two separate regions in the intraparietal sulcus were similarly recruited in all conditions, suggesting an attentional role that generalizes across response effectors. However, the preparation of a pointing movement selectively activated a different group of regions, suggesting a stronger role in motor planning. These regions were lateralized to the left hemisphere, activated by preparation of movements of either hand, and included the inferior and superior parietal lobule, precuneus, and posterior superior temporal sulcus, plus the dorsal premotor and anterior cingulate cortex anteriorly. Surface-based registration of macaque cortical areas onto the map of fMRI responses suggests a relatively good spatial correspondence between human and macaque parietal areas. In contrast, large interspecies differences were noted in the topography of frontal areas.
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Basho, Surina; Palmer, Erica D.; Rubio, Miguel A.; Wulfeck, Beverly; Müller, Ralph-Axel
2007-01-01
Verbal fluency is a widely used neuropsychological paradigm. In fMRI implementations, conventional unpaced (self-paced) versions are suboptimal due to uncontrolled timing of responses, and overt responses carry the risk of motion artifact. We investigated the behavioral and neurofunctional effects of response pacing and overt speech in semantic category-driven word generation. Twelve right-handed adults (8 female) ages 21–37 were scanned in four conditions each: Paced-Overt, Paced-Covert, Unpaced-Overt, and Unpaced-Covert. There was no significant difference in the number of exemplars generated between overt versions of the paced and unpaced conditions. Imaging results for category-driven word generation overall showed left-hemispheric activation in inferior frontal cortex, premotor cortex, cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and basal ganglia. Direct comparison of generation modes revealed significantly greater activation for the paced compared to unpaced conditions in right superior temporal, bilateral middle frontal, and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, including regions associated with sustained attention, motor planning, and response inhibition. Covert (compared to overt) conditions showed significantly greater effects in right parietal and anterior cingulate, as well as left middle temporal and superior frontal regions. We conclude that paced overt paradigms are useful adaptations of conventional semantic fluency in fMRI, given their superiority with regard to control over and monitoring of behavioral responses. However, response pacing is associated with additional non-linguistic effects related to response inhibition, motor preparation, and sustained attention. PMID:17292926
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Sex Differences in Regional Brain Glucose Metabolism Following Opioid Withdrawal and Replacement.
Santoro, Giovanni C; Carrion, Joseph; Patel, Krishna; Vilchez, Crystal; Veith, Jennifer; Brodie, Jonathan D; Dewey, Stephen L
2017-08-01
Methadone and buprenorphine are currently the most common pharmacological treatments for opioid dependence. Interestingly, the clinical response to these drugs appears to be sex specific. That is, females exhibit superior therapeutic efficacy, defined as extended periods of abstinence and longer time to relapse, compared with males. However, the underlying metabolic effects of opioid withdrawal and replacement have not been examined. Therefore, using 18 FDG and microPET, we measured differences in regional brain glucose metabolism in males and females following morphine withdrawal and subsequent methadone or buprenorphine replacement. In both males and females, spontaneous opioid withdrawal altered glucose metabolism in regions associated with reward and drug dependence. Specifically, metabolic increases in the thalamus, as well as metabolic decreases in insular cortex and the periaqueductal gray, were noted. However, compared with males, females exhibited increased metabolism in the preoptic area, primary motor cortex, and the amygdala, and decreased metabolism in the caudate/putamen and medial geniculate nucleus. Methadone and buprenorphine initially abolished these changes uniformly, but subsequently produced their own regional metabolic alterations that varied by treatment and sex. Compared with sex-matched control animals undergoing spontaneous opioid withdrawal, male animals treated with methadone exhibited increased caudate/putamen metabolism, whereas buprenorphine produced increased ventral striatum and motor cortex metabolism in females, and increased ventral striatum and somatosensory cortex metabolism in males. Notably, when treatment effects were compared between sexes, methadone-treated females showed increased cingulate cortex metabolism, whereas buprenorphine-treated females showed decreased metabolism in cingulate cortex and increased metabolism in the globus pallidus. Perhaps the initial similarities in males and females underlie early therapeutic efficacy, whereas these posttreatment sex differences contribute to clinical treatment failure more commonly experienced by the former.
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Functional magnetic resonance imaging in primary writing tremor and writer’s cramp: A pilot study
Sahni, Hirdesh; Jayakumar, Peruvumba N.; Pal, Pramod Kumar
2010-01-01
Objectives: The precise pathophysiology of primary writing tremor (PWT) and writer’s cramp (WC) is not known. The aim of this study is to compare the cerebral activation patterns in patients of PWT, WC and healthy controls, during a task of signing on paper, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Materials and Methods: Six subjects with PWT, three with WC and six healthy volunteers were examined using a 1.5-Tesla scanner. The paradigm consisted of three times repetition of a set of period of rest and activity. Each set consisted of 10 blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) echo-planar imaging (EPI) acquisitions at rest followed by 10 BOLD EPI acquisitions while signing their names on paper using the dominant right hand. Entire brain was covered. SPM99 analysis was done. Results: In comparison to the healthy controls, the following differences in cerebral activation were noted in the patients: (a) primary and supplementary motor areas showed overactivation in patients of PWT and underactivation in patients of WC, (b) the cingulate motor area showed underactivation in patients of PWT and overactivation in patients of WC and (c) the cerebellar activity was reduced in both WC and PWT. Conclusion: Our preliminary findings suggest that the cerebral and cerebellar activation patterns in PWT and WC during signing on paper are distinct from each other and from healthy controls. There may be cerebellar dysfunction in addition to motor dysfunctions in the pathogenesis of these disorders. PMID:21085530
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Picó-Pérez, Maria; Alonso, Pino; Contreras-Rodríguez, Oren; Martínez-Zalacaín, Ignacio; López-Solà, Clara; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Menchón, José M; Soriano-Mas, Carles
2017-09-02
Neuroimaging functional connectivity (FC) analyses have shown that the negative coupling between the amygdala and cortical regions is linked to better emotion regulation in experimental settings. Nevertheless, no studies have examined the association between resting-state cortico-amygdalar FC and the dispositional use of emotion regulation strategies. We aim at assessing the relationship between the resting-state FC patterns of two different amygdala territories, with different functions in the emotion response process, and trait-like measures of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Forty-eight healthy controls completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. FC maps of basolateral and centromedial amygdala (BLA/CMA) with different cortical areas were estimated with a seed-based approach, and were then correlated with reappraisal and suppression scores from the ERQ. FC between left BLA and left insula and right BLA and the supplementary motor area (SMA) correlated inversely with reappraisal scores. Conversely, FC between left BLA and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex correlated directly with suppression scores. Finally, FC between left CMA and the SMA was inversely correlated with suppression. Top-down regulation from the SMA seems to account for the dispositional use of both reappraisal and suppression depending on the specific amygdala nucleus being modulated. In addition, modulation of amygdala activity from cingulate and insular cortices seem to also account for the habitual use of the different emotion regulation strategies.
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Amlung, Michael; Sweet, Lawrence H; Acker, John; Brown, Courtney L; MacKillop, James
2014-07-01
Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an important behavioral process in alcohol use disorders (AUDs), reflecting incapacity to delay gratification. Recent work in neuroeconomics has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms supporting DRD, but applications of neuroeconomics in relation to AUDs have been limited. This study examined the neural mechanisms of DRD preferences in AUDs, with emphasis on dissociating activation patterns based on DRD choice type and level of cognitive conflict. Heavy drinking adult men with (n = 13) and without (n = 12) a diagnosis of an AUD completed a monetary DRD task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participant responses were coded based on choice type (impulsive versus restrained) and level of cognitive conflict (easy versus hard). AUD+ participants exhibited significantly more impulsive DRD decision-making. Significant activation during DRD was found in several decision-making regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and posterior cingulate. An axis of cognitive conflict was also observed, with hard choices associated with anterior cingulate cortex and easy choices associated with activation in supplementary motor area. AUD+ individuals exhibited significant hyperactivity in regions associated with cognitive control (DLPFC) and prospective thought (PPC) and exhibited less task-related deactivation of areas associated with the brain's default network during DRD decisions. This study provides further clarification of the brain systems supporting DRD in general and in relation to AUDs. © 2012 The Authors, Addiction Biology © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.
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Beckmann, Matthias; Johansen-Berg, Heidi; Rushworth, Matthew F S
2009-01-28
Whole-brain neuroimaging studies have demonstrated regional variations in function within human cingulate cortex. At the same time, regional variations in cingulate anatomical connections have been found in animal models. It has, however, been difficult to estimate the relationship between connectivity and function throughout the whole cingulate cortex within the human brain. In this study, magnetic resonance diffusion tractography was used to investigate cingulate probabilistic connectivity in the human brain with two approaches. First, an algorithm was used to search for regional variations in the probabilistic connectivity profiles of all cingulate cortex voxels with the whole of the rest of the brain. Nine subregions with distinctive connectivity profiles were identified. It was possible to characterize several distinct areas in the dorsal cingulate sulcal region. Several distinct regions were also found in subgenual and perigenual cortex. Second, the probabilities of connection between cingulate cortex and 11 predefined target regions of interest were calculated. Cingulate voxels with a high probability of connection with the different targets formed separate clusters within cingulate cortex. Distinct connectivity fingerprints characterized the likelihood of connections between the extracingulate target regions and the nine cingulate subregions. Last, a meta-analysis of 171 functional studies reporting cingulate activation was performed. Seven different cognitive conditions were selected and peak activation coordinates were plotted to create maps of functional localization within the cingulate cortex. Regional functional specialization was found to be related to regional differences in probabilistic anatomical connectivity.
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Why musical memory can be preserved in advanced Alzheimer's disease.
Jacobsen, Jörn-Henrik; Stelzer, Johannes; Fritz, Thomas Hans; Chételat, Gael; La Joie, Renaud; Turner, Robert
2015-08-01
Musical memory is considered to be partly independent from other memory systems. In Alzheimer's disease and different types of dementia, musical memory is surprisingly robust, and likewise for brain lesions affecting other kinds of memory. However, the mechanisms and neural substrates of musical memory remain poorly understood. In a group of 32 normal young human subjects (16 male and 16 female, mean age of 28.0 ± 2.2 years), we performed a 7 T functional magnetic resonance imaging study of brain responses to music excerpts that were unknown, recently known (heard an hour before scanning), and long-known. We used multivariate pattern classification to identify brain regions that encode long-term musical memory. The results showed a crucial role for the caudal anterior cingulate and the ventral pre-supplementary motor area in the neural encoding of long-known as compared with recently known and unknown music. In the second part of the study, we analysed data of three essential Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in a region of interest derived from our musical memory findings (caudal anterior cingulate cortex and ventral pre-supplementary motor area) in 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease (10 male and 10 female, mean age of 68.9 ± 9.0 years) and 34 healthy control subjects (14 male and 20 female, mean age of 68.1 ± 7.2 years). Interestingly, the regions identified to encode musical memory corresponded to areas that showed substantially minimal cortical atrophy (as measured with magnetic resonance imaging), and minimal disruption of glucose-metabolism (as measured with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography), as compared to the rest of the brain. However, amyloid-β deposition (as measured with (18)F-flobetapir positron emission tomography) within the currently observed regions of interest was not substantially less than in the rest of the brain, which suggests that the regions of interest were still in a very early stage of the expected course of biomarker development in these regions (amyloid accumulation → hypometabolism → cortical atrophy) and therefore relatively well preserved. Given the observed overlap of musical memory regions with areas that are relatively spared in Alzheimer's disease, the current findings may thus explain the surprising preservation of musical memory in this neurodegenerative disease. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Liu, Xiaolin; Lauer, Kathryn K; Douglas Ward, B; Roberts, Christopher; Liu, Suyan; Gollapudy, Suneeta; Rohloff, Robert; Gross, William; Chen, Guangyu; Xu, Zhan; Binder, Jeffrey R; Li, Shi-Jiang; Hudetz, Anthony G
2017-02-15
Recent studies indicate that spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals are driven by the slow (<0.1Hz) modulation of ongoing neuronal activity synchronized locally and across remote brain regions. How regional LFFs of the BOLD fMRI signal are altered during anesthetic-induced alteration of consciousness is not well understood. Using rs-fMRI in 15 healthy participants, we show that during administration of propofol to achieve loss of behavioral responsiveness indexing unconsciousness, the fractional amplitude of LFF (fALFF index) was reduced in comparison to wakeful baseline in the anterior frontal regions, temporal pole, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala. Such changes were absent in large areas of the motor, parietal, and sensory cortices. During light sedation characterized by the preservation of overt responsiveness and therefore consciousness, fALFF was reduced in the subcortical areas, temporal pole, medial orbital frontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and cerebellum. Between light sedation and deep sedation, fALFF was reduced primarily in the medial and dorsolateral frontal areas. The preferential reduction of LFFs in the anterior frontal regions is consistent with frontal to sensory-motor cortical disconnection and may contribute to the suppression of consciousness during general anesthesia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Liu, Xiaolin; Lauer, Kathryn K.; Ward, B. Douglas; Roberts, Christopher; Liu, Suyan; Gollapudy, Suneeta; Rohloff, Robert; Gross, William; Chen, Guangyu; Xu, Zhan; Binder, Jeffrey R.; Li, Shi-Jiang; Hudetz, Anthony G.
2017-01-01
Recent studies indicate that spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals are driven by the slow (<0.1 Hz) modulation of ongoing neuronal activity synchronized locally and across remote brain regions. How regional LFFs of the BOLD fMRI signal are altered during anesthetic-induced alteration of consciousness is not well understood. Using rs-fMRI in 15 healthy participants, we show that during administration of propofol to achieve loss of behavioral responsiveness indexing unconsciousness, the fractional amplitude of LFF (fALFF index) was reduced in comparison to wakeful baseline in the anterior frontal regions, temporal pole, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala. Such changes were absent in large areas of the motor, parietal, and sensory cortices. During light sedation characterized by the preservation of overt responsiveness and therefore consciousness, fALFF was reduced in the subcortical areas, temporal pole, medial orbital frontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and cerebellum. Between light sedation and deep sedation, fALFF was reduced primarily in the medial and dorsolateral frontal areas. The preferential reduction of LFFs in the anterior frontal regions is consistent with frontal to sensory-motor cortical disconnection and may contribute to the suppression of consciousness during general anesthesia. PMID:27993673
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Spindle neurons of the human anterior cingulate cortex
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Nimchinsky, E. A.; Vogt, B. A.; Morrison, J. H.; Hof, P. R.; Bloom, F. E. (Principal Investigator)
1995-01-01
The human anterior cingulate cortex is distinguished by the presence of an unusual cell type, a large spindle neuron in layer Vb. This cell has been noted numerous times in the historical literature but has not been studied with modern neuroanatomic techniques. For instance, details regarding the neuronal class to which these cells belong and regarding their precise distribution along both ventrodorsal and anteroposterior axes of the cingulate gyrus are still lacking. In the present study, morphological features and the anatomic distribution of this cell type were studied using computer-assisted mapping and immunocytochemical techniques. Spindle neurons are restricted to the subfields of the anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann's area 24), exhibiting a greater density in anterior portions of this area than in posterior portions, and tapering off in the transition zone between anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, a majority of the spindle cells at any level is located in subarea 24b on the gyral surface. Immunocytochemical analysis revealed that the neurofilament protein triple was present in a large percentage of these neurons and that they did not contain calcium-binding proteins. Injections of the carbocyanine dye DiI into the cingulum bundle revealed that these cells are projection neurons. Finally, spindle cells were consistently affected in Alzheimer's disease cases, with an overall loss of about 60%. Taken together, these observations indicate that the spindle cells of the human cingulate cortex represent a morphological subpopulation of pyramidal neurons whose restricted distribution may be associated with functionally distinct areas.
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Müller-Vahl, Kirsten R; Grosskreutz, Julian; Prell, Tino; Kaufmann, Jörn; Bodammer, Nils; Peschel, Thomas
2014-01-07
Despite strong evidence that the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome (TS) involves structural and functional disturbances of the basal ganglia and cortical frontal areas, findings from in vivo imaging studies have provided conflicting results. In this study we used whole brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the microstructural integrity of white matter pathways and brain tissue in 19 unmedicated, adult, male patients with TS "only" (without comorbid psychiatric disorders) and 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Compared to normal controls, TS patients showed a decrease in the fractional anisotropy index (FA) bilaterally in the medial frontal gyrus, the pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus, the middle occipital gyrus, the right cingulate gyrus, and the medial premotor cortex. Increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were detected in the left cingulate gyrus, prefrontal areas, left precentral gyrus, and left putamen. There was a negative correlation between tic severity and FA values in the left superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus bilaterally, cingulate gyrus bilaterally, and ventral posterior lateral nucleus of the right thalamus, and a positive correlation in the body of the corpus callosum, left thalamus, right superior temporal gyrus, and left parahippocampal gyrus. There was also a positive correlation between regional ADC values and tic severity in the left cingulate gyrus, putamen bilaterally, medial frontal gyrus bilaterally, left precentral gyrus, and ventral anterior nucleus of the left thalamus. Our results confirm prior studies suggesting that tics are caused by alterations in prefrontal areas, thalamus and putamen, while changes in the cingulate gyrus seem to reflect secondary compensatory mechanisms. Due to the study design, influences from comorbidities, gender, medication and age can be excluded.
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Deconinck, Frederik J A; Smorenburg, Ana R P; Benham, Alex; Ledebt, Annick; Feltham, Max G; Savelsbergh, Geert J P
2015-05-01
Mirror visual feedback (MVF), a phenomenon where movement of one limb is perceived as movement of the other limb, has the capacity to alleviate phantom limb pain or promote motor recovery of the upper limbs after stroke. The tool has received great interest from health professionals; however, a clear understanding of the mechanisms underlying the neural recovery owing to MVF is lacking. We performed a systematic review to assess the effect of MVF on brain activation during a motor task. We searched PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases for neuroimaging studies investigating the effect of MVF on the brain. Key details for each study regarding participants, imaging methods, and results were extracted. The database search yielded 347 article, of which we identified 33 suitable for inclusion. Compared with a control condition, MVF increases neural activity in areas involved with allocation of attention and cognitive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, S1 and S2, precuneus). Apart from activation in the superior temporal gyrus and premotor cortex, there is little evidence that MVF activates the mirror neuron system. MVF increases the excitability of the ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) that projects to the "untrained" hand/arm. There is also evidence for ipsilateral projections from the contralateral M1 to the untrained/affected hand as a consequence of training with MVF. MVF can exert a strong influence on the motor network, mainly through increased cognitive penetration in action control, though the variance in methodology and the lack of studies that shed light on the functional connectivity between areas still limit insight into the actual underlying mechanisms. © The Author(s) 2014.
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Carvalho, Fabiana M.; Chaim, Khallil T.; Sanchez, Tiago A.; de Araujo, Draulio B.
2016-01-01
The updating of prospective internal models is necessary to accurately predict future observations. Uncertainty-driven internal model updating has been studied using a variety of perceptual paradigms, and have revealed engagement of frontal and parietal areas. In a distinct literature, studies on temporal expectations have also characterized a time-perception network, which relies on temporal orienting of attention. However, the updating of prospective internal models is highly dependent on temporal attention, since temporal attention must be reoriented according to the current environmental demands. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate to what extend the continuous manipulation of temporal prediction would recruit update-related areas and the time-perception network areas. We developed an exogenous temporal task that combines rhythm cueing and time-to-contact principles to generate implicit temporal expectation. Two patterns of motion were created: periodic (simple harmonic oscillation) and non-periodic (harmonic oscillation with variable acceleration). We found that non-periodic motion engaged the exogenous temporal orienting network, which includes the ventral premotor and inferior parietal cortices, and the cerebellum, as well as the presupplementary motor area, which has previously been implicated in internal model updating, and the motion-sensitive area MT+. Interestingly, we found a right-hemisphere preponderance suggesting the engagement of explicit timing mechanisms. We also show that the periodic motion condition, when compared to the non-periodic motion, activated a particular subset of the default-mode network (DMN) midline areas, including the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PC). It suggests that the DMN plays a role in processing contextually expected information and supports recent evidence that the DMN may reflect the validation of prospective internal models and predictive control. Taken together, our findings suggest that continuous manipulation of temporal predictions engages representations of temporal prediction as well as task-independent updating of internal models. PMID:27313526
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Sanada, Luciana Sayuri; Sato, Karina Laurenti; Machado, Nathalia Leilane Berto; Carmo, Elisabete de Cássia do; Sluka, Kathleen A; Fazan, Valeria Paula Sassoli
2014-06-01
We investigated if changes in glial activity in cortical areas that process nociceptive stimuli persisted in adult rats after neonatal injury. Neonatal pain was induced by repetitive needle prickling on the right paw, twice per day for 15 days starting at birth. Wistar rats received either neonatal pain or tactile stimulation and were tested behaviorally for mechanical withdrawal thresholds of the paws and gait alterations, after 15 (P15) or 180 (P180) days of life. Brains from rats on P15 and P180 were immunostained for glial markers (GFAP, MCP-1, OX-42) and the following cortical areas were analyzed for immunoreactivity density: prefrontal, anterior insular, anterior cingulated, somatosensory and motor cortices. Withdrawal thresholds of the stimulated paw remained decreased on P180 after neonatal pain when compared to controls. Neonatal pain animals showed increased density for both GFAP and MCP-1 staining, but not for OX-42, in all investigated cortical areas on both experimental times (P15 and P180). Painful stimuli in the neonatal period produced pain behaviors immediately after injury that persisted in adult life, and was accompanied by increase in the glial markers density in cortical areas that process and interpret pain. Thus, long-lasting changes in cortical glial activity could be, at least in part, responsible for the persistent hyperalgesia in adult rats that suffered from neonatal pain. Copyright © 2014 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Humor drawings evoked temporal and spectral EEG processes
Kuo, Hsien-Chu; Chuang, Shang-Wen
2017-01-01
Abstract The study aimed to explore the humor processing elicited through the manipulation of artistic drawings. Using the Comprehension–Elaboration Theory of humor as the main research background, the experiment manipulated the head portraits of celebrities based on the independent variables of facial deformation (large/small) and addition of affective features (positive/negative). A 64-channel electroencephalography was recorded in 30 participants while viewing the incongruous drawings of celebrities. The electroencephalography temporal and spectral responses were measured during the three stages of humor which included incongruity detection, incongruity comprehension and elaboration of humor. Analysis of event-related potentials indicated that for humorous vs non-humorous drawings, facial deformation and the addition of affective features significantly affected the degree of humor elicited, specifically: large > small deformation; negative > positive affective features. The N170, N270, N400, N600-800 and N900-1200 components showed significant differences, particularly in the right prefrontal and frontal regions. Analysis of event-related spectral perturbation showed significant differences in the theta band evoked in the anterior cingulate cortex, parietal region and posterior cingulate cortex; and in the alpha and beta bands in the motor areas. These regions are involved in emotional processing, memory retrieval, and laughter and feelings of amusement induced by elaboration of the situation. PMID:28402573
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Functional changes of neural circuits in stroke patients with dysphagia: A meta-analysis.
Liu, Lu; Xiao, Yuan; Zhang, Wenjing; Yao, Li; Gao, Xin; Chandan, Shah; Lui, Su
2017-08-01
Dysphagia is a common problem in stroke patients with unclear pathogenesis. Several recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies had been carried out to explore the cerebral functional changes in dysphagic stroke patients. The aim of this study was to analysis these imaging findings using a meta-analysis. We used seed-based d mapping (SDM) to conduct a meta-analysis for dysphagic stroke patients prior to any kind of special treatment for dysphagia. A systematic search was conducted for the relevant studies. SDM meta-analysis method was used to examine regions of increased and decreased functional activation between dysphagic stroke patients and healthy controls. Finally, six studies including 81 stroke patients with dysphagia and 78 healthy controls met the inclusion standards. When compared with healthy controls, stroke patients with dysphagia showed hyperactivation in left cingulate gyrus, left precentral gyrus and right posterior cingulate gyrus, and hypoactivation in right cuneus and left middle frontal gyrus. The hyperactivity of precentral gyrus is crucial in stroke patients with dysphagia and may be associated with the severity of stroke. Besides the motor areas, the default-mode network regions (DMN) and affective network regions (AN) circuits are also involved in dysphagia after stroke. © 2017 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
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Ganesh, Shanti; van Schie, Hein T.; De Bruijn, Ellen R. A.; Bekkering, Harold
2009-01-01
The ability to detect and process errors made by others plays an important role is many social contexts. The capacity to process errors is typically found to rely on sites in the medial frontal cortex. However, it remains to be determined whether responses at these sites are driven primarily by action errors themselves or by the affective consequences normally associated with their commission. Using an experimental paradigm that disentangles action errors and the valence of their affective consequences, we demonstrate that sites in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), including the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), respond to action errors independent of the valence of their consequences. The strength of this response was negatively correlated with the empathic concern subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. We also demonstrate a main effect of self-identification by showing that errors committed by friends and foes elicited significantly different BOLD responses in a separate region of the middle anterior cingulate cortex (mACC). These results suggest that the way we look at others plays a critical role in determining patterns of brain activation during error observation. These findings may have important implications for general theories of error processing. PMID:19015079
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Prochnow, D; Bermúdez i Badia, S; Schmidt, J; Duff, A; Brunheim, S; Kleiser, R; Seitz, R J; Verschure, P F M J
2013-05-01
The Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS) has been designed as a flexible, virtual-reality (VR)-based device for rehabilitation of neurological patients. Recently, training of visuomotor processing with the RGS was shown to effectively improve arm function in acute and chronic stroke patients. It is assumed that the VR-based training protocol related to RGS creates conditions that aid recovery by virtue of the human mirror neuron system. Here, we provide evidence for this assumption by identifying the brain areas involved in controlling the catching of approaching colored balls in the virtual environment of the RGS. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of 18 right-handed healthy subjects (24 ± 3 years) in both active and imagination conditions. We observed that the imagery of target catching was related to activation of frontal, parietal, temporal, cingulate and cerebellar regions. We interpret these activations in relation to object processing, attention, mirror mechanisms, and motor intention. Active catching followed an anticipatory mode, and resulted in significantly less activity in the motor control areas. Our results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis underlying RGS that this novel neurorehabilitation approach engages human mirror mechanisms that can be employed for visuomotor training. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Aznárez-Sanado, Maite; Fernández-Seara, Maria A; Loayza, Francis R; Pastor, Maria A
2013-03-01
To elucidate differences in activity and connectivity during early learning due to the performing hand. Twenty right-handed subjects were recruited. The neural correlates of explicit visuospatial learning executed with the right, the left hand, and bimanually were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Connectivity analyses were carried out using the psychophysiological interactions model, considering right and left anterior putamen as index regions. A common neural network was found for the three tasks during learning. Main activity increases were located in posterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, parietal cortex, anterior putamen, and cerebellum (IV-V), whereas activity decrements were observed in prefrontal regions. However, the left hand task showed a greater recruitment of left hippocampal areas when compared with the other tasks. In addition, enhanced connectivity between the right anterior putamen and motor cortical and cerebellar regions was found for the left hand when compared with the right hand task. An additional recruitment of brain regions and increased striato-cortical and striato-cerebellar functional connections is needed when early learning is performed with the nondominant hand. In addition, access to brain resources during learning may be directed by the dominant hand in the bimanual task. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Electrical activity of the cingulate cortex. II. Cholinergic modulation.
Borst, J G; Leung, L W; MacFabe, D F
1987-03-24
The role of the cholinergic innervation in the modulation of cingulate electrical activity was studied by means of pharmacological manipulations and brain lesions. In the normal rat, an irregular slow activity (ISA) accompanied with EEG-spikes was recorded in the cingulate cortex during immobility as compared to walking. Atropine sulfate, but not atropine methyl nitrate, increased ISA and the frequency of cingulate EEG-spikes. Pilocarpine suppressed ISA and EEG-spikes during immobility, and induced a slow (4-7 Hz) theta rhythm. Unilateral or bilateral lesions of the substantia innominata and ventral globus pallidus area using kainic acid did not significantly change the cingulate EEG or its relation to behavior. Large electrolytic lesions of the medial septal nuclei and vertical limbs of the diagonal band generally decreased or abolished all theta activity in the cingulate cortex and the hippocampus. However, in 5 rats the cingulate theta rhythm increased while the hippocampal theta disappeared after a medial septal lesion. The large, postlesion cingulate theta, accompanied by sharp EEG-spikes during its negative phase, is an unequivocal demonstration of the existence of a theta rhythm in the cingulate cortex, independent of the hippocampal rhythm. Cholinergic afferents from the medial septum and diagonal band nuclei are inferred to be responsible for the behavioral suppression of cingulate EEG-spikes and ISA, and partially for the generation of a local cingulate theta rhythm. However, an atropine-resistant pathway and a theta-suppressing pathway, possibly coming from the medial septum or the hippocampus, may also be important in cingulate theta generation.
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“Cerebellar contribution to visuo-attentional alpha rhythm: insights from weightlessness”
Cebolla, A. M.; Petieau, M.; Dan, B.; Balazs, L.; McIntyre, J.; Cheron, G.
2016-01-01
Human brain adaptation in weightlessness follows the necessity to reshape the dynamic integration of the neural information acquired in the new environment. This basic aspect was here studied by the electroencephalogram (EEG) dynamics where oscillatory modulations were measured during a visuo-attentional state preceding a visuo-motor docking task. Astronauts in microgravity conducted the experiment in free-floating aboard the International Space Station, before the space flight and afterwards. We observed stronger power decrease (~ERD: event related desynchronization) of the ~10 Hz oscillation from the occipital-parietal (alpha ERD) to the central areas (mu ERD). Inverse source modelling of the stronger alpha ERD revealed a shift from the posterior cingulate cortex (BA31, from the default mode network) on Earth to the precentral cortex (BA4, primary motor cortex) in weightlessness. We also observed significant contribution of the vestibular network (BA40, BA32, and BA39) and cerebellum (lobule V, VI). We suggest that due to the high demands for the continuous readjustment of an appropriate body posture in free-floating, this visuo-attentional state required more contribution from the motor cortex. The cerebellum and the vestibular network involvement in weightlessness might support the correction signals processing necessary for postural stabilization, and the increased demand to integrate incongruent vestibular information. PMID:27883068
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Neural correlates of reward processing in adults with 22q11 deletion syndrome.
van Duin, Esther D A; Goossens, Liesbet; Hernaus, Dennis; da Silva Alves, Fabiana; Schmitz, Nicole; Schruers, Koen; van Amelsvoort, Therese
2016-01-01
22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is caused by a microdeletion on chromosome 22q11.2 and associated with an increased risk to develop psychosis. The gene coding for catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) is located at the deleted region, resulting in disrupted dopaminergic neurotransmission in 22q11DS, which may contribute to the increased vulnerability for psychosis. A dysfunctional motivational reward system is considered one of the salient features in psychosis and thought to be related to abnormal dopaminergic neurotransmission. The functional anatomy of the brain reward circuitry has not yet been investigated in 22q11DS. This study aims to investigate neural activity during anticipation of reward and loss in adult patients with 22q11DS. We measured blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activity in 16 patients with 22q11DS and 12 healthy controls during a monetary incentive delay task using a 3T Philips Intera MRI system. Data were analysed using SPM8. During anticipation of reward, the 22q11DS group alone displayed significant activation in bilateral middle frontal and temporal brain regions. Compared to healthy controls, significantly less activation in bilateral cingulate gyrus extending to premotor, primary motor and somatosensory areas was found. During anticipation of loss, the 22q11DS group displayed activity in the left middle frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, and relative to controls, they showed reduced brain activation in bilateral (pre)cuneus and left posterior cingulate. Within the 22q11DS group, COMT Val hemizygotes displayed more activation compared to Met hemizygotes in right posterior cingulate and bilateral parietal regions during anticipation of reward. During anticipation of loss, COMT Met hemizygotes compared to Val hemizygotes showed more activation in bilateral insula, striatum and left anterior cingulate. This is the first study to investigate reward processing in 22q11DS. Our preliminary results suggest that people with 22q11DS engage a fronto-temporal neural network. Compared to healthy controls, people with 22q11DS primarily displayed reduced activity in medial frontal regions during reward anticipation. COMT hemizygosity affects responsivity of the reward system in this condition. Alterations in reward processing partly underlain by the dopamine system may play a role in susceptibility for psychosis in 22q11DS.
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Regional brain responses associated with drinking water during thirst and after its satiation
Saker, Pascal; Farrell, Michael J.; Adib, Faiz R. M.; Egan, Gary F.; McKinley, Michael J.; Denton, Derek A.
2014-01-01
The instinct of thirst was a cardinal element in the successful colonization by vertebrates of the dry land of the planet, which began in the Ordovician period about 400 million y ago. It is a commonplace experience in humans that drinking water in response to thirst following fluid loss is a pleasant experience. However, continuing to drink water once thirst has been satiated becomes unpleasant and, eventually, quite aversive. Functional MRI experiments reported here show pleasantness of drinking is associated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 32) and the orbitofrontal cortex. The unpleasantness and aversion of overdrinking is associated with activation in the midcingulate cortex, insula, amygdala, and periaqueductal gray. Drinking activations in the putamen and cerebellum also correlated with the unpleasantness of water, and the motor cortex showed increased activation during overdrinking compared with drinking during thirst. These activations in motor regions may possibly reflect volitional effort to conduct compliant drinking in the face of regulatory mechanisms inhibiting intake. The results suggestive of a specific inhibitory system in the control of drinking are unique. PMID:24706817
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Regional brain responses associated with drinking water during thirst and after its satiation.
Saker, Pascal; Farrell, Michael J; Adib, Faiz R M; Egan, Gary F; McKinley, Michael J; Denton, Derek A
2014-04-08
The instinct of thirst was a cardinal element in the successful colonization by vertebrates of the dry land of the planet, which began in the Ordovician period about 400 million y ago. It is a commonplace experience in humans that drinking water in response to thirst following fluid loss is a pleasant experience. However, continuing to drink water once thirst has been satiated becomes unpleasant and, eventually, quite aversive. Functional MRI experiments reported here show pleasantness of drinking is associated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 32) and the orbitofrontal cortex. The unpleasantness and aversion of overdrinking is associated with activation in the midcingulate cortex, insula, amygdala, and periaqueductal gray. Drinking activations in the putamen and cerebellum also correlated with the unpleasantness of water, and the motor cortex showed increased activation during overdrinking compared with drinking during thirst. These activations in motor regions may possibly reflect volitional effort to conduct compliant drinking in the face of regulatory mechanisms inhibiting intake. The results suggestive of a specific inhibitory system in the control of drinking are unique.
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Altered striatal intrinsic functional connectivity in pediatric anxiety
Dorfman, Julia; Benson, Brenda; Farber, Madeline; Pine, Daniel; Ernst, Monique
2016-01-01
Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders of adolescence. Behavioral and task-based imaging studies implicate altered reward system function, including striatal dysfunction, in adolescent anxiety. However, no study has yet examined alterations of the striatal intrinsic functional connectivity in adolescent anxiety disorders. The current study examines striatal intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC), using six bilateral striatal seeds, among 35 adolescents with anxiety disorders and 36 healthy comparisons. Anxiety is associated with abnormally low iFC within the striatum (e.g., between nucleus accumbens and caudate nucleus), and between the striatum and prefrontal regions, including subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, posterior insula and supplementary motor area. The current findings extend prior behavioral and task-based imaging research, and provide novel data implicating decreased striatal iFC in adolescent anxiety. Alterations of striatal neurocircuitry identified in this study may contribute to the perturbations in the processing of motivational, emotional, interoceptive, and motor information seen in pediatric anxiety disorders. This pattern of the striatal iFC perturbations can guide future research on specific mechanisms underlying anxiety. PMID:27004799
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Wong, Chelsea N.; Chaddock-Heyman, Laura; Voss, Michelle W.; Burzynska, Agnieszka Z.; Basak, Chandramallika; Erickson, Kirk I.; Prakash, Ruchika S.; Szabo-Reed, Amanda N.; Phillips, Siobhan M.; Wojcicki, Thomas; Mailey, Emily L.; McAuley, Edward; Kramer, Arthur F.
2015-01-01
Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better cognitive performance and enhanced brain activation. Yet, the extent to which cardiorespiratory fitness-related brain activation is associated with better cognitive performance is not well understood. In this cross-sectional study, we examined whether the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and executive function was mediated by greater prefrontal cortex activation in healthy older adults. Brain activation was measured during dual-task performance with functional magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 128 healthy older adults (59–80 years). Higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with greater activation during dual-task processing in several brain areas including the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor cortex (ACC/SMA), thalamus and basal ganglia, right motor/somatosensory cortex and middle frontal gyrus, and left somatosensory cortex, controlling for age, sex, education, and gray matter volume. Of these regions, greater ACC/SMA activation mediated the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and dual-task performance. We provide novel evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness may support cognitive performance by facilitating brain activation in a core region critical for executive function. PMID:26321949
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Friedman, Amy L.; Burgess, Ashley; Ramaseshan, Karthik; Easter, Phil; Khatib, Dalal; Chowdury, Asadur; Arnold, Paul D.; Hanna, Gregory L.; Rosenberg, David R.; Diwadkar, Vaibhav A.
2017-01-01
In an effort to elucidate differences in functioning brain networks between youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder and controls, we used fMRI signals to analyze brain network interactions of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during visually coordinated motor responses. Subjects made a uni-manual response to briefly presented probes, at periodic (allowing participants to maintain a “motor set”) or random intervals (demanding reactive responses). Network interactions were assessed using psycho-physiological interaction (PPI), a basic model of functional connectivity evaluating modulatory effects of the dACC in the context of each task condition. Across conditions, OCD were characterized by hyper-modulation by the dACC, with loci alternatively observed as both condition-general and condition-specific. Thus, dynamically driven task demands during simple uni-manual motor control induce compensatory network interactions in cortical-thalamic regions in OCD. These findings support previous research in OCD showing compensatory network interactions during complex memory tasks, but establish that these network effects are observed during basic sensorimotor processing. Thus, these patterns of network dysfunction may in fact be independent of the complexity of tasks used to induce brain network activity. Hypothesis-driven approaches coupled with sophisticated network analyses are a highly valuable approach in using fMRI to uncover mechanisms in disorders like OCD. PMID:27992792
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Dissociating medial frontal and posterior cingulate activity during self-reflection.
Johnson, Marcia K; Raye, Carol L; Mitchell, Karen J; Touryan, Sharon R; Greene, Erich J; Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan
2006-06-01
Motivationally significant agendas guide perception, thought and behaviour, helping one to define a 'self' and to regulate interactions with the environment. To investigate neural correlates of thinking about such agendas, we asked participants to think about their hopes and aspirations (promotion focus) or their duties and obligations (prevention focus) during functional magnetic resonance imaging and compared these self-reflection conditions with a distraction condition in which participants thought about non-self-relevant items. Self-reflection resulted in greater activity than distraction in dorsomedial frontal/anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, consistent with previous findings of activity in these areas during self-relevant thought. For additional medial areas, we report new evidence of a double dissociation of function between medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex, which showed relatively greater activity to thinking about hopes and aspirations, and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, which showed relatively greater activity to thinking about duties and obligations. One possibility is that activity in medial prefrontal cortex is associated with instrumental or agentic self-reflection, whereas posterior medial cortex is associated with experiential self-reflection. Another, not necessarily mutually exclusive, possibility is that medial prefrontal cortex is associated with a more inward-directed focus, while posterior cingulate is associated with a more outward-directed, social or contextual focus.
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Dissociating medial frontal and posterior cingulate activity during self-reflection
Johnson, Marcia K.; Raye, Carol L.; Mitchell, Karen J.; Touryan, Sharon R.; Greene, Erich J.; Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan
2006-01-01
Motivationally significant agendas guide perception, thought and behaviour, helping one to define a ‘self’ and to regulate interactions with the environment. To investigate neural correlates of thinking about such agendas, we asked participants to think about their hopes and aspirations (promotion focus) or their duties and obligations (prevention focus) during functional magnetic resonance imaging and compared these self-reflection conditions with a distraction condition in which participants thought about non-self-relevant items. Self-reflection resulted in greater activity than distraction in dorsomedial frontal/anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, consistent with previous findings of activity in these areas during self-relevant thought. For additional medial areas, we report new evidence of a double dissociation of function between medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex, which showed relatively greater activity to thinking about hopes and aspirations, and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, which showed relatively greater activity to thinking about duties and obligations. One possibility is that activity in medial prefrontal cortex is associated with instrumental or agentic self-reflection, whereas posterior medial cortex is associated with experiential self-reflection. Another, not necessarily mutually exclusive, possibility is that medial prefrontal cortex is associated with a more inward-directed focus, while posterior cingulate is associated with a more outward-directed, social or contextual focus. PMID:18574518
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Sun, Yawen; Sun, Jinhua; Zhou, Yan; Ding, Weina; Chen, Xue; Zhuang, Zhiguo; Xu, Jianrong; Du, Yasong
2014-10-24
The aim of the current study was to investigate the utility of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) in the detection of gray matter (GM) alterations in people suffering from Internet Gaming Addiction (IGA). DKI was applied to 18 subjects with IGA and to 21 healthy controls (HC). Whole-brain voxel-based analyses were performed with the following derived parameters: mean kurtosis metrics (MK), radial kurtosis (K⊥), and axial kurtosis (K//). A significance threshold was set at P <0.05, AlphaSim corrected. Pearson's correlation was performed to investigate the correlations between the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and the DKI-derived metrics of regions that differed between groups. Additionally, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to detect GM-volume differences between the two groups. Compared with the HC group, the IGA group demonstrated diffusional kurtosis parameters that were significantly less in GM of the right anterolateral cerebellum, right inferior and superior temporal gyri, right supplementary motor area, middle occipital gyrus, right precuneus, postcentral gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, left lateral lingual gyrus, left paracentral lobule, left anterior cingulate cortex, and median cingulate cortex. The bilateral fusiform gyrus, insula, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and thalamus also exhibited less diffusional kurtosis in the IGA group. MK in the left PCC and K⊥ in the right PCC were positively correlated with CIAS scores. VBM showed that IGA subjects had higher GM volume in the right inferior and middle temporal gyri, and right parahippocampal gyrus, and lower GM volume in the left precentral gyrus. The lower diffusional kurtosis parameters in IGA suggest multiple differences in brain microstructure, which may contribute to the underlying pathophysiology of IGA. DKI may provide sensitive imaging biomarkers for assessing IGA severity.
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Resting-State Hyperperfusion of the Supplementary Motor Area in Catatonia.
Walther, Sebastian; Schäppi, Lea; Federspiel, Andrea; Bohlhalter, Stephan; Wiest, Roland; Strik, Werner; Stegmayer, Katharina
2017-09-01
Catatonia is a psychomotor syndrome that not only frequently occurs in the context of schizophrenia but also in other conditions. The neural correlates of catatonia remain unclear due to small-sized studies. We therefore compared resting-state cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and gray matter (GM) density between schizophrenia patients with current catatonia and without catatonia and healthy controls. We included 42 schizophrenia patients and 41 controls. Catatonia was currently present in 15 patients (scoring >2 items on the Bush Francis Catatonia Rating Scale screening). Patients did not differ in antipsychotic medication or positive symptoms. We acquired whole-brain rCBF using arterial spin labeling and GM density. We compared whole-brain perfusion and GM density over all and between the groups using 1-way ANCOVAs (F and T tests). We found a group effect (F test) of rCBF within bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left interior parietal lobe, and cerebellum. T tests indicated 1 cluster (SMA) to be specific to catatonia. Moreover, catatonia of excited and retarded types differed in SMA perfusion. Furthermore, increased catatonia severity was associated with higher perfusion in SMA. Finally, catatonia patients had a distinct pattern of GM density reduction compared to controls with prominent GM loss in frontal and insular cortices. SMA resting-state hyperperfusion is a marker of current catatonia in schizophrenia. This is highly compatible with a dysregulated motor system in catatonia, particularly affecting premotor areas. Moreover, SMA perfusion was differentially altered in retarded and excited catatonia subtypes, arguing for distinct pathobiology. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.
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Nakagawa, Jun; Takahashi, Muneyoshi; Okada, Rieko; Matsushima, Eisuke; Matsuda, Tetsuya
2015-01-01
Men, like the male of many animal species, use gifts to build satisfactory relationships with a desired woman. From the woman's perspective, all gifts are not always equally rewarding; the reward value of a gift depends on two factors: (1) the giver and (2) the type of the gift (the gift's social meaning). In this study, we investigated how these two factors interactively determine the reward value of a gift. Specifically, we examined how the neural processing for understanding a gift's social meaning is modulated by preferences for the giver. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which a female participant was asked to judge a gift from a male she was acquainted with in real life. We examined the interactive effects between (1) the female participant's attitude toward the male acquaintance (liked vs. uninteresting) and (2) the type of the gift (romantic [e.g., bouquet, earrings, and perfumes] vs. non-romantic [e.g., pencils, memo pad, and moneybox]). We found that preference for an acquaintance selectively modulated activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in response to romantic gifts, compared to non-romantic gifts. In contrast, if the woman was indifferent toward an acquaintance, no activity modulation was observed in this area for the same gifts. In addition, the ACC showed functional connectivity with the supplementary motor area/dorsal ACC (SMA/dACC), an area within the dorsal mediofrontal cortex, suggesting that it integrates action monitoring and emotional and cognitive processing in decision-making. These results suggest that attitude toward an opposite sex member has a modulatory role in recognizing the social meaning of material goods--preference for the member is a powerful modulator of social reward processing.
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Nakagawa, Jun; Takahashi, Muneyoshi; Okada, Rieko; Matsushima, Eisuke; Matsuda, Tetsuya
2015-01-01
Men, like the male of many animal species, use gifts to build satisfactory relationships with a desired woman. From the woman’s perspective, all gifts are not always equally rewarding; the reward value of a gift depends on two factors: (1) the giver and (2) the type of the gift (the gift’s social meaning). In this study, we investigated how these two factors interactively determine the reward value of a gift. Specifically, we examined how the neural processing for understanding a gift’s social meaning is modulated by preferences for the giver. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which a female participant was asked to judge a gift from a male she was acquainted with in real life. We examined the interactive effects between (1) the female participant’s attitude toward the male acquaintance (liked vs. uninteresting) and (2) the type of the gift (romantic [e.g., bouquet, earrings, and perfumes] vs. non-romantic [e.g., pencils, memo pad, and moneybox]). We found that preference for an acquaintance selectively modulated activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in response to romantic gifts, compared to non-romantic gifts. In contrast, if the woman was indifferent toward an acquaintance, no activity modulation was observed in this area for the same gifts. In addition, the ACC showed functional connectivity with the supplementary motor area/dorsal ACC (SMA/dACC), an area within the dorsal mediofrontal cortex, suggesting that it integrates action monitoring and emotional and cognitive processing in decision-making. These results suggest that attitude toward an opposite sex member has a modulatory role in recognizing the social meaning of material goods—preference for the member is a powerful modulator of social reward processing. PMID:26301954
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Choe, Katrina Y; Sanchez, Carlos F; Harris, Neil G; Otis, Thomas S; Mathews, Paul J
2018-06-01
Complex animal behavior is produced by dynamic interactions between discrete regions of the brain. As such, defining functional connections between brain regions is critical in gaining a full understanding of how the brain generates behavior. Evidence suggests that discrete regions of the cerebellar cortex functionally project to the forebrain, mediating long-range communication potentially important in motor and non-motor behaviors. However, the connectivity map remains largely incomplete owing to the challenge of driving both reliable and selective output from the cerebellar cortex, as well as the need for methods to detect region specific activation across the entire forebrain. Here we utilize a paired optogenetic and fMRI (ofMRI) approach to elucidate the downstream forebrain regions modulated by activating a region of the cerebellum that induces stereotypical, ipsilateral forelimb movements. We demonstrate with ofMRI, that activating this forelimb motor region of the cerebellar cortex results in functional activation of a variety of forebrain and midbrain areas of the brain, including the hippocampus and primary motor, retrosplenial and anterior cingulate cortices. We further validate these findings using optogenetic stimulation paired with multi-electrode array recordings and post-hoc staining for molecular markers of activated neurons (i.e. c-Fos). Together, these findings demonstrate that a single discrete region of the cerebellar cortex is capable of influencing motor output and the activity of a number of downstream forebrain as well as midbrain regions thought to be involved in different aspects of behavior. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Structural Brain Correlates Associated with Professional Handball Playing
Hänggi, Jürgen; Langer, Nicolas; Lutz, Kai; Birrer, Karin; Mérillat, Susan; Jäncke, Lutz
2015-01-01
Background There is no doubt that good bimanual performance is very important for skilled handball playing. The control of the non-dominant hand is especially demanding since efficient catching and throwing needs both hands. Methodology/Hypotheses We investigated training-induced structural neuroplasticity in professional handball players using several structural neuroimaging techniques and analytic approaches and also provide a review of the literature about sport-induced structural neuroplastic alterations. Structural brain adaptations were expected in regions relevant for motor and somatosensory processing such as the grey matter (GM) of the primary/secondary motor (MI/supplementary motor area, SMA) and somatosensory cortex (SI/SII), basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum and in the white matter (WM) of the corticospinal tract (CST) and corpus callosum, stronger in brain regions controlling the non-dominant left hand. Results Increased GM volume in handball players compared with control subjects were found in the right MI/SI, bilateral SMA/cingulate motor area, and left intraparietal sulcus. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and axial diffusivity were increased within the right CST in handball players compared with control women. Age of handball training commencement correlated inversely with GM volume in the right and left MI/SI and years of handball training experience correlated inversely with radial diffusivity in the right CST. Subcortical structures tended to be larger in handball players. The anatomical measures of the brain regions associated with handball playing were positively correlated in handball players, but not interrelated in control women. Discussion/Conclusion Training-induced structural alterations were found in the somatosensory-motor network of handball players, more pronounced in the right hemisphere controlling the non-dominant left hand. Correlations between handball training-related measures and anatomical differences suggest neuroplastic adaptations rather than a genetic predisposition for a ball playing affinity. Investigations of neuroplasticity specifically in sportsmen might help to understand the neural mechanisms of expertise in general. PMID:25915906
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The functional anatomy of suggested limb paralysis.
Deeley, Quinton; Oakley, David A; Toone, Brian; Bell, Vaughan; Walsh, Eamonn; Marquand, Andre F; Giampietro, Vincent; Brammer, Michael J; Williams, Steven C R; Mehta, Mitul A; Halligan, Peter W
2013-02-01
Suggestions of limb paralysis in highly hypnotically suggestible subjects have been employed to successfully model conversion disorders, revealing similar patterns of brain activation associated with attempted movement of the affected limb. However, previous studies differ with regard to the executive regions involved during involuntary inhibition of the affected limb. This difference may have arisen as previous studies did not control for differences in hypnosis depth between conditions and/or include subjective measures to explore the experience of suggested paralysis. In the current study we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the functional anatomy of left and right upper limb movements in eight healthy subjects selected for high hypnotic suggestibility during (i) hypnosis (NORMAL) and (ii) attempted movement following additional left upper limb paralysis suggestions (PARALYSIS). Contrast of left upper limb motor function during NORMAL relative to PARALYSIS conditions revealed greater activation of contralateral M1/S1 and ipsilateral cerebellum, consistent with the engagement of these regions in the completion of movements. By contrast, two significant observations were noted in PARALYSIS relative to NORMAL conditions. In conjunction with reports of attempts to move the paralysed limb, greater supplementary motor area (SMA) activation was observed, a finding consistent with the role of SMA in motor intention and planning. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24) was also significantly more active in PARALYSIS relative to NORMAL conditions - suggesting that ACC (BA 24) may be implicated in involuntary, as well as voluntary inhibition of prepotent motor responses. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Raz, Amir; Packard, Mark G.; Alexander, Gerianne M.; Buhle, Jason T.; Zhu, Hongtu; Yu, Shan; Peterson, Bradley S.
2015-01-01
Subject PI demonstrated superior memory using a variant of a Method of Loci (MOL) technique to recite the first digits of the mathematical constant π to more than 216 decimal places. We report preliminary behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and brain volumetric data from PI. fMRI data collected while PI recited the first 540 digits of π (i.e., during retrieval) revealed increased activity in medial frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Encoding of a novel string of 100 random digits activated motor association areas, midline frontal regions, and visual association areas. Volumetric analyses indicated an increased volume of the right subgenual cingulate, a brain region implicated in emotion, mentalizing, and autonomic arousal. Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) testing indicated that PI is of average intelligence, and performance on mirror tracing, rotor pursuit, and the Silverman and Eals Location Memory Task revealed normal procedural and implicit memory. PI’s performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III) revealed average general memory abilities (50th percentile), but superior working memory abilities (99th percentile). Surprisingly, PI’s visual memory (WMS-III) for neutral faces and common events was remarkably poor (3rd percentile). PI’s self-report indicates that imagining affective situations and high emotional content is critical for successful recall. We speculate that PI’s reduced memory for neutral/non-emotional faces and common events, and the observed increase in volume of the right subgenual cingulate, may be related to extensive practice with memorizing highly emotional material. PMID:19585350
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Hung, Yuwen; Gaillard, Schuyler L; Yarmak, Pavel; Arsalidou, Marie
2018-06-19
Inhibitory control is the stopping of a mental process with or without intention, conceptualized as mental suppression of competing information because of limited cognitive capacity. Inhibitory control dysfunction is a core characteristic of many major psychiatric disorders. Inhibition is generally thought to involve the prefrontal cortex; however, a single inhibitory mechanism is insufficient for interpreting the heterogeneous nature of human cognition. It remains unclear whether different dimensions of inhibitory processes-specifically cognitive inhibition, response inhibition, and emotional interference-rely on dissociated neural systems. We conducted systematic meta-analyses of fMRI studies in the BrainMap database supplemented by PubMed using whole-brain activation likelihood estimation. A total of 66 study experiments including 1,447 participants and 987 foci revealed that while the left anterior insula was concordant in all inhibitory dimensions, cognitive inhibition reliably activated specific dorsal frontal inhibitory system, engaging dorsal anterior cingulate, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and parietal areas, whereas emotional interference reliably implicated a ventral inhibitory system, involving the ventral surface of the inferior frontal gyrus and the amygdala. Response inhibition showed concordant clusters in the fronto-striatal system, including the dorsal anterior cingulate region and extended supplementary motor areas, the dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, midbrain regions, and parietal regions. We provide an empirically derived dimensional model of inhibition characterizing neural systems underlying different aspects of inhibitory mechanisms. This study offers a fundamental framework to advance current understanding of inhibition and provides new insights for future clinical research into disorders with different types of inhibition-related dysfunctions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Grey matter changes of the pain matrix in patients with burning mouth syndrome.
Sinding, Charlotte; Gransjøen, Anne Mari; Schlumberger, Gina; Grushka, Miriam; Frasnelli, Johannes; Singh, Preet Bano
2016-04-01
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by a burning sensation in the mouth, usually in the absence of clinical and laboratory findings. Latest findings indicate that BMS could result from neuropathic trigeminal conditions. While many investigations have focused on the periphery, very few have examined possible central dysfunctions. To highlight changes of the central system of subjects with BMS, we analysed the grey matter concentration in 12 subjects using voxel-based morphometry. Data were compared with a control group (Ct). To better understand the brain mechanisms underlying BMS, the grey matter concentration of patients was also compared with those of dysgeusic patients (Dys). Dysgeusia is another oral dysfunction condition, characterized by a distorted sense of taste and accompanied by a reduced taste function. We found that a major part of the 'pain matrix' presented modifications of the grey matter concentration in subjects with BMS. Six regions out of eight were affected [anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus, lobules of the cerebellum, insula/frontal operculum, inferior temporal area, primary motor cortex, dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC)]. In the anterior cingulate gyrus, the lobules of the cerebellum, the inferior temporal lobe and the DLPFC, pain intensity correlated with grey matter concentration. Dys also presented changes in grey matter concentration but in different areas of the brain. Our results suggest that a deficiency in the control of pain could in part be a cause of BMS and that BMS and dysgeusia conditions are not linked to similar structural changes in the brain. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Flodin, Pär; Martinsen, Sofia; Altawil, Reem; Waldheim, Eva; Lampa, Jon; Kosek, Eva; Fransson, Peter
2016-01-01
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is commonly accompanied by pain that is discordant with the degree of peripheral pathology. Very little is known about the cerebral processes involved in pain processing in RA. Here we investigated resting-state brain connectivity associated with prolonged pain in RA. Methods: 24 RA subjects and 19 matched controls were compared with regard to both behavioral measures of pain perception and resting-resting state fMRI data acquired subsequently to fMRI sessions involving pain stimuli. The resting-state fMRI brain connectivity was investigated using 159 seed regions located in cardinal pain processing brain regions. Additional principal component based multivariate pattern analysis of the whole brain connectivity pattern was carried out in a data driven analysis to localize group differences in functional connectivity. Results: When RA patients were compared to controls, we observed significantly lower pain resilience for pressure on the affected finger joints (i.e., P50-joint) and an overall heightened level of perceived global pain in RA patients. Relative to controls, RA patients displayed increased brain connectivity predominately for the supplementary motor areas, mid-cingulate cortex, and the primary sensorimotor cortex. Additionally, we observed an increase in brain connectivity between the insula and prefrontal cortex as well as between anterior cingulate cortex and occipital areas for RA patients. None of the group differences in brain connectivity were significantly correlated with behavioral parameters. Conclusion: Our study provides experimental evidence of increased connectivity between frontal midline regions that are implicated in affective pain processing and bilateral sensorimotor regions in RA patients. PMID:27014038
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Raz, Amir; Packard, Mark G; Alexander, Gerianne M; Buhle, Jason T; Zhu, Hongtu; Yu, Shan; Peterson, Bradley S
2009-10-01
Subject PI demonstrated superior memory using a variant of a Method of Loci (MOL) technique to recite the first digits of the mathematical constant pi to more than 2(16) decimal places. We report preliminary behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and brain volumetric data from PI. fMRI data collected while PI recited the first 540 digits of pi (i.e., during retrieval) revealed increased activity in medial frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Encoding of a novel string of 100 random digits activated motor association areas, midline frontal regions, and visual association areas. Volumetric analyses indicated an increased volume of the right subgenual cingulate, a brain region implicated in emotion, mentalizing, and autonomic arousal. Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) testing indicated that PI is of average intelligence, and performance on mirror tracing, rotor pursuit, and the Silverman and Eals Location Memory Task revealed normal procedural and implicit memory. PI's performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III) revealed average general memory abilities (50th percentile), but superior working memory abilities (99th percentile). Surprisingly, PI's visual memory (WMS-III) for neutral faces and common events was remarkably poor (3rd percentile). PI's self-report indicates that imagining affective situations and high emotional content is critical for successful recall. We speculate that PI's reduced memory for neutral/non-emotional faces and common events, and the observed increase in volume of the right subgenual cingulate, may be related to extensive practice with memorizing highly emotional material.
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Michielsen, Marian E; Smits, Marion; Ribbers, Gerard M; Stam, Henk J; van der Geest, Jos N; Bussmann, Johannes B J; Selles, Ruud W
2011-04-01
To investigate the neuronal basis for the effects of mirror therapy in patients with stroke. 22 patients with stroke participated in this study. The authors used functional MRI to investigate neuronal activation patterns in two experiments. In the unimanual experiment, patients moved their unaffected hand, either while observing it directly (no-mirror condition) or while observing its mirror reflection (mirror condition). In the bimanual experiment, patients moved both hands, either while observing the affected hand directly (no-mirror condition) or while observing the mirror reflection of the unaffected hand in place of the affected hand (mirror condition). A two-factorial analysis with movement (activity vs rest) and mirror (mirror vs no mirror) as main factors was performed to assess neuronal activity resultant of the mirror illusion. Data on 18 participants were suitable for analysis. Results showed a significant interaction effect of movement×mirror during the bimanual experiment. Activated regions were the precuneus and the posterior cingulate cortex (p<0.05 false discovery rate). In this first study on the neuronal correlates of the mirror illusion in patients with stroke, the authors showed that during bimanual movement, the mirror illusion increases activity in the precuneus and the posterior cingulate cortex, areas associated with awareness of the self and spatial attention. By increasing awareness of the affected limb, the mirror illusion might reduce learnt non-use. The fact that the authors did not observe mirror-related activity in areas of the motor or mirror neuron system questions popular theories that attribute the clinical effects of mirror therapy to these systems.
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Wei, Luqing; Hu, Xiao; Yuan, Yonggui; Liu, Weiguo; Chen, Hong
2018-07-16
Neuropathology suggests that Parkinson's disease (PD) with depression may involve a progressive degeneration of the nigrostriatal and mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic systems. Previous positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies have shown that dopamine changes in individual brain regions constituting the nigrostriatal and mesocorticolimbic circuits are associated with depression in PD. However, few studies have been conducted on the circuit-level alterations in this disease. The present study used resting-state fMRI and seed-based functional connectivity of putative dopaminergic midbrain regions (i.e., substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area (VTA)) to investigate the circuit-related abnormalities in PD with depression. The results showed that depressed PD (DPD) patients relative to healthy controls (HC) and non-depressed PD (NDPD) patients had increased functional connectivity between VTA and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), demonstrating that dysfunctional mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic neurotransmission may be associated with depression in PD. Compared with HC, DPD and NDPD patients showed increased functional connectivity from SN to sensorimotor cortex, validating that alterations in the nigrostriatal circuitry could be responsible for cardinal motor features in PD. In addition, aberrant connectivity between VTA and ACC was correlated with the severity of depression in PD patients, further supporting that abnormal mesocorticolimbic system may account for depressive symptoms in PD. These results have provided potential circuit-level biomarkers of depression in PD, and suggested that resting state functional connectivity of midbrain dopaminergic nuclei may be useful for understanding the underlying pathology in PD with depression. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Spontaneous cortical activity alternates between motifs defined by regional axonal projections
Mohajerani, Majid H.; Chan, Allen W.; Mohsenvand, Mostafa; LeDue, Jeffrey; Liu, Rui; McVea, David A.; Boyd, Jamie D.; Wang, Yu Tian; Reimers, Mark; Murphy, Timothy H.
2014-01-01
In lightly anaesthetized or awake adult mice using millisecond timescale voltage sensitive dye imaging, we show that a palette of sensory-evoked and hemisphere-wide activity motifs are represented in spontaneous activity. These motifs can reflect multiple modes of sensory processing including vision, audition, and touch. Similar cortical networks were found with direct cortical activation using channelrhodopsin-2. Regional analysis of activity spread indicated modality specific sources such as primary sensory areas, and a common posterior-medial cortical sink where sensory activity was extinguished within the parietal association area, and a secondary anterior medial sink within the cingulate/secondary motor cortices for visual stimuli. Correlation analysis between functional circuits and intracortical axonal projections indicated a common framework corresponding to long-range mono-synaptic connections between cortical regions. Maps of intracortical mono-synaptic structural connections predicted hemisphere-wide patterns of spontaneous and sensory-evoked depolarization. We suggest that an intracortical monosynaptic connectome shapes the ebb and flow of spontaneous cortical activity. PMID:23974708
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Evoked effective connectivity of the human neocortex.
Entz, László; Tóth, Emília; Keller, Corey J; Bickel, Stephan; Groppe, David M; Fabó, Dániel; Kozák, Lajos R; Erőss, Loránd; Ulbert, István; Mehta, Ashesh D
2014-12-01
The role of cortical connectivity in brain function and pathology is increasingly being recognized. While in vivo magnetic resonance imaging studies have provided important insights into anatomical and functional connectivity, these methodologies are limited in their ability to detect electrophysiological activity and the causal relationships that underlie effective connectivity. Here, we describe results of cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) mapping using single pulse electrical stimulation in 25 patients undergoing seizure monitoring with subdural electrode arrays. Mapping was performed by stimulating adjacent electrode pairs and recording CCEPs from the remainder of the electrode array. CCEPs reliably revealed functional networks and showed an inverse relationship to distance between sites. Coregistration to Brodmann areas (BA) permitted group analysis. Connections were frequently directional with 43% of early responses and 50% of late responses of connections reflecting relative dominance of incoming or outgoing connections. The most consistent connections were seen as outgoing from motor cortex, BA6-BA9, somatosensory (SS) cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and Broca's area. Network topology revealed motor, SS, and premotor cortices along with BA9 and BA10 and language areas to serve as hubs for cortical connections. BA20 and BA39 demonstrated the most consistent dominance of outdegree connections, while BA5, BA7, auditory cortex, and anterior cingulum demonstrated relatively greater indegree. This multicenter, large-scale, directional study of local and long-range cortical connectivity using direct recordings from awake, humans will aid the interpretation of noninvasive functional connectome studies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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The experience of beauty derived from sorrow.
Ishizu, Tomohiro; Zeki, Semir
2017-08-01
We studied the neural mechanisms that are engaged during the experience of beauty derived from sorrow and from joy, two experiences that share a common denominator (beauty) but are linked to opposite emotional valences. Twenty subjects viewed and rerated, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, 120 images which each had classified into the following four categories: beautiful and sad; beautiful and joyful; neutral; ugly. The medial orbito-frontal cortex (mOFC) was active during the experience of both types of beauty. Otherwise, the two experiences engaged different parts of the brain: joyful beauty engaged areas linked to positive emotions while sorrowful beauty engaged areas linked to negative experiences. Separate regions of the cerebellum were engaged during experience of the two conditions. A functional connectivity analysis indicated that the activity within the mOFC was modulated by the supplementary motor area/middle cingulate cortex, known to be engaged during empathetic experiences provoked by other peoples' sadness. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4185-4200, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Intersession reliability of fMRI activation for heat pain and motor tasks
Quiton, Raimi L.; Keaser, Michael L.; Zhuo, Jiachen; Gullapalli, Rao P.; Greenspan, Joel D.
2014-01-01
As the practice of conducting longitudinal fMRI studies to assess mechanisms of pain-reducing interventions becomes more common, there is a great need to assess the test–retest reliability of the pain-related BOLD fMRI signal across repeated sessions. This study quantitatively evaluated the reliability of heat pain-related BOLD fMRI brain responses in healthy volunteers across 3 sessions conducted on separate days using two measures: (1) intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) calculated based on signal amplitude and (2) spatial overlap. The ICC analysis of pain-related BOLD fMRI responses showed fair-to-moderate intersession reliability in brain areas regarded as part of the cortical pain network. Areas with the highest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis included the anterior midcingulate cortex, anterior insula, and second somatosensory cortex. Areas with the lowest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis also showed low spatial reliability; these regions included pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and posterior insula. Thus, this study found regional differences in pain-related BOLD fMRI response reliability, which may provide useful information to guide longitudinal pain studies. A simple motor task (finger-thumb opposition) was performed by the same subjects in the same sessions as the painful heat stimuli were delivered. Intersession reliability of fMRI activation in cortical motor areas was comparable to previously published findings for both spatial overlap and ICC measures, providing support for the validity of the analytical approach used to assess intersession reliability of pain-related fMRI activation. A secondary finding of this study is that the use of standard ICC alone as a measure of reliability may not be sufficient, as the underlying variance structure of an fMRI dataset can result in inappropriately high ICC values; a method to eliminate these false positive results was used in this study and is recommended for future studies of test–retest reliability. PMID:25161897
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Cingulate, Frontal and Parietal Cortical Dysfunction in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Bush, George
2011-01-01
Functional and structural neuroimaging have identified abnormalities of the brain that are likely to contribute to the neuropathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In particular, hypofunction of the brain regions comprising the cingulo-frontal-parietal (CFP) cognitive-attention network have been consistently observed across studies. These are major components of neural systems that are relevant to ADHD, including cognitive/attention networks, motor systems and reward/feedback-based processing systems. Moreover, these areas interact with other brain circuits that have been implicated in ADHD, such as the “default mode” resting state network. ADHD imaging data related to CFP network dysfunction will be selectively highlighted here to help facilitate its integration with the other information presented in this special issue. Together, these reviews will help shed light on the neurobiology of ADHD. PMID:21489409
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Adult-onset stereotypical motor behaviors.
Maltête, D
Stereotypies have been defined as non-goal-directed movement patterns repeated continuously for a period of time in the same form and on multiple occasions, and which are typically distractible. Stereotypical motor behaviors are a common clinical feature of a variety of neurological conditions that affect cortical and subcortical functions, including autism, tardive dyskinesia, excessive dopaminergic treatment of Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal dementia. The main differential diagnosis of stereotypies includes tic disorders, motor mannerisms, compulsion and habit. The pathophysiology of stereotypies may involve the corticostriatal pathways, especially the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulated cortices. Because antipsychotics have long been used to manage stereotypical behaviours in mental retardation, stereotypies that present in isolation tend not to warrant pharmacological intervention, as the benefit-to-risk ratio is not great enough. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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Moran, Lauren V; Stoeckel, Luke E; Wang, Kristina; Caine, Carolyn E; Villafuerte, Rosemond; Calderon, Vanessa; Baker, Justin T; Ongur, Dost; Janes, Amy C; Evins, A Eden; Pizzagalli, Diego A
2018-03-01
Nicotine improves attention and processing speed in individuals with schizophrenia. Few studies have investigated the effects of nicotine on cognitive control. Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research demonstrates blunted activation of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) in response to error and decreased post-error slowing in schizophrenia. Participants with schizophrenia (n = 13) and healthy controls (n = 12) participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study of the effects of transdermal nicotine on cognitive control. For each drug condition, participants underwent fMRI while performing the stop signal task where participants attempt to inhibit prepotent responses to "go (motor activation)" signals when an occasional "stop (motor inhibition)" signal appears. Error processing was evaluated by comparing "stop error" trials (failed response inhibition) to "go" trials. Resting-state fMRI data were collected prior to the task. Participants with schizophrenia had increased nicotine-induced activation of right caudate in response to errors compared to controls (DRUG × GROUP effect: p corrected < 0.05). Both groups had significant nicotine-induced activation of dACC and rACC in response to errors. Using right caudate activation to errors as a seed for resting-state functional connectivity analysis, relative to controls, participants with schizophrenia had significantly decreased connectivity between the right caudate and dACC/bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. In sum, we replicated prior findings of decreased post-error slowing in schizophrenia and found that nicotine was associated with more adaptive (i.e., increased) post-error reaction time (RT). This proof-of-concept pilot study suggests a role for nicotinic agents in targeting cognitive control deficits in schizophrenia.
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A Psychological and Neuroanatomical Model of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Huey, Edward D.; Zahn, Roland; Krueger, Frank; Moll, Jorge; Kapogiannis, Dimitrios; Wassermann, Eric M.; Grafman, Jordan
2009-01-01
Imaging, surgical, and lesion studies suggest that the prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortexes), basal ganglia, and thalamus are involved in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). On the basis of these findings several models of OCD have been developed, but have had difficulty fully integrating the psychological and neuroanatomical findings of OCD. Recent research in the field of cognitive neuroscience on the normal function of these brain areas demonstrates the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in reward, the anterior cingulate cortex in error detection, the basal ganglia in affecting the threshold for activation of motor and behavioral programs, and the prefrontal cortex in storing memories of behavioral sequences (called “structured event complexes” or SECs). The authors propose that the initiation of these SECs can be accompanied by anxiety that is relieved with completion of the SEC, and that a deficit in this process could be responsible for many of the symptoms of OCD. Specifically, the anxiety can form the basis of an obsession, and a compulsion can be an attempt to receive relief from the anxiety by repeating parts of, or an entire, SEC. The authors discuss empiric support for, and specific experimental predictions of, this model. The authors believe that this model explains the specific symptoms, and integrates the psychology and neuroanatomy of OCD better than previous models. PMID:19196924
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A comparison of different models of stroke on behaviour and brain morphology.
Gonzalez, C L R; Kolb, B
2003-10-01
We compared the effects of three models of permanent ischemia, as well as cortical aspiration, on behaviour and brain morphology. Rats received a stroke either by devascularization or by two different procedures of medial cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO; small vs. large). Animals were trained in a reaching task, forepaw asymmetry, forepaw inhibition, sunflower seed task and tongue extension. Behaviour was assessed 1 week after the lesion and at 2-week intervals for a total of 9 weeks. One week after the surgery all animals were severely impaired on all tasks and although they improved over time they only reached preoperative base lines on tongue extension. Animals with small MCAOs performed better in reaching and sunflower tasks; no other behavioural differences were detected among the groups. Pyramidal cells in forelimb and cingulate areas as well as spiny neurons of the striatum were examined for dendritic branching and spine density using a Golgi-Cox procedure. Each lesion type had a different impact on cell morphology. Overall, different changes (atrophy or hypertrophy) were observed with each kind of lesion and these changes were specific for the region (forelimb, cingulate, striatum) and the condition (intact vs. damaged hemisphere). These results suggest that: (i) different lesions to the motor cortex produce subtle differences in behaviour, and (ii) the method used to induce the lesion produces striking differences in cortical and subcortical plasticity.
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Dissociation between melodic and rhythmic processing during piano performance from musical scores.
Bengtsson, Sara L; Ullén, Fredrik
2006-03-01
When performing or perceiving music, we experience the melodic (spatial) and rhythmic aspects as a unified whole. Moreover, the motor program theory stipulates that the relative timing and the serial order of the movement are invariant features of a motor program. Still, clinical and psychophysical observations suggest independent processing of these two aspects, in both production and perception. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to dissociate between brain areas processing the melodic and the rhythmic aspects during piano playing from musical scores. This behavior requires that the pianist decodes two types of information from the score in order to produce the desired piece of music. The spatial location of a note head determines which piano key to strike, and the various features of the note, such as the stem and flags determine the timing of each key stroke. We found that the medial occipital lobe, the superior temporal lobe, the rostral cingulate cortex, the putamen and the cerebellum process the melodic information, whereas the lateral occipital and the inferior temporal cortex, the left supramarginal gyrus, the left inferior and ventral frontal gyri, the caudate nucleus, and the cerebellum process the rhythmic information. Thus, we suggest a dissociate involvement of the dorsal visual stream in the spatial pitch processing and the ventral visual stream in temporal movement preparation. We propose that this dissociate organization may be important for fast learning and flexibility in motor control.
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Holcomb, H H; Medoff, D R; Caudill, P J; Zhao, Z; Lahti, A C; Dannals, R F; Tamminga, C A
1998-09-01
Tone recognition is partially subserved by neural activity in the right frontal and primary auditory cortices. First we determined the brain areas associated with tone perception and recognition. This study then examined how regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in these and other brain regions correlates with the behavioral characteristics of a difficult tone recognition task. rCBF changes were assessed using H2(15)O positron emission tomography. Subtraction procedures were used to localize significant change regions and correlational analyses were applied to determine how response times (RT) predicted rCBF patterns. Twelve trained normal volunteers were studied in three conditions: REST, sensory motor control (SMC) and decision (DEC). The SMC-REST contrast revealed bilateral activation of primary auditory cortices, cerebellum and bilateral inferior frontal gyri. DEC-SMC produced significant clusters in the right middle and inferior frontal gyri, insula and claustrum; the anterior cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor area; the left insula/claustrum; and the left cerebellum. Correlational analyses, RT versus rCBF from DEC scans, showed a positive correlation in right inferior and middle frontal cortex; rCBF in bilateral auditory cortices and cerebellum exhibited significant negative correlations with RT These changes suggest that neural activity in the right frontal, superior temporal and cerebellar regions shifts back and forth in magnitude depending on whether tone recognition RT is relatively fast or slow, during a difficult, accurate assessment.
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Polyanska, Liliana; Critchley, Hugo D; Rae, Charlotte L
2017-01-01
Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by chronic multiple tics, which are experienced as compulsive and 'unwilled'. Patients with TS can differ markedly in the frequency, severity, and bodily distribution of tics. Moreover, there are high comorbidity rates with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders, and depression. This complex clinical profile may account for apparent variability of findings across neuroimaging studies that connect neural function to cognitive and motor behavior in TS. Here we crystalized information from neuroimaging regarding the functional circuitry of TS, and furthermore, tested specifically for neural determinants of tic severity, by applying activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses to neuroimaging (activation) studies of TS. Fourteen task-based studies (13 fMRI and one H2O-PET) met rigorous inclusion criteria. These studies, encompassing 25 experiments and 651 participants, tested for differences between TS participants and healthy controls across cognitive, motor, perceptual and somatosensory domains. Relative to controls, TS participants showed distributed differences in the activation of prefrontal (inferior, middle, and superior frontal gyri), anterior cingulate, and motor preparation cortices (lateral premotor cortex and supplementary motor area; SMA). Differences also extended into sensory (somatosensory cortex and the lingual gyrus; V4); and temporo-parietal association cortices (posterior superior temporal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus, and retrosplenial cortex). Within TS participants, tic severity (reported using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale; YGTSS) selectively correlated with engagement of SMA, precentral gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus across tasks. The dispersed involvement of multiple cortical regions with differences in functional reactivity may account for heterogeneity in the symptomatic expression of TS and its comorbidities. More specifically for tics and tic severity, the findings reinforce previously proposed contributions of premotor and lateral prefrontal cortices to tic expression.
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Whitall, Jill; McCombe Waller, Sandy; Sorkin, John D.; Forrester, Larry W.; Macko, Richard F.; Hanley, Daniel F.; Goldberg, Andrew P.; Luft, Andreas
2013-01-01
Background and Purpose This randomized controlled trial tests the efficacy of bilateral arm training with rhythmic auditory cueing (BATRAC) versus dose-matched therapeutic exercises (DMTEs) on upper-extremity (UE) function in stroke survivors and uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine effects on cortical reorganization. Methods A total of 111 adults with chronic UE paresis were randomized to 6 weeks (3×/week) of BATRAC or DMTE. Primary end points of UE assessments of Fugl-Meyer UE Test (FM) and modified Wolf Motor Function Test Time (WT) were performed 6 weeks prior to and at baseline, after training, and 4 months later. Pretraining and posttraining, fMRI for UE movement was evaluated in 17 BATRAC and 21 DMTE participants. Results The improvements in UE function (BATRAC: FM Δ = 1.1 + 0.5, P = .03; WT Δ = −2.6 + 0.8, P < .00; DMTE: FM Δ = 1.9 + 0.4, P < .00; WT Δ = −1.6 + 0.7; P = .04) were comparable between groups and retained after 4 months. Satisfaction was higher after BATRAC than DMTE (P = .003). BATRAC led to significantly higher increase in activation in ipsilesional precentral, anterior cingulate and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area and contralesional superior frontal gyrus (P < .05). Activation change in the latter was correlated with improvement in the WMFT (P = .01). Conclusions BATRAC is not superior to DMTE, but both rehabilitation programs durably improve motor function for individuals with chronic UE hemiparesis and with varied deficit severity. Adaptations in brain activation are greater after BATRAC than DMTE, suggesting that given similar benefits to motor function, these therapies operate through different mechanisms. PMID:20930212
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De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven
2017-04-01
Occipital nerve field (OCF) stimulation with subcutaneously implanted electrodes is used to treat headaches, more generalized pain, and even failed back surgery syndrome via unknown mechanisms. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can predict the efficacy of implanted electrodes. The purpose of this study is to unravel the neural mechanisms involved in global pain suppression, mediated by occipital nerve field stimulation, within the realm of fibromyalgia. Nineteen patients with fibromyalgia underwent a placebo-controlled OCF tDCS. Electroencephalograms were recorded at baseline after active and sham stimulation. In comparison with healthy controls, patients with fibromyalgia demonstrate increased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, increased premotor/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity, and an imbalance between pain-detecting dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and pain-suppressing pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activity, which is normalized after active tDCS but not sham stimulation associated with increased pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation. The imbalance improvement between the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is related to clinical changes. An imbalance assumes these areas communicate and, indeed, abnormal functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex is noted to be caused by a dysfunctional effective connectivity from the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which improves and normalizes after real tDCS but not sham tDCS. In conclusion, OCF tDCS exerts its effect via activation of the descending pain inhibitory pathway and de-activation of the salience network, both of which are abnormal in fibromyalgia.
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Separating neural activity associated with emotion and implied motion: An fMRI study.
Kolesar, Tiffany A; Kornelsen, Jennifer; Smith, Stephen D
2017-02-01
Previous research provides evidence for an emo-motoric neural network allowing emotion to modulate activity in regions of the nervous system related to movement. However, recent research suggests that these results may be due to the movement depicted in the stimuli. The purpose of the current study was to differentiate the unique neural activity of emotion and implied motion using functional MRI. Thirteen healthy participants viewed 4 sets of images: (a) negative stimuli implying movement, (b) negative stimuli not implying movement, (c) neutral stimuli implying movement, and (d) neutral stimuli not implying movement. A main effect for implied motion was found, primarily in regions associated with multimodal integration (bilateral insula and cingulate), and visual areas that process motion (bilateral middle temporal gyrus). A main effect for emotion was found primarily in occipital and parietal regions, indicating that emotion enhances visual perception. Surprisingly, emotion also activated the left precentral gyrus, a motor region. These results demonstrate that emotion elicits activity above and beyond that evoked by the perception of implied movement, but that the neural representations of these characteristics overlap. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).
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Schulz, Kurt P; Fan, Jin; Bédard, Anne-Claude V; Clerkin, Suzanne M; Ivanov, Iliyan; Tang, Cheuk Y; Halperin, Jeffrey M; Newcorn, Jeffrey H
2012-09-01
CONTEXT Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent and impairing psychiatric disorder that affects both children and adults. There are Food and Drug Administration-approved stimulant and nonstimulant medications for treating ADHD; however, little is known about the mechanisms by which these different treatments exert their therapeutic effects. OBJECTIVE To contrast changes in brain activation related to symptomatic improvement with use of the stimulant methylphenidate hydrochloride vs the nonstimulant atomoxetine hydrochloride. DESIGN Functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after 6 to 8 weeks of treatment with methylphenidate (n = 18) or atomoxetine (n = 18) using a parallel-groups design. SETTING Specialized ADHD clinical research program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York. PARTICIPANTS Thirty-six youth with ADHD (mean [SD] age, 11.2 [2.7] years; 27 boys) recruited from randomized clinical trials. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Changes in brain activation during a go/no-go test of response inhibition and investigator-completed ratings on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV-Parent Version. RESULTS Treatment with methylphenidate vs atomoxetine was associated with comparable improvements in both response inhibition on the go/no-go test and mean (SD) improvements in ratings of ADHD symptoms (55% [30%] vs 57% [25%]). Improvement in ADHD symptoms was associated with common reductions in bilateral motor cortex activation for both treatments. Symptomatic improvement was also differentially related to gains in task-related activation for atomoxetine and reductions in activation for methylphenidate in the right inferior frontal gyrus, left anterior cingulate/supplementary motor area, and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex. These findings were not attributable to baseline differences in activation. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with methylphenidate and atomoxetine produces symptomatic improvement via both common and divergent neurophysiologic actions in frontoparietal regions that have been implicated in the pathophysiology of ADHD. These results represent a first step in delineating the neurobiological basis of differential response to stimulant and nonstimulant medications for ADHD.
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Wang, Zhiqun; Zhao, Cheng; Yu, Lei; Zhou, Weidong; Li, Kuncheng
2009-04-01
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) plays an important role in early diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD). There are many reports on MRS studies among individuals with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, very few studies have compared spectroscopic data of different limbic regions among AD and MCI subjects. To compare metabolite changes of different regions in the brain of AD and MCI patients by using 3.0 T short-echo-time MRS. Metabolite ratios in the hippocampus and posterior cingulate area were compared in a group of patients with AD (n=16), MCI (n=16), and normal subjects as a control group (n=16). Clinical neuropsychological tests were measured in all subjects. In the hippocampus, there were significant differences in N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr), myo-inositol (mI)/Cr, and mI/NAA ratios among the three groups. However, there were no significant differences in choline (Cho)/Cr ratio among the three groups. In the posterior cingulate area, there were no significant differences in the NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, and mI/Cr ratios among the three groups. However, there were significant differences in mI/NAA ratio between patients with AD and the control group, and between the AD and MCI groups. In addition, there was significant correlation between mI/NAA ratio and Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) score in subjects with AD and MCI. The study reveals that the elevation of mI/NAA ratio in the hippocampus is more significant than that in the posterior cingulate area, which corresponds to the pathologic procession of AD. The ratios of mI/NAA in the hippocampus and in the posterior cingulate area together provide valuable discrimination among the three groups (AD, MCI, and controls). There is a significant correlation between mI/NAA ratio and cognitive decline.
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Pica in a Child with Anterior Cingulate Gyrus Oligodendroglioma: Case Report.
Rangwala, Shivani D; Tobin, Matthew K; Birk, Daniel M; Butts, Jonathan T; Nikas, Dimitrios C; Hahn, Yoon S
2017-01-01
The anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) is a continued focus of research as its exact role in brain function and vast connections with other anatomical locations is not fully understood. A review of the literature illustrates the role the ACG likely plays in cognitive and emotional processing, as well as a modulating role in motor function and goal-oriented behaviors. While lesions of the cingulate gyrus are rare, each new case broadens our understanding of its role in cognitive neuroscience and higher order processing. The authors present the case of an 8-year-old boy with a 1-month history of staring spells, agitated personality, and hyperphagia notable for the consumption of paper, who was found to have a 3-cm tumor in the left ACG. Following surgical resection of the tumor, his aggressive behavior and pica were ameliorated and the patient made an uneventful recovery, with no evidence of recurrence over the last 6 years since surgical resection. Here we discuss a unique behavioral presentation of pica, along with a review of the current literature, to illustrate functions of the ACG relevant to the location of the lesion. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.
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Bastuji, Hélène; Mazza, Stéphanie; Perchet, Caroline; Frot, Maud; Mauguière, François; Magnin, Michel; Garcia-Larrea, Luis
2012-11-01
Behavioral reactions to sensory stimuli during sleep are scarce despite preservation of sizeable cortical responses. To further understand such dissociation, we recorded intracortical field potentials to painful laser pulses in humans during waking and all-night sleep. Recordings were obtained from the three cortical structures receiving 95% of the spinothalamic cortical input in primates, namely the parietal operculum, posterior insula, and mid-anterior cingulate cortex. The dynamics of responses during sleep differed among cortical sites. In sleep Stage 2, evoked potential amplitudes were similarly attenuated relative to waking in all three cortical regions. During paradoxical, or rapid eye movements (REM), sleep, opercular and insular potentials remained stable in comparison with Stage 2, whereas the responses from mid-anterior cingulate abated drastically, and decreasing below background noise in half of the subjects. Thus, while the lateral operculo-insular system subserving sensory analysis of somatic stimuli remained active during paradoxical-REM sleep, mid-anterior cingulate processes related to orienting and avoidance behavior were suppressed. Dissociation between sensory and orienting-motor networks might explain why nociceptive stimuli can be either neglected or incorporated into dreams without awakening the subject. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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The Neural Correlates of Desire
Kawabata, Hideaki; Zeki, Semir
2008-01-01
In an event-related fMRI study, we scanned eighteen normal human subjects while they viewed three categories of pictures (events, objects and persons) which they classified according to desirability (desirable, indifferent or undesirable). Each category produced activity in a distinct part of the visual brain, thus reflecting its functional specialization. We used conjunction analysis to learn whether there is a brain area which is always active when a desirable picture is viewed, regardless of the category to which it belongs. The conjunction analysis of the contrast desirable > undesirable revealed activity in the superior orbito-frontal cortex. This activity bore a positive linear relationship to the declared level of desirability. The conjunction analysis of desirable > indifferent revealed activity in the mid-cingulate cortex and in the anterior cingulate cortex. In the former, activity was greater for desirable and undesirable stimuli than for stimuli classed as indifferent. Other conjunction analyses produced no significant effects. These results show that categorizing any stimulus according to its desirability activates three different brain areas: the superior orbito-frontal, the mid-cingulate, and the anterior cingulate cortices. PMID:18728753
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Ryan, John P.; Sheu, Lei K.; Gianaros, Peter J.
2010-01-01
Exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to stress confers risk for cardiovascular disease. Further, individual differences in stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity covary with the functionality of cortical and limbic brain areas, particularly within the cingulate cortex. What remains unclear, however, is how individual differences in personality traits interact with cingulate functionality in the prediction of stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactivity. Accordingly, we tested the associations between (i) a particular personality trait, Agreeableness, which is associated with emotional reactions to conflict, (ii) resting state functional connectivity within the cingulate cortex, and (iii) stressor-evoked blood pressure (BP) reactivity. Participants (N=39, 19 men, aged 20–37 yrs) completed a resting functional connectivity MRI protocol, followed by two standardized stressor tasks that engaged conflict processing and evoked BP reactivity. Agreeableness covaried positively with BP reactivity across individuals. Moreover, connectivity analyses demonstrated that a more positive functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate (BA31) and the perigenual anterior cingulate (BA32) covaried positively with Agreeableness and with BP reactivity. Finally, statistical mediation analyses demonstrated that BA31–BA32 connectivity mediated the covariation between Agreeableness and BP reactivity. Functional connectivity within the cingulate appears to link Agreeableness and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stressor-evoked BP reactivity. PMID:21130172
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Savage, Michael Anthony; McQuade, Richard
2017-01-01
Abstract The orchestration of orienting behaviors requires the interaction of many cortical and subcortical areas, for example the superior colliculus (SC), as well as prefrontal areas responsible for top–down control. Orienting involves different behaviors, such as approach and avoidance. In the rat, these behaviors are at least partially mapped onto different SC subdomains, the lateral (SCl) and medial (SCm), respectively. To delineate the circuitry involved in the two types of orienting behavior in mice, we injected retrograde tracer into the intermediate and deep layers of the SCm and SCl, and thereby determined the main input structures to these subdomains. Overall the SCm receives larger numbers of afferents compared to the SCl. The prefrontal cingulate area (Cg), visual, oculomotor, and auditory areas provide strong input to the SCm, while prefrontal motor area 2 (M2), and somatosensory areas provide strong input to the SCl. The prefrontal areas Cg and M2 in turn connect to different cortical and subcortical areas, as determined by anterograde tract tracing. Even though connectivity pattern often overlap, our labeling approaches identified segregated neural circuits involving SCm, Cg, secondary visual cortices, auditory areas, and the dysgranular retrospenial cortex likely to be involved in avoidance behaviors. Conversely, SCl, M2, somatosensory cortex, and the granular retrospenial cortex comprise a network likely involved in approach/appetitive behaviors. PMID:28177526
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Scalp and Source Power Topography in Sleepwalking and Sleep Terrors: A High-Density EEG Study.
Castelnovo, Anna; Riedner, Brady A; Smith, Richard F; Tononi, Giulio; Boly, Melanie; Benca, Ruth M
2016-10-01
To examine scalp and source power topography in sleep arousals disorders (SADs) using high-density EEG (hdEEG). Fifteen adult subjects with sleep arousal disorders (SADs) and 15 age- and gender-matched good sleeping healthy controls were recorded in a sleep laboratory setting using a 256 channel EEG system. Scalp EEG analysis of all night NREM sleep revealed a localized decrease in slow wave activity (SWA) power (1-4 Hz) over centro-parietal regions relative to the rest of the brain in SADs compared to good sleeping healthy controls. Source modelling analysis of 5-minute segments taken from N3 during the first half of the night revealed that the local decrease in SWA power was prominent at the level of the cingulate, motor, and sensori-motor associative cortices. Similar patterns were also evident during REM sleep and wake. These differences in local sleep were present in the absence of any detectable clinical or electrophysiological sign of arousal. Overall, results suggest the presence of local sleep differences in the brain of SADs patients during nights without clinical episodes. The persistence of similar topographical changes in local EEG power during REM sleep and wakefulness points to trait-like functional changes that cross the boundaries of NREM sleep. The regions identified by source imaging are consistent with the current neurophysiological understanding of SADs as a disorder caused by local arousals in motor and cingulate cortices. Persistent localized changes in neuronal excitability may predispose affected subjects to clinical episodes. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.
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Ventral anterior cingulate cortex and social decision-making.
Lockwood, Patricia L; Wittmann, Marco K
2018-06-07
Studies in the field of social neuroscience have recently made use of computational models of decision-making to provide new insights into how we learn about the self and others during social interactions. Importantly, these studies have increasingly drawn attention to brain areas outside of classical cortical "social brain" regions that may be critical for social processing. In particular, two portions of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC), subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, have been linked to social and self learning signals, respectively. Here we discuss the emerging parallels between these studies. Uncovering the function of vACC during social interactions could provide important new avenues to understand social decision-making in health and disease. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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2013-01-01
Background Although recent studies have clearly demonstrated functional and structural abnormalities in adolescents with internet gaming addiction (IGA), less is known about how IGA affects perfusion in the human brain. We used pseudocontinuous arterial spin-labeling (ASL) perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the effects of IGA on resting brain functions by comparing resting cerebral blood flow in adolescents with IGA and normal subjects. Methods Fifteen adolescents with IGA and 18 matched normal adolescents underwent structural and perfusion fMRI in the resting state. Direct subtraction, voxel-wise general linear modeling was performed to compare resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) between the 2 groups. Correlations were calculated between the mean CBF value in all clusters that survived AlphaSim correction and the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) scores, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11) scores, or hours of Internet use per week (hours) in the 15 subjects with IGA. Results Compared with control subjects, adolescents with IGA showed significantly higher global CBF in the left inferior temporal lobe/fusiform gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus/amygdala, right medial frontal lobe/anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, right insula, right middle temporal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, left supplementary motor area, left cingulate gyrus, and right inferior parietal lobe. Lower CBF was found in the left middle temporal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, and right cingulate gyrus. There were no significant correlations between mean CBF values in all clusters that survived AlphaSim correction and CIAS or BIS-11 scores or hours of Internet use per week. Conclusions In this study, we used ASL perfusion fMRI and noninvasively quantified resting CBF to demonstrate that IGA alters the CBF distribution in the adolescent brain. The results support the hypothesis that IGA is a behavioral addiction that may share similar neurobiological abnormalities with other addictive disorders. PMID:23937918
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Motor and somatosensory conversion disorder: a functional unawareness syndrome?
Perez, David L; Barsky, Arthur J; Daffner, Kirk; Silbersweig, David A
2012-01-01
Although conversion disorder is closely connected to the origins of neurology and psychiatry, it remains poorly understood. In this article, the authors discuss neural and clinical parallels between lesional unawareness disorders and unilateral motor and somatosensory conversion disorder, emphasizing functional neuroimaging/disease correlates. Authors suggest that a functional-unawareness neurobiological framework, mediated by right hemisphere-lateralized, large-scale brain network dysfunction, may play a significant role in the neurobiology of conversion disorder. The perigenual anterior cingulate and the posterior parietal cortices are detailed as important in disease pathophysiology. Further investigations will refine the functional-unawareness concept, clarify the role of affective circuits, and delineate the process through which functional neurologic symptoms emerge.
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A Primary Role for Nucleus Accumbens and Related Limbic Network in Vocal Tics.
McCairn, Kevin W; Nagai, Yuji; Hori, Yukiko; Ninomiya, Taihei; Kikuchi, Erika; Lee, Ju-Young; Suhara, Tetsuya; Iriki, Atsushi; Minamimoto, Takafumi; Takada, Masahiko; Isoda, Masaki; Matsumoto, Masayuki
2016-01-20
Inappropriate vocal expressions, e.g., vocal tics in Tourette syndrome, severely impact quality of life. Neural mechanisms underlying vocal tics remain unexplored because no established animal model representing the condition exists. We report that unilateral disinhibition of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) generates vocal tics in monkeys. Whole-brain PET imaging identified prominent, bilateral limbic cortico-subcortical activation. Local field potentials (LFPs) developed abnormal spikes in the NAc and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Vocalization could occur without obvious LFP spikes, however, when phase-phase coupling of alpha oscillations were accentuated between the NAc, ACC, and the primary motor cortex. These findings contrasted with myoclonic motor tics induced by disinhibition of the dorsolateral putamen, where PET activity was confined to the ipsilateral sensorimotor system and LFP spikes always preceded motor tics. We propose that vocal tics emerge as a consequence of dysrhythmic alpha coupling between critical nodes in the limbic and motor networks. VIDEO ABSTRACT. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Chiu, Pearl H.; Kayali, M. Amin; Kishida, Kenneth T.; Tomlin, Damon; Klinger, Laura G.; Klinger, Mark R.; Montague, P. Read
2014-01-01
Summary Attributing behavioral outcomes correctly to oneself or to other agents is essential for all productive social exchange. We approach this issue in high-functioning males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using two separate fMRI paradigms. First, using a visual imagery task, we extract a basis set for responses along the cingulate cortex of control subjects that reveals an agent-specific eigenvector (self eigenmode) associated with imagining oneself executing a specific motor act. Second, we show that the same self eigenmode arises during one's own decision (the self phase) in an interpersonal exchange game (iterated trust game). Third, using this exchange game, we show that ASD males exhibit a severely diminished self eigenmode when playing the game with a human partner. This diminished response covaries parametrically with their behaviorally assessed symptom severity suggesting its value as an objective endophenotype. These findings may provide a quantitative assessment tool for high functioning ASD. PMID:18255038
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Nocchi, Federico; Gazzellini, Simone; Grisolia, Carmela; Petrarca, Maurizio; Cannatà, Vittorio; Cappa, Paolo; D'Alessio, Tommaso; Castelli, Enrico
2012-07-24
The potential of robot-mediated therapy and virtual reality in neurorehabilitation is becoming of increasing importance. However, there is limited information, using neuroimaging, on the neural networks involved in training with these technologies. This study was intended to detect the brain network involved in the visual processing of movement during robotic training. The main aim was to investigate the existence of a common cerebral network able to assimilate biological (human upper limb) and non-biological (abstract object) movements, hence testing the suitability of the visual non-biological feedback provided by the InMotion2 Robot. A visual functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) task was administered to 22 healthy subjects. The task required observation and retrieval of motor gestures and of the visual feedback used in robotic training. Functional activations of both biological and non-biological movements were examined to identify areas activated in both conditions, along with differential activity in upper limb vs. abstract object trials. Control of response was also tested by administering trials with congruent and incongruent reaching movements. The observation of upper limb and abstract object movements elicited similar patterns of activations according to a caudo-rostral pathway for the visual processing of movements (including specific areas of the occipital, temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes). Similarly, overlapping activations were found for the subsequent retrieval of the observed movement. Furthermore, activations of frontal cortical areas were associated with congruent trials more than with the incongruent ones. This study identified the neural pathway associated with visual processing of movement stimuli used in upper limb robot-mediated training and investigated the brain's ability to assimilate abstract object movements with human motor gestures. In both conditions, activations were elicited in cerebral areas involved in visual perception, sensory integration, recognition of movement, re-mapping on the somatosensory and motor cortex, storage in memory, and response control. Results from the congruent vs. incongruent trials revealed greater activity for the former condition than the latter in a network including cingulate cortex, right inferior and middle frontal gyrus that are involved in the go-signal and in decision control. Results on healthy subjects would suggest the appropriateness of an abstract visual feedback provided during motor training. The task contributes to highlight the potential of fMRI in improving the understanding of visual motor processes and may also be useful in detecting brain reorganisation during training.
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The neural basis of the imitation drive
Sugiura, Motoaki; Nozawa, Takayuki; Kotozaki, Yuka; Yomogida, Yukihito; Ihara, Mizuki; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Thyreau, Benjamin; Izumi, Shinichi; Kawashima, Ryuta
2016-01-01
Spontaneous imitation is assumed to underlie the acquisition of important skills by infants, including language and social interaction. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the neural basis of ‘spontaneously’ driven imitation, which has not yet been fully investigated. Healthy participants were presented with movie clips of meaningless bimanual actions and instructed to observe and imitate them during an fMRI scan. The participants were subsequently shown the movie clips again and asked to evaluate the strength of their ‘urge to imitate’ (Urge) for each action. We searched for cortical areas where the degree of activation positively correlated with Urge scores; significant positive correlations were observed in the right supplementary motor area (SMA) and bilateral midcingulate cortex (MCC) under the imitation condition. These areas were not explained by explicit reasons for imitation or the kinematic characteristics of the actions. Previous studies performed in monkeys and humans have implicated the SMA and MCC/caudal cingulate zone in voluntary actions. This study also confirmed the functional connectivity between Urge and imitation performance using a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Thus, our findings reveal the critical neural components that underlie spontaneous imitation and provide possible reasons why infants imitate spontaneously. PMID:26168793
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Neural correlates of the object-recall process in semantic memory.
Assaf, Michal; Calhoun, Vince D; Kuzu, Cheedem H; Kraut, Michael A; Rivkin, Paul R; Hart, John; Pearlson, Godfrey D
2006-10-30
The recall of an object from features is a specific operation in semantic memory in which the thalamus and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) are integrally involved. Other higher-order semantic cortices are also likely to be involved. We used the object-recall-from-features paradigm, with more sensitive scanning techniques and larger sample size, to replicate and extend our previous results. Eighteen right-handed healthy participants performed an object-recall task and an association semantic task, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. During object-recall, subjects determined whether words pairs describing object features combined to recall an object; during the association task they decided if two words were related. Of brain areas specifically involved in object recall, in addition to the thalamus and pre-SMA, other regions included the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and middle temporal gyrus, and bilateral rostral anterior cingulate and inferior frontal gyri. These regions are involved in semantic processing, verbal working memory and response-conflict detection and monitoring. The thalamus likely helps to coordinate activity of these different brain areas. Understanding the circuit that normally mediates this process is relevant for schizophrenia, where many regions in this circuit are functionally abnormal and semantic memory is impaired.
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Cognition and medial frontal cortex in health and disease
Nachev, Parashkev
2009-01-01
Purpose of review Recent work on the role of medial frontal cortex in cognition and its involvement in neurological disorders is critically reviewed. Recent findings The highly influential notion of conflict monitoring by the anterior cingulate has been called into question by monkey single-cell neurophysiology and lesion studies in monkeys and humans. An alternative role for this region in adapting behaviour in response to changing demands over time is gaining support. By contrast, the more dorsally placed pre-supplementary motor area and supplementary eye field have been implicated in direct executive control in situations of response conflict. Although more rostral medial areas have been linked to complex cognitive operations involving references to the self, conceptual obstacles make the evidence difficult to interpret. The role of orbitofrontal cortex in guiding action based on value has been reinforced. Summary This area continues to generate both interest and controversy. A few striking discrepancies between data from functional imaging and interventional techniques illustrate the hazards of drawing strong conclusions from merely correlative evidence. More broadly, a case can be made for tempering the empirical enthusiasm here with a little more theoretical restraint. PMID:17102698
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Brain activation-based sexual orientation in female-to-male transsexuals.
Kim, T-H; Kim, G-W; Kim, S-K; Jeong, G-W
2016-01-01
This study was performed to identify the sexual orientation in association with brain activation pattern in response to visual erotic stimuli in female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eleven FtM transsexuals who have had sex-reassignment surgery to alter their natal bodies with the gender-identity disorder were participated. Brain activation for sexual orientation was induced by visual stimuli with female and male erotic nude pictures compared with emotionally-neutral pictures. During viewing the erotic female pictures, the brain areas dominantly activated consist of the superior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, anterior/median cingulate gyri and hypothalamus, whereas during viewing male pictures, the brain areas with predominant activities were the middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, superior/middle occipital gyri, cerebellar cortex and vermis. These findings demonstrate that the brain activation patterns induced by viewing male or female erotic pictures show some correlation to the sexual orientation opposite to the genetic sex in FtM transsexuals. This study would be helpful to understand the neural mechanism associated with visual sexual arousal in patients with gender disorder.
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Neuronal effects of auditory distraction on visual attention
Smucny, Jason; Rojas, Donald C.; Eichman, Lindsay C.; Tregellas, Jason R.
2013-01-01
Selective attention in the presence of distraction is a key aspect of healthy cognition. The underlying neurobiological processes, have not, however, been functionally well characterized. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine how ecologically relevant distracting noise affects cortical activity in 27 healthy adults during two versions of the visual sustained attention to response task (SART) that differ in difficulty (and thus attentional load). A significant condition (noise or silence) by task (easy or difficult) interaction was observed in several areas, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), fusiform gyrus (FG), posterior cingulate (PCC), and pre-supplementary motor area (PreSMA). Post-hoc analyses of interaction effects revealed deactivation of DLPFC, PCC, and PreSMA during distracting noise under conditions of low attentional load, and activation of FG and PCC during distracting noise under conditions of high attentional load. These results suggest that distracting noise may help alert subjects to task goals and reduce demands on cortical resources during tasks of low difficulty and attentional load. Under conditions of higher load, however, additional cognitive resources may be required in the presence of noise. PMID:23291265
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Wu, Helen C.; Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Brown, Erik C.; Juhasz, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Shah, Aashit; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi
2011-01-01
Objective We measured cortical gamma-oscillations in response to visual-language tasks consisting of picture naming and word reading in an effort to better understand human visual-language pathways. Methods We studied six patients with focal epilepsy who underwent extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) recording. Patients were asked to overtly name images presented sequentially in the picture naming task and to overtly read written words in the reading task. Results Both tasks commonly elicited gamma-augmentation (maximally at 80–100 Hz) on ECoG in the occipital, inferior-occipital-temporal and inferior-Rolandic areas, bilaterally. Picture naming, compared to reading task, elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of pre-motor areas as well as occipital and inferior-occipital-temporal areas, bilaterally. In contrast, word reading elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of bilateral occipital, left occipital-temporal and left superior-posterior-parietal areas. Gamma-attenuation was elicited by both tasks in portions of posterior cingulate and ventral premotor-prefrontal areas bilaterally. The number of letters in a presented word was positively correlated to the degree of gamma-augmentation in the medial occipital areas. Conclusions Gamma-augmentation measured on ECoG identified cortical areas commonly and differentially involved in picture naming and reading tasks. Longer words may activate the primary visual cortex for the more peripheral field. Significance The present study increases our understanding of the visual-language pathways. PMID:21498109
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Exposure to GSM 900 MHz electromagnetic fields affects cerebral cytochrome c oxidase activity.
Ammari, Mohamed; Lecomte, Anthony; Sakly, Mohsen; Abdelmelek, Hafedh; de-Seze, René
2008-08-19
The world-wide and rapidly growing use of mobile phones has raised serious concerns about the biological and health-related effects of radio frequency (RF) radiation, particularly concerns about the effects of RFs upon the nervous system. The goal of this study was conducted to measure cytochrome oxidase (CO) levels using histochemical methods in order to evaluate regional brain metabolic activity in rat brain after exposure to a GSM 900 MHz signal for 45 min/day at a brain-averaged specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.5 W/Kg or for 15 min/day at a SAR of 6 W/Kg over seven days. Compared to the sham and control cage groups, rats exposed to a GSM signal at 6 W/Kg showed decreased CO activity in some areas of the prefrontal and frontal cortex (infralimbic cortex, prelimbic cortex, primary motor cortex, secondary motor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex areas 1 and 2 (Cg1 and Cg2)), the septum (dorsal and ventral parts of the lateral septal nucleus), the hippocampus (dorsal field CA1, CA2 and CA3 of the hippocampus and dental gyrus) and the posterior cortex (retrosplenial agranular cortex, primary and secondary visual cortex, perirhinal cortex and lateral entorhinal cortex). However, the exposure to GSM at 1.5 W/Kg did not affect brain activity. Our results indicate that 6 W/Kg GSM 900 MHz microwaves may affect brain metabolism and neuronal activity in rats.
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Changes in resting-state connectivity in musicians with embouchure dystonia.
Haslinger, Bernhard; Noé, Jonas; Altenmüller, Eckart; Riedl, Valentin; Zimmer, Claus; Mantel, Tobias; Dresel, Christian
2017-03-01
Embouchure dystonia is a highly disabling task-specific dystonia in professional brass musicians leading to spasms of perioral muscles while playing the instrument. As they are asymptomatic at rest, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in these patients can reveal changes in functional connectivity within and between brain networks independent from dystonic symptoms. We therefore compared embouchure dystonia patients to healthy musicians with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with independent component analyses. Patients showed increased functional connectivity of the bilateral sensorimotor mouth area and right secondary somatosensory cortex, but reduced functional connectivity of the bilateral sensorimotor hand representation, left inferior parietal cortex, and mesial premotor cortex within the lateral motor function network. Within the auditory function network, the functional connectivity of bilateral secondary auditory cortices, right posterior parietal cortex and left sensorimotor hand area was increased, the functional connectivity of right primary auditory cortex, right secondary somatosensory cortex, right sensorimotor mouth representation, bilateral thalamus, and anterior cingulate cortex was reduced. Negative functional connectivity between the cerebellar and lateral motor function network and positive functional connectivity between the cerebellar and primary visual network were reduced. Abnormal resting-state functional connectivity of sensorimotor representations of affected and unaffected body parts suggests a pathophysiological predisposition for abnormal sensorimotor and audiomotor integration in embouchure dystonia. Altered connectivity to the cerebellar network highlights the important role of the cerebellum in this disease. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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Reduced event-related current density in the anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia.
Mulert, C; Gallinat, J; Pascual-Marqui, R; Dorn, H; Frick, K; Schlattmann, P; Mientus, S; Herrmann, W M; Winterer, G
2001-04-01
There is good evidence from neuroanatomic postmortem and functional imaging studies that dysfunction of the anterior cingulate cortex plays a prominent role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. So far, no electrophysiological localization study has been performed to investigate this deficit. We investigated 18 drug-free schizophrenic patients and 25 normal subjects with an auditory choice reaction task and measured event-related activity with 19 electrodes. Estimation of the current source density distribution in Talairach space was performed with low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). In normals, we could differentiate between an early event-related potential peak of the N1 (90-100 ms) and a later N1 peak (120-130 ms). Subsequent current-density LORETA analysis in Talairach space showed increased activity in the auditory cortex area during the first N1 peak and increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus during the second N1 peak. No activation difference was observed in the auditory cortex between normals and patients with schizophrenia. However, schizophrenics showed significantly less anterior cingulate gyrus activation and slowed reaction times. Our results confirm previous findings of an electrical source in the anterior cingulate and an anterior cingulate dysfunction in schizophrenics. Our data also suggest that anterior cingulate function in schizophrenics is disturbed at a relatively early time point in the information-processing stream (100-140 ms poststimulus). Copyright 2001 Academic Press.
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Multiple forebrain systems converge on motor neurons innervating the thyroarytenoid muscle
Van Daele, Douglas J.; Cassell, Martin D.
2009-01-01
The present study investigated the central connections of motor neurons innervating the thyroarytenoid laryngeal muscle that is active in swallowing, respiration and vocalization. In both intact and sympathectomized rats, the pseudorabies virus (PRV) was inoculated into the muscle. After initial infection of laryngomotor neurons in the ipsilateral loose division of the nucleus ambiguous (NA) by 3 days post-inoculation., PRV spread to the ipsilateral compact portion of the NA, the central and intermediate divisions of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), the Botzinger complex, and the parvocellular reticular formation by 4 days. Infection was subsequently expanded to include the ipsilateral granular and dysgranular parietal insular cortex, the ipsilateral medial division of the central nucleus of the amygdala, the lateral, paraventricular, ventrolateral and medial preoptic nuclei of the hypothalamus (generally bilaterally), the lateral periaqueductal gray, the A7 and oral and caudal pontine nuclei. At the latest time points sampled post-inoculation (5 days), infected neurons were identified in the ipsilateral agranular insular cortex, the caudal parietal insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the contralateral motor cortex. In the amygdala, infection had spread to the lateral central nucleus and the parvocellular portion of the basolateral nucleus. Hypothalamic infection was largely characterized by an increase in the number of infected cells in earlier infected regions though the posterior, dorsomedial, tuberomammillary and mammillary nuclei contained infected cells. Comparison with previous connectional data suggest PRV followed three interconnected systems originating in the forebrain; a bilateral system including the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, periaqueductal gray and ventral respiratory group; an ipsilateral system involving the parietal insular cortex, central nucleus of the amygdala and parvicellular reticular formation, and a minor contralateral system originating in motor cortex. Hypothalamic innervation involved several functionally specific nuclei. Overall, the data imply complex central nervous system control over the multi-functional thyroarytenoid muscle.[297 words] PMID:19426785
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Hsu, Chun-Ting; Conrad, Markus; Jacobs, Arthur M
2014-12-03
Immersion in reading, described as a feeling of 'getting lost in a book', is a ubiquitous phenomenon widely appreciated by readers. However, it has been largely ignored in cognitive neuroscience. According to the fiction feeling hypothesis, narratives with emotional contents invite readers more to be empathic with the protagonists and thus engage the affective empathy network of the brain, the anterior insula and mid-cingulate cortex, than do stories with neutral contents. To test the hypothesis, we presented participants with text passages from the Harry Potter series in a functional MRI experiment and collected post-hoc immersion ratings, comparing the neural correlates of passage mean immersion ratings when reading fear-inducing versus neutral contents. Results for the conjunction contrast of baseline brain activity of reading irrespective of emotional content against baseline were in line with previous studies on text comprehension. In line with the fiction feeling hypothesis, immersion ratings were significantly higher for fear-inducing than for neutral passages, and activity in the mid-cingulate cortex correlated more strongly with immersion ratings of fear-inducing than of neutral passages. Descriptions of protagonists' pain or personal distress featured in the fear-inducing passages apparently caused increasing involvement of the core structure of pain and affective empathy the more readers immersed in the text. The predominant locus of effects in the mid-cingulate cortex seems to reflect that the immersive experience was particularly facilitated by the motor component of affective empathy for our stimuli from the Harry Potter series featuring particularly vivid descriptions of the behavioural aspects of emotion.
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Default Mode and Executive Networks Areas: Association with the Serial Order in Divergent Thinking
Heinonen, Jarmo; Numminen, Jussi; Hlushchuk, Yevhen; Antell, Henrik; Taatila, Vesa; Suomala, Jyrki
2016-01-01
Scientific findings have suggested a two-fold structure of the cognitive process. By using the heuristic thinking mode, people automatically process information that tends to be invariant across days, whereas by using the explicit thinking mode people explicitly process information that tends to be variant compared to typical previously learned information patterns. Previous studies on creativity found an association between creativity and the brain regions in the prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the default mode network and the executive network. However, which neural networks contribute to the explicit mode of thinking during idea generation remains an open question. We employed an fMRI paradigm to examine which brain regions were activated when participants (n = 16) mentally generated alternative uses for everyday objects. Most previous creativity studies required participants to verbalize responses during idea generation, whereas in this study participants produced mental alternatives without verbalizing. This study found activation in the left anterior insula when contrasting idea generation and object identification. This finding suggests that the insula (part of the brain’s salience network) plays a role in facilitating both the central executive and default mode networks to activate idea generation. We also investigated closely the effect of the serial order of idea being generated on brain responses: The amplitude of fMRI responses correlated positively with the serial order of idea being generated in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of the central executive network. Positive correlation with the serial order was also observed in the regions typically assigned to the default mode network: the precuneus/cuneus, inferior parietal lobule and posterior cingulate cortex. These networks support the explicit mode of thinking and help the individual to convert conventional mental models to new ones. The serial order correlated negatively with the BOLD responses in the posterior presupplementary motor area, left premotor cortex, right cerebellum and left inferior frontal gyrus. This finding might imply that idea generation without a verbal processing demand reflecting lack of need for new object identification in idea generation events. The results of the study are consistent with recent creativity studies, which emphasize that the creativity process involves working memory capacity to spontaneously shift between different kinds of thinking modes according to the context. PMID:27627760
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Role of deep brain stimulation in modulating memory formation and recall
Hu, Rollin; Eskandar, Emad; Williams, Ziv
2010-01-01
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become an increasingly popular tool for treating a variety of medically refractory neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson disease, essential tremor, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Several targets have been identified for ablation or stimulation based on their anatomical location and presumed function. Areas such as the subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus, and thalamus, for example, are believed to play a key role in motor control and execution, and they are commonly used in the treatment of motor disorders. Limbic structures such as the cingulate cortex and ventral striatum, believed to be important in motivation, emotion, and higher cognition, have also been targeted for treatment of a number of psychiatric disorders. In all of these settings, DBS is largely aimed at addressing the deleterious aspects of these diseases. In Parkinson disease, for example, DBS has been used to reduce rigidity and tremor, whereas in obsessive-compulsive disorder it has been used to limit compulsive behavior. More recently, however, attention has also turned to the potential use of DBS for enhancing or improving otherwise nonpathological aspects of cognitive function. This review explores the potential role of DBS in augmenting memory formation and recall, and the authors discuss recent studies and future trends in this emerging field. PMID:19569891
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Lack of sex effect on brain activity during a visuomotor response task: functional MR imaging study.
Mikhelashvili-Browner, Nina; Yousem, David M; Wu, Colin; Kraut, Michael A; Vaughan, Christina L; Oguz, Kader Karli; Calhoun, Vince D
2003-03-01
As more individuals are enrolled in clinical functional MR imaging (fMRI) studies, an understanding of how sex may influence fMRI-measured brain activation is critical. We used fixed- and random-effects models to study the influence of sex on fMRI patterns of brain activation during a simple visuomotor reaction time task in the group of 26 age-matched men and women. We evaluated the right visual, left visual, left primary motor, left supplementary motor, and left anterior cingulate areas. Volumes of activations did not significantly differ between the groups in any defined regions. Analysis of variance failed to show any significant correlations between sex and volumes of brain activation in any location studied. Mean percentage signal-intensity changes for all locations were similar between men and women. A two-way t test of brain activation in men and women, performed as a part of random-effects modeling, showed no significant difference at any site. Our results suggest that sex seems to have little influence on fMRI brain activation when we compared performance on the simple reaction-time task. The need to control for sex effects is not critical in the analysis of this task with fMRI.
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Scalp and Source Power Topography in Sleepwalking and Sleep Terrors: A High-Density EEG Study
Castelnovo, Anna; Riedner, Brady A.; Smith, Richard F.; Tononi, Giulio; Boly, Melanie; Benca, Ruth M.
2016-01-01
Study Objectives: To examine scalp and source power topography in sleep arousals disorders (SADs) using high-density EEG (hdEEG). Methods: Fifteen adult subjects with sleep arousal disorders (SADs) and 15 age- and gender-matched good sleeping healthy controls were recorded in a sleep laboratory setting using a 256 channel EEG system. Results: Scalp EEG analysis of all night NREM sleep revealed a localized decrease in slow wave activity (SWA) power (1–4 Hz) over centro-parietal regions relative to the rest of the brain in SADs compared to good sleeping healthy controls. Source modelling analysis of 5-minute segments taken from N3 during the first half of the night revealed that the local decrease in SWA power was prominent at the level of the cingulate, motor, and sensori-motor associative cortices. Similar patterns were also evident during REM sleep and wake. These differences in local sleep were present in the absence of any detectable clinical or electrophysiological sign of arousal. Conclusions: Overall, results suggest the presence of local sleep differences in the brain of SADs patients during nights without clinical episodes. The persistence of similar topographical changes in local EEG power during REM sleep and wakefulness points to trait-like functional changes that cross the boundaries of NREM sleep. The regions identified by source imaging are consistent with the current neurophysiological understanding of SADs as a disorder caused by local arousals in motor and cingulate cortices. Persistent localized changes in neuronal excitability may predispose affected subjects to clinical episodes. Citation: Castelnovo A, Riedner BA, Smith RF, Tononi G, Boly M, Benca RM. Scalp and source power topography in sleepwalking and sleep terrors: a high-density EEG study. SLEEP 2016;39(10):1815–1825. PMID:27568805
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Freund, Wolfgang; Wunderlich, Arthur P; Stuber, Gregor; Mayer, Florian; Steffen, Peter; Mentzel, Martin; Weber, Frank; Schmitz, Bernd
2010-05-01
Although the etiology of complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS 1) is still debated, many arguments favor central maladaptive changes in pain processing as an important causative factor. To look for the suspected alterations, 10 patients with CRPS affecting the left hand were explored with functional magnetic resonance imaging during graded electrical painful stimulation of both hands subsequently and compared with healthy participants. Activation of the anterior insula, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and caudate nucleus was seen in patients during painful stimulation. Compared with controls, CRPS patients had stronger activation of the PCC during painful stimulation of the symptomatic hand. The comparison of insular/opercular activation between controls and patients with CRPS I during painful stimulation showed stronger (posterior) opercular activation in controls than in patients. Stronger PCC activation during painful stimulation may be interpreted as a correlate of motor inhibition during painful stimuli different from controls. Also, the decreased opercular activation in CRPS patients shows less sensory-discriminative processing of painful stimuli.These results show that changed cerebral pain processing in CRPS patients is less sensory-discriminative but more motor inhibition during painful stimuli. These changes are not limited to the diseased side but show generalized alterations of cerebral pain processing in chronic pain patients.
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Monkul, E Serap; Silva, Leandro A P; Narayana, Shalini; Peluso, Marco A M; Zamarripa, Frank; Nery, Fabiano G; Najt, Pablo; Li, John; Lancaster, Jack L; Fox, Peter T; Lafer, Beny; Soares, Jair C
2012-02-01
We investigated the differences in the resting state corticolimbic blood flow between 20 unmedicated depressed patients and 21 healthy comparisons. Resting state cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured with H(2)(15)O PET. Anatomical MRI scans were performed on an Elscint 1.9 T Prestige system for PET-MRI coregistration. Significant changes in cerebral blood flow indicating neural activity were detected using an ROI-free image subtraction strategy. In addition, the resting blood flow in patients was correlated with the severity of depression as measured by HAM-D scores. Depressed patients showed decreases in blood flow in right anterior cingulate (Brodmann areas 24 and 32) and increased blood flow in left and right posterior cingulate (Brodmann areas 23, 29, 30), left parahippocampal gyrus (Brodmann area 36), and right caudate compared with healthy volunteers. The severity of depression was inversely correlated with the left middle and inferior frontal gyri (Brodmann areas 9 and 47) and right medial frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 10) and right anterior cingulate (Brodmann areas 24, 32) blood flow, and directly correlated with the right thalamus blood flow. These findings support previous reports of abnormalities in the resting state blood flow in the limbic-frontal structures in depressed patients compared to healthy volunteers. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Amianto, Federico; Caroppo, Paola; D'Agata, Federico; Spalatro, Angela; Lavagnino, Luca; Caglio, Marcella; Righi, Dorico; Bergui, Mauro; Abbate-Daga, Giovanni; Rigardetto, Roberto; Mortara, Paolo; Fassino, Secondo
2013-09-30
Recent studies focussing on neuroimaging features of eating disorders have observed that anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by significant grey matter (GM) atrophy in many brain regions, especially in the cerebellum and anterior cingulate cortex. To date, no studies have found GM atrophy in bulimia nervosa (BN) or have directly compared patients with AN and BN. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to characterize brain abnormalities in AN and BN patients, comparing them with each other and with a control group, and correlating brain volume with clinical features. We recruited 17 AN, 13 BN and 14 healthy controls. All subjects underwent high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a T1-weighted 3D image. VBM analysis was carried out with the FSL-VBM 4.1 tool. We found no global atrophy, but regional GM reduction in AN with respect to controls and BN in the cerebellum, fusiform area, supplementary motor area, and occipital cortex, and in the caudate in BN compared to AN and controls. Both groups of patients had a volumetric increase bilaterally in somatosensory regions with respect to controls, in areas that are typically involved in the sensory-motor integration of body stimuli and in mental representation of the body image. Our VBM study documented, for the first time in BN patients, the presence of volumetric alterations and replicated previous findings in AN patients. We evidenced morphological differences between AN and BN, demonstrating in the latter atrophy of the caudate nucleus, a region involved in reward mechanisms and processes of self-regulation, perhaps involved in the genesis of the binge-eating behaviors of this disorder. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Wu, Shih-Wei; Delgado, Mauricio R.; Maloney, Laurence T.
2011-01-01
In decision under risk, people choose between lotteries that contain a list of potential outcomes paired with their probabilities of occurrence. We previously developed a method for translating such lotteries to mathematically equivalent motor lotteries. The probability of each outcome in a motor lottery is determined by the subject’s noise in executing a movement. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans to compare the neural correlates of monetary outcome and probability in classical lottery tasks where information about probability was explicitly communicated to the subjects and in mathematically equivalent motor lottery tasks where probability was implicit in the subjects’ own motor noise. We found that activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) quantitatively represent the subjective utility of monetary outcome in both tasks. For probability, we found that the mPFC significantly tracked the distortion of such information in both tasks. Specifically, activity in mPFC represents probability information but not the physical properties of the stimuli correlated with this information. Together, the results demonstrate that mPFC represents probability from two distinct forms of decision under risk. PMID:21677166
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Wu, Shih-Wei; Delgado, Mauricio R; Maloney, Laurence T
2011-06-15
In decision under risk, people choose between lotteries that contain a list of potential outcomes paired with their probabilities of occurrence. We previously developed a method for translating such lotteries to mathematically equivalent "motor lotteries." The probability of each outcome in a motor lottery is determined by the subject's noise in executing a movement. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans to compare the neural correlates of monetary outcome and probability in classical lottery tasks in which information about probability was explicitly communicated to the subjects and in mathematically equivalent motor lottery tasks in which probability was implicit in the subjects' own motor noise. We found that activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex quantitatively represent the subjective utility of monetary outcome in both tasks. For probability, we found that the mPFC significantly tracked the distortion of such information in both tasks. Specifically, activity in mPFC represents probability information but not the physical properties of the stimuli correlated with this information. Together, the results demonstrate that mPFC represents probability from two distinct forms of decision under risk.
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Brain Areas Controlling Heart Rate Variability in Tinnitus and Tinnitus-Related Distress
Vanneste, Sven; De Ridder, Dirk
2013-01-01
Background Tinnitus is defined as an intrinsic sound perception that cannot be attributed to an external sound source. Distress in tinnitus patients is related to increased beta activity in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate and the amount of distress correlates with network activity consisting of the amygdala-anterior cingulate cortex-insula-parahippocampus. Previous research also revealed that distress is associated to a higher sympathetic (OS) tone in tinnitus patients and tinnitus suppression to increased parasympathetic (PS) tone. Methodology The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between tinnitus distress and the autonomic nervous system and find out which cortical areas are involved in the autonomic nervous system influences in tinnitus distress by the use of source localized resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and electrocardiogram (ECG). Twenty-one tinnitus patients were included in this study. Conclusions The results indicate that the dorsal and subgenual anterior cingulate, as well as the left and right insula are important in the central control of heart rate variability in tinnitus patients. Whereas the sympathovagal balance is controlled by the subgenual and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the right insula controls sympathetic activity and the left insula the parasympathetic activity. The perceived distress in tinnitus patients seems to be sympathetically mediated. PMID:23533644
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Helbing, Cornelia; Brocka, Marta; Scherf, Thomas; Lippert, Michael T; Angenstein, Frank
2016-12-01
Several human functional magnetic resonance imaging studies point to an activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system during reward, addiction and learning. We previously found activation of the mesolimbic system in response to continuous but not to discontinuous perforant pathway stimulation in an experimental model that we now used to investigate the role of dopamine release for the formation of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses. The two stimulation protocols elicited blood-oxygen-level dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. Inhibition of dopamine D 1/5 receptors abolished the formation of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex during continuous but not during discontinuous pulse stimulations, i.e. only when the mesolimbic system was activated. Direct electrical or optogenetic stimulation of the ventral tegmental area caused strong dopamine release but only electrical stimulation triggered significant blood-oxygen level-dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. These functional magnetic resonance imaging responses were not affected by the D 1/5 receptor antagonist SCH23390 but reduced by the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist MK801. Therefore, glutamatergic ventral tegmental area neurons are already sufficient to trigger blood-oxygen-level dependent responses in the medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and nucleus accumbens. Although dopamine release alone does not affect blood-oxygen-level dependent responses it can act as a switch, permitting the formation of blood-oxygen-level dependent responses. © The Author(s) 2015.
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Knight, Emily J.; Testini, Paola; Min, Hoon-Ki; Gibson, William S.; Gorny, Krzysztof R.; Favazza, Christopher P.; Felmlee, Joel P.; Kim, Inyong; Welker, Kirk M.; Clayton, Daniel A.; Klassen, Bryan T.; Chang, Su-youne; Lee, Kendall H.
2015-01-01
Objective To test the hypothesis suggested by previous studies that subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with PD would affect the activity of both motor and non-motor networks, we applied intraoperative fMRI to patients receiving DBS. Patients and Methods Ten patients receiving STN DBS for PD underwent intraoperative 1.5T fMRI during high frequency stimulation delivered via an external pulse generator. The study was conducted between the dates of January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014. Results We observed blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes (FDR<.001) in the motor circuitry, including primary motor, premotor, and supplementary motor cortices, thalamus, pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), and cerebellum, as well as in the limbic circuitry, including cingulate and insular cortices. Activation of the motor network was observed also after applying a Bonferroni correction (p<.001) to our dataset, suggesting that, across subjects, BOLD changes in the motor circuitry are more consistent compared to those occurring in the non-motor network. Conclusions These findings support the modulatory role of STN DBS on the activity of motor and non-motor networks, and suggest complex mechanisms at the basis of the efficacy of this treatment modality. Furthermore, these results suggest that, across subjects, BOLD changes in the motor circuitry are more consistent compared to those occurring in the non-motor network. With further studies combining the use of real time intraoperative fMRI with clinical outcomes in patients treated with DBS, functional imaging techniques have the potential not only to elucidate the mechanisms of DBS functioning, but also to guide and assist in the surgical treatment of patients affected by movement and neuropsychiatric disorders. PMID:26046412
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Hwang, Jaeuk; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Kim, Seog Ju; Sung, Young Hoon; Bae, Soojeong; Cho, Sung-Nam; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Dong Soo; Renshaw, Perry F
2006-04-28
The aim of the current study was to explore changes of relative regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in short-term and long-term abstinent methamphetamine (MA) users. Relative rCBF in 40 abstinent MA users and 23 healthy comparison subjects was compared by the technetium-99m-hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime ((99m)Tc-HMPAO) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Relative rCBF in areas that were found to differ significantly was also compared in groups of MA users with short-term (<6 months) and long-term (>or=6 months) abstinence. MA users showed decreased relative rCBF in the right anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann area 32) relative to healthy comparison subjects. Long-term abstinent MA users had significantly greater rCBF than short-term abstinent MA users. We report that abstinent MA users have decreased rCBF in the anterior cingulate cortex with smaller relative decreases in subjects with prolonged abstinence.
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The Neural Circuits that Generate Tics in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome
Wang, Zhishun; Maia, Tiago V.; Marsh, Rachel; Colibazzi, Tiziano; Gerber, Andrew; Peterson, Bradley S.
2014-01-01
Objective To study neural activity and connectivity within cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits and to reveal circuit-based neural mechanisms that govern tic generation in Tourette syndrome. Method We acquired fMRI data from 13 participants with Tourette syndrome and 21 controls during spontaneous or simulated tics. We used independent component analysis with hierarchical partner matching to isolate neural activity within functionally distinct regions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. We used Granger causality to investigate causal interactions among these regions. Results We found that the Tourette group exhibited stronger neural activity and interregional causality than controls throughout all portions of the motor pathway including sensorimotor cortex, putamen, pallidum, and substania nigra. Activity in these areas correlated positively with the severity of tic symptoms. Activity within the Tourette group was stronger during spontaneous tics than during voluntary tics in somatosensory and posterior parietal cortices, putamen, and amygdala/hippocampus complex, suggesting that activity in these regions may represent features of the premonitory urges that generate spontaneous tic behaviors. In contrast, activity was weaker in the Tourette group than in controls within portions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits that exert top-down control over motor pathways (caudate and anterior cingulate cortex), and progressively less activity in these regions accompanied more severe tic symptoms, suggesting that faulty activity in these circuits may fail to control tic behaviors or the premonitory urges that generate them. Conclusions Our findings taken together suggest that tics are caused by the combined effects of excessive activity in motor pathways and reduced activation in control portions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. PMID:21955933
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Cortical and subcortical mechanisms of brain-machine interfaces.
Marchesotti, Silvia; Martuzzi, Roberto; Schurger, Aaron; Blefari, Maria Laura; Del Millán, José R; Bleuler, Hannes; Blanke, Olaf
2017-06-01
Technical advances in the field of Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) enable users to control a variety of external devices such as robotic arms, wheelchairs, virtual entities and communication systems through the decoding of brain signals in real time. Most BMI systems sample activity from restricted brain regions, typically the motor and premotor cortex, with limited spatial resolution. Despite the growing number of applications, the cortical and subcortical systems involved in BMI control are currently unknown at the whole-brain level. Here, we provide a comprehensive and detailed report of the areas active during on-line BMI control. We recorded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data while participants controlled an EEG-based BMI inside the scanner. We identified the regions activated during BMI control and how they overlap with those involved in motor imagery (without any BMI control). In addition, we investigated which regions reflect the subjective sense of controlling a BMI, the sense of agency for BMI-actions. Our data revealed an extended cortical-subcortical network involved in operating a motor-imagery BMI. This includes not only sensorimotor regions but also the posterior parietal cortex, the insula and the lateral occipital cortex. Interestingly, the basal ganglia and the anterior cingulate cortex were involved in the subjective sense of controlling the BMI. These results inform basic neuroscience by showing that the mechanisms of BMI control extend beyond sensorimotor cortices. This knowledge may be useful for the development of BMIs that offer a more natural and embodied feeling of control for the user. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2971-2989, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Wu, Helen C; Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Brown, Erik C; Juhasz, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Shah, Aashit; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi
2011-10-01
We measured cortical gamma-oscillations in response to visual-language tasks consisting of picture naming and word reading in an effort to better understand human visual-language pathways. We studied six patients with focal epilepsy who underwent extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) recording. Patients were asked to overtly name images presented sequentially in the picture naming task and to overtly read written words in the reading task. Both tasks commonly elicited gamma-augmentation (maximally at 80-100 Hz) on ECoG in the occipital, inferior-occipital-temporal and inferior-Rolandic areas, bilaterally. Picture naming, compared to reading task, elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of pre-motor areas as well as occipital and inferior-occipital-temporal areas, bilaterally. In contrast, word reading elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of bilateral occipital, left occipital-temporal and left superior-posterior-parietal areas. Gamma-attenuation was elicited by both tasks in portions of posterior cingulate and ventral premotor-prefrontal areas bilaterally. The number of letters in a presented word was positively correlated to the degree of gamma-augmentation in the medial occipital areas. Gamma-augmentation measured on ECoG identified cortical areas commonly and differentially involved in picture naming and reading tasks. Longer words may activate the primary visual cortex for the more peripheral field. The present study increases our understanding of the visual-language pathways. Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Default-Mode-Like Network Activation in Awake Rodents
Upadhyay, Jaymin; Baker, Scott J.; Chandran, Prasant; Miller, Loan; Lee, Younglim; Marek, Gerard J.; Sakoglu, Unal; Chin, Chih-Liang; Luo, Feng; Fox, Gerard B.; Day, Mark
2011-01-01
During wakefulness and in absence of performing tasks or sensory processing, the default-mode network (DMN), an intrinsic central nervous system (CNS) network, is in an active state. Non-human primate and human CNS imaging studies have identified the DMN in these two species. Clinical imaging studies have shown that the pattern of activity within the DMN is often modulated in various disease states (e.g., Alzheimer's, schizophrenia or chronic pain). However, whether the DMN exists in awake rodents has not been characterized. The current data provides evidence that awake rodents also possess ‘DMN-like’ functional connectivity, but only subsequent to habituation to what is initially a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment as well as physical restraint. Specifically, the habituation process spanned across four separate scanning sessions (Day 2, 4, 6 and 8). At Day 8, significant (p<0.05) functional connectivity was observed amongst structures such as the anterior cingulate (seed region), retrosplenial, parietal, and hippocampal cortices. Prior to habituation (Day 2), functional connectivity was only detected (p<0.05) amongst CNS structures known to mediate anxiety (i.e., anterior cingulate (seed region), posterior hypothalamic area, amygdala and parabracial nucleus). In relating functional connectivity between cingulate-default-mode and cingulate-anxiety structures across Days 2-8, a significant inverse relationship (r = −0.65, p = 0.0004) was observed between these two functional interactions such that increased cingulate-DMN connectivity corresponded to decreased cingulate anxiety network connectivity. This investigation demonstrates that the cingulate is an important component of both the rodent DMN-like and anxiety networks. PMID:22125628
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Hamed, Moath; Schraml, Frank; Wilson, Jeffrey; Galvin, James; Sabbagh, Marwan N
2018-01-01
To determine whether occipital and cingulate hypometabolism is being under-reported or missed on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) CT scans in patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). Recent studies have reported higher sensitivity and specificity for occipital and cingulate hypometabolism on FDG-PET of DLB patients. This retrospective chart review looked at regions of interest (ROI's) in FDG-PET CT scan reports in 35 consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of probable, possible, or definite DLB as defined by the latest DLB Consortium Report. ROI's consisting of glucose hypometabolism in frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, and cingulate areas were tabulated and charted separately by the authors from the reports. A blinded Nuclear medicine physician read the images independently and marked ROI's separately. A Cohen's Kappa coefficient statistic was calculated to determine agreement between the reports and the blinded reads. On the radiology reports, 25.71% and 17.14% of patients reported occipital and cingulate hypometabolism respectively. Independent reads demonstrated significant disagreement with the proportion of occipital and cingulate hypometabolism being reported on initial reads: 91.43% and 85.71% respectively. Cohen's Kappa statistic determinations demonstrated significant agreement only with parietal hypometabolism (p<0.05). Occipital and cingulate hypometabolism is under-reported and missed frequently on clinical interpretations of FDG-PET scans of patients with DLB, but the frequency of hypometabolism is even higher than previously reported. Further studies with more statistical power and receiver operating characteristic analyses are needed to delineate the sensitivity and specificity of these in vivo biomarkers.
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Distinct frontal lobe morphology in girls and boys with ADHD.
Dirlikov, Benjamin; Shiels Rosch, Keri; Crocetti, Deana; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark; Mostofsky, Stewart H
2015-01-01
This study investigated whether frontal lobe cortical morphology differs for boys and girls with ADHD (ages 8-12 years) in comparison to typically developing (TD) peers. Participants included 226 children between the ages of 8-12 including 93 children with ADHD (29 girls) and 133 TD children (42 girls) for which 3T MPRAGE MRI scans were obtained. A fully automated frontal lobe atlas was used to generate functionally distinct frontal subdivisions, with surface area (SA) and cortical thickness (CT) assessed in each region. Analyses focused on overall diagnostic differences as well as examinations of the effect of diagnosis within boys and girls. Girls, but not boys, with ADHD showed overall reductions in total prefrontal cortex (PFC) SA. Localization revealed that girls showed widely distributed reductions in the bilateral dorsolateral PFC, left inferior lateral PFC, right medial PFC, right orbitofrontal cortex, and left anterior cingulate; and boys showed reduced SA only in the right anterior cingulate and left medial PFC. In contrast, boys, but not girls, with ADHD showed overall reductions in total premotor cortex (PMC) SA. Further localization revealed that in boys, premotor reductions were observed in bilateral lateral PMC regions; and in girls reductions were observed in bilateral supplementary motor complex. In line with diagnostic group differences, PMC and PFC SAs were inversely correlated with symptom severity in both girls and boys with ADHD. These results elucidate sex-based differences in cortical morphology of functional subdivisions of the frontal lobe and provide additional evidence of associations among SA and symptom severity in children with ADHD.
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Aberrant corticostriatal functional circuits in adolescents with Internet addiction disorder
Lin, Fuchun; Zhou, Yan; Du, Yasong; Zhao, Zhimin; Qin, Lindi; Xu, Jianrong; Lei, Hao
2015-01-01
Abnormal structure and function in the striatum and prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been revealed in Internet addiction disorder (IAD). However, little is known about alterations of corticostriatal functional circuits in IAD. The aim of this study was to investigate the integrity of corticostriatal functional circuits and their relations to neuropsychological measures in IAD by resting-state functional connectivity (FC). Fourteen IAD adolescents and 15 healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI scans. Using six predefined bilateral striatal regions-of-interest, voxel-wise correlation maps were computed and compared between groups. Relationships between alterations of corticostriatal connectivity and clinical measurements were examined in the IAD group. Compared to controls, IAD subjects exhibited reduced connectivity between the inferior ventral striatum and bilateral caudate head, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior cingulate cortex, and between the superior ventral striatum and bilateral dorsal/rostral ACC, ventral anterior thalamus, and putamen/pallidum/insula/inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and between the dorsal caudate and dorsal/rostral ACC, thalamus, and IFG, and between the left ventral rostral putamen and right IFG. IAD subjects also showed increased connectivity between the left dorsal caudal putamen and bilateral caudal cigulate motor area. Moreover, altered cotricostriatal functional circuits were significantly correlated with neuropsychological measures. This study directly provides evidence that IAD is associated with alterations of corticostriatal functional circuits involved in the affective and motivation processing, and cognitive control. These findings emphasize that functional connections in the corticostriatal circuits are modulated by affective/motivational/cognitive states and further suggest that IAD may have abnormalities of such modulation in this network. PMID:26136677
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A cerebellar thalamic cortical circuit for error-related cognitive control.
Ide, Jaime S; Li, Chiang-shan R
2011-01-01
Error detection and behavioral adjustment are core components of cognitive control. Numerous studies have focused on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a critical locus of this executive function. Our previous work showed greater activation in the dorsal ACC and subcortical structures during error detection, and activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) during post-error slowing (PES) in a stop signal task (SST). However, the extent of error-related cortical or subcortical activation across subjects was not correlated with VLPFC activity during PES. So then, what causes VLPFC activation during PES? To address this question, we employed Granger causality mapping (GCM) and identified regions that Granger caused VLPFC activation in 54 adults performing the SST during fMRI. These brain regions, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), cerebellum, a pontine region, and medial thalamus, represent potential targets responding to errors in a way that could influence VLPFC activation. In confirmation of this hypothesis, the error-related activity of these regions correlated with VLPFC activation during PES, with the cerebellum showing the strongest association. The finding that cerebellar activation Granger causes prefrontal activity during behavioral adjustment supports a cerebellar function in cognitive control. Furthermore, multivariate GCA described the "flow of information" across these brain regions. Through connectivity with the thalamus and SMA, the cerebellum mediates error and post-error processing in accord with known anatomical projections. Taken together, these new findings highlight the role of the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway in an executive function that has heretofore largely been ascribed to the anterior cingulate-prefrontal cortical circuit. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The Cerebellum and Emotional Experience
Turner, Beth M.; Paradiso, Sergio; Marvel, Cherie L.; Pierson, Ronald; Boles Ponto, Laura L.; Hichwa, Richard D.; Robinson, Robert G.
2007-01-01
Summary While the role of the cerebellum in motor coordination is widely accepted, the notion that it is involved in emotion has only recently gained popularity. To date, functional neuroimaging has not been used in combination with lesion studies to elucidate the role of the cerebellum in the processing of emotional material. We examined six participants with cerebellar stroke and nine age and education matched healthy volunteers. In addition to a complete neuropsychological, neurologic, and psychiatric examination, participants underwent [15O]water positron emission tomography (PET) while responding to emotion-evoking visual stimuli. Cerebellar lesions were associated with reduced pleasant experience in response to happiness-evoking stimuli. Stroke patients reported an unpleasant experience to frightening stimuli similar to healthy controls, yet showed significantly lower activity in the right ventral lateral and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, thalamus, and retrosplenial cingulate gyrus. Frightening stimuli led to increased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, pulvinar, and insular cortex. This suggests that alternate neural circuitry became responsible for maintaining the evolutionarily critical fear response after cerebellar damage. PMID:17123557
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Two different mirror neuron networks: The sensorimotor (hand) and limbic (face) pathways.
Ferrari, P F; Gerbella, M; Coudé, G; Rozzi, S
2017-09-01
The vast majority of functional studies investigating mirror neurons (MNs) explored their properties in relation to hand actions, and very few investigated how MNs respond to mouth actions or communicative gestures. Since hand and mouth MNs were recorded in two partially overlapping sectors of the ventral precentral cortex of the macaque monkey, there is a general assumption that they share a same neuroanatomical network, with the parietal cortex as a main source of visual information. In the current review, we challenge this perspective and describe the connectivity pattern of mouth MN sector. The mouth MNs F5/opercular region is connected with premotor, parietal areas mostly related to the somatosensory and motor representation of the face/mouth, and with area PrCO, involved in processing gustatory and somatosensory intraoral input. Unlike hand MNs, mouth MNs do not receive their visual input from parietal regions. Such information related to face/communicative behaviors could come from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Further strong connections derive from limbic structures involved in encoding emotional facial expressions and motivational/reward processing. These brain structures include the anterior cingulate cortex, the anterior and mid-dorsal insula, orbitofrontal cortex and the basolateral amygdala. The mirror mechanism is therefore composed and supported by at least two different anatomical pathways: one is concerned with sensorimotor transformation in relation to reaching and hand grasping within the traditional parietal-premotor circuits; the second one is linked to the mouth/face motor control and is connected with limbic structures, involved in communication/emotions and reward processing. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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The neural basis of kinesthetic and visual imagery in sports: an ALE meta - analysis.
Filgueiras, Alberto; Quintas Conde, Erick Francisco; Hall, Craig R
2017-12-19
Imagery is a widely spread technique in the sport sciences that entails the mental rehearsal of a given situation to improve an athlete's learning, performance and motivation. Two modalities of imagery are reported to tap into distinct brain structures, but sharing common components: kinesthetic and visual imagery. This study aimed to investigate the neural basis of those types of imagery with Activation Likelihood Estimation algorithm to perform a meta - analysis. A systematic search was used to retrieve only experimental studies with athletes or sportspersons. Altogether, nine studies were selected and an ALE meta - analysis was performed. Results indicated significant activation of the premotor, somatosensory cortex, supplementary motor areas, inferior and superior parietal lobule, caudate, cingulate and cerebellum in both imagery tasks. It was concluded that visual and kinesthetic imagery share similar neural networks which suggests that combined interventions are beneficial to athletes whereas separate use of those two modalities of imagery may seem less efficient from a neuropsychological approach.
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Predicting reading and mathematics from neural activity for feedback learning.
Peters, Sabine; Van der Meulen, Mara; Zanolie, Kiki; Crone, Eveline A
2017-01-01
Although many studies use feedback learning paradigms to study the process of learning in laboratory settings, little is known about their relevance for real-world learning settings such as school. In a large developmental sample (N = 228, 8-25 years), we investigated whether performance and neural activity during a feedback learning task predicted reading and mathematics performance 2 years later. The results indicated that feedback learning performance predicted both reading and mathematics performance. Activity during feedback learning in left superior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) predicted reading performance, whereas activity in presupplementary motor area/anterior cingulate cortex (pre-SMA/ACC) predicted mathematical performance. Moreover, left superior DLPFC and pre-SMA/ACC activity predicted unique variance in reading and mathematics ability over behavioral testing of feedback learning performance alone. These results provide valuable insights into the relationship between laboratory-based learning tasks and learning in school settings, and the value of neural assessments for prediction of school performance over behavioral testing alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
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Shared neural circuits for mentalizing about the self and others.
Lombardo, Michael V; Chakrabarti, Bhismadev; Bullmore, Edward T; Wheelwright, Sally J; Sadek, Susan A; Suckling, John; Baron-Cohen, Simon
2010-07-01
Although many examples exist for shared neural representations of self and other, it is unknown how such shared representations interact with the rest of the brain. Furthermore, do high-level inference-based shared mentalizing representations interact with lower level embodied/simulation-based shared representations? We used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and a functional connectivity approach to assess these questions during high-level inference-based mentalizing. Shared mentalizing representations in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate/precuneus, and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) all exhibited identical functional connectivity patterns during mentalizing of both self and other. Connectivity patterns were distributed across low-level embodied neural systems such as the frontal operculum/ventral premotor cortex, the anterior insula, the primary sensorimotor cortex, and the presupplementary motor area. These results demonstrate that identical neural circuits are implementing processes involved in mentalizing of both self and other and that the nature of such processes may be the integration of low-level embodied processes within higher level inference-based mentalizing.
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Bilateral frontal activation associated with cutaneous stimulation of elixir field: an FMRI study.
Chan, Agnes S; Cheung, Mei-Chun; Chan, Yu Leung; Yeung, David K W; Lam, Wan
2006-01-01
Elixir Field, or Dan Tian, is the area where energy is stored and nourished in the body according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Although Dan Tian stimulation is a major concept in Qigong healing and has been practiced for thousands of years, and while there are some recent empirical evidence of its effect, its neurophysiological basis remains unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activations associated with external stimulation of the lower Elixir Field in ten normal subjects, and compared the results with the stimulation of their right hands. While right-hand stimulation resulted in left postcentral gyrus activation, stimulation of the lower Elixir Field resulted in bilateral activations including the medial and superior frontal gyrus, middle and superior temporal gyrus, thalamus, insula, and cingulate gyrus. These findings suggest that stimulation of the Elixir Field is not only associated with activation of the sensory motor cortex but also with cortical regions that mediate planning, attention, and memory.
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[Neuropsychology of Tourette's disorder: cognition, neuroimaging and creativity].
Espert, R; Gadea, M; Alino, M; Oltra-Cucarella, J
2017-02-24
Tourette's disorder is the result of fronto-striatal brain dysfunction affecting people of all ages, with a debut in early childhood and continuing into adolescence and adulthood. This article reviews the main cognitive, functional neuroimaging and creativity-related studies in a disorder characterized by an excess of dopamine in the brain. Given the special cerebral configuration of these patients, neuropsychological alterations, especially in executive functions, should be expected. However, the findings are inconclusive and are conditioned by factors such as comorbidity with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, age or methodological variables. On the other hand, the neuroimaging studies carried out over the last decade have been able to explain the clinical symptoms of Tourette's disorder patients, with special relevance for the supplementary motor area and the anterior cingulate gyrus. Finally, although there is no linear relationship between excess of dopamine and creativity, the scientific literature emphasizes an association between Tourette's disorder and musical creativity, which could be translated into intervention programs based on music.
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Brain Responses during the Anticipation of Dyspnea
Stoeckel, M. Cornelia; Esser, Roland W.; Büchel, Christian
2016-01-01
Dyspnea is common in many cardiorespiratory diseases. Already the anticipation of this aversive symptom elicits fear in many patients resulting in unfavorable health behaviors such as activity avoidance and sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated brain mechanisms underlying these anticipatory processes. We induced dyspnea using resistive-load breathing in healthy subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blocks of severe and mild dyspnea alternated, each preceded by anticipation periods. Severe dyspnea activated a network of sensorimotor, cerebellar, and limbic areas. The left insular, parietal opercular, and cerebellar cortices showed increased activation already during dyspnea anticipation. Left insular and parietal opercular cortex showed increased connectivity with right insular and anterior cingulate cortex when severe dyspnea was anticipated, while the cerebellum showed increased connectivity with the amygdala. Notably, insular activation during dyspnea perception was positively correlated with midbrain activation during anticipation. Moreover, anticipatory fear was positively correlated with anticipatory activation in right insular and anterior cingulate cortex. The results demonstrate that dyspnea anticipation activates brain areas involved in dyspnea perception. The involvement of emotion-related areas such as insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala during dyspnea anticipation most likely reflects anticipatory fear and might underlie the development of unfavorable health behaviors in patients suffering from dyspnea. PMID:27648309
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Brain Responses during the Anticipation of Dyspnea.
Stoeckel, M Cornelia; Esser, Roland W; Gamer, Matthias; Büchel, Christian; von Leupoldt, Andreas
2016-01-01
Dyspnea is common in many cardiorespiratory diseases. Already the anticipation of this aversive symptom elicits fear in many patients resulting in unfavorable health behaviors such as activity avoidance and sedentary lifestyle. This study investigated brain mechanisms underlying these anticipatory processes. We induced dyspnea using resistive-load breathing in healthy subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blocks of severe and mild dyspnea alternated, each preceded by anticipation periods. Severe dyspnea activated a network of sensorimotor, cerebellar, and limbic areas. The left insular, parietal opercular, and cerebellar cortices showed increased activation already during dyspnea anticipation. Left insular and parietal opercular cortex showed increased connectivity with right insular and anterior cingulate cortex when severe dyspnea was anticipated, while the cerebellum showed increased connectivity with the amygdala. Notably, insular activation during dyspnea perception was positively correlated with midbrain activation during anticipation. Moreover, anticipatory fear was positively correlated with anticipatory activation in right insular and anterior cingulate cortex. The results demonstrate that dyspnea anticipation activates brain areas involved in dyspnea perception. The involvement of emotion-related areas such as insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and amygdala during dyspnea anticipation most likely reflects anticipatory fear and might underlie the development of unfavorable health behaviors in patients suffering from dyspnea.
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Neuronal Control of Mammalian Vocalization, with Special Reference to the Squirrel Monkey
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jürgens, Uwe
Squirrel monkey vocalization can be considered as a suitable model for the study in humans of the neurobiological basis of nonverbal emotional vocal utterances, such as laughing, crying, and groaning. Evaluation of electrical and chemical brain stimulation data, lesioning studies, single-neurone recordings, and neuroanatomical tracing work leads to the following conclusions: The periaqueductal gray and laterally bordering tegmentum of the midbrain represent a crucial area for the production of vocalization. This area collects the various vocalization-triggering stimuli, such as auditory, visual, and somatosensory input from diverse sensory-processing structures, motivation-controlling input from some limbic structures, and volitional impulses from the anterior cingulate cortex. Destruction of this area causes mutism. It is still under dispute whether the periaqueductal region harbors the vocal pattern generator or merely couples vocalization-triggering information to motor-coordinating structures further downward in the brainstem. The periaqueductal region is connected with the phonatory motoneuron pools indirectly via one or several interneurons. The nucleus retroambiguus represents a crucial relay station for the laryngeal and expiratory component of vocalization. The articulatory component reaches the orofacial motoneuron pools via the parvocellular reticular formation. Essential proprioceptive feedback from the larynx and lungs enter the vocal-controlling network via the solitary tract nucleus.
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Structural and functional cerebral correlates of hypnotic suggestibility.
Huber, Alexa; Lui, Fausta; Duzzi, Davide; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo
2014-01-01
Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity.
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The neural basis of the imitation drive.
Hanawa, Sugiko; Sugiura, Motoaki; Nozawa, Takayuki; Kotozaki, Yuka; Yomogida, Yukihito; Ihara, Mizuki; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Thyreau, Benjamin; Izumi, Shinichi; Kawashima, Ryuta
2016-01-01
Spontaneous imitation is assumed to underlie the acquisition of important skills by infants, including language and social interaction. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the neural basis of 'spontaneously' driven imitation, which has not yet been fully investigated. Healthy participants were presented with movie clips of meaningless bimanual actions and instructed to observe and imitate them during an fMRI scan. The participants were subsequently shown the movie clips again and asked to evaluate the strength of their 'urge to imitate' (Urge) for each action. We searched for cortical areas where the degree of activation positively correlated with Urge scores; significant positive correlations were observed in the right supplementary motor area (SMA) and bilateral midcingulate cortex (MCC) under the imitation condition. These areas were not explained by explicit reasons for imitation or the kinematic characteristics of the actions. Previous studies performed in monkeys and humans have implicated the SMA and MCC/caudal cingulate zone in voluntary actions. This study also confirmed the functional connectivity between Urge and imitation performance using a psychophysiological interaction analysis. Thus, our findings reveal the critical neural components that underlie spontaneous imitation and provide possible reasons why infants imitate spontaneously. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press.
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Croarkin, Paul E; Nakonezny, Paul A; Wall, Christopher A; Murphy, Lauren L; Sampson, Shirlene M; Frye, Mark A; Port, John D
2016-01-30
Abnormalities in glutamate neurotransmission may have a role in the pathophysiology of adolescent depression. The present pilot study examined changes in cortical glutamine/glutamate ratios in depressed adolescents receiving high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Ten adolescents with treatment-refractory major depressive disorder received up to 30 sessions of 10-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation at 120% motor threshold with 3000 pulses per session applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans of the anterior cingulate cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were collected at 3T with 8-cm(3) voxels. Glutamate metabolites were quantified with 2 distinct proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy sequences in each brain region. After repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and at 6 months of follow-up, glutamine/glutamate ratios increased in the anterior cingulate cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with both measurements. The increase in the glutamine/glutamate ratio reached statistical significance with the TE-optimized PRESS sequence in the anterior cingulate cortex. Glutamine/glutamate ratios increased in conjunction with depressive symptom improvement. This reached statistical significance with the TE-optimized PRESS sequence in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may modulate glutamate neurochemistry in depressed adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The neural representation of abstract words: the role of emotion.
Vigliocco, Gabriella; Kousta, Stavroula-Thaleia; Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony; Vinson, David P; Tettamanti, Marco; Devlin, Joseph T; Cappa, Stefano F
2014-07-01
It is generally assumed that abstract concepts are linguistically coded, in line with imaging evidence of greater engagement of the left perisylvian language network for abstract than concrete words (Binder JR, Desai RH, Graves WW, Conant LL. 2009. Where is the semantic system? A critical review and meta-analysis of 120 functional neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex. 19:2767-2796; Wang J, Conder JA, Blitzer DN, Shinkareva SV. 2010. Neural representation of abstract and concrete concepts: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Hum Brain Map. 31:1459-1468). Recent behavioral work, which used tighter matching of items than previous studies, however, suggests that abstract concepts also entail affective processing to a greater extent than concrete concepts (Kousta S-T, Vigliocco G, Vinson DP, Andrews M, Del Campo E. The representation of abstract words: Why emotion matters. J Exp Psychol Gen. 140:14-34). Here we report a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment that shows greater engagement of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, an area associated with emotion processing (e.g., Etkin A, Egner T, Peraza DM, Kandel ER, Hirsch J. 2006. Resolving emotional conflict: A role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala. Neuron. 52:871), in abstract processing. For abstract words, activation in this area was modulated by the hedonic valence (degree of positive or negative affective association) of our items. A correlation analysis of more than 1,400 English words further showed that abstract words, in general, receive higher ratings for affective associations (both valence and arousal) than concrete words, supporting the view that engagement of emotional processing is generally required for processing abstract words. We argue that these results support embodiment views of semantic representation, according to which, whereas concrete concepts are grounded in our sensory-motor experience, affective experience is crucial in the grounding of abstract concepts. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Ding, Wei-na; Sun, Jin-hua; Sun, Ya-wen; Zhou, Yan; Li, Lei; Xu, Jian-rong; Du, Ya-song
2013-01-01
Excessive use of the Internet has been linked to a variety of negative psychosocial consequences. This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether functional connectivity is altered in adolescents with Internet gaming addiction (IGA). Seventeen adolescents with IGA and 24 normal control adolescents underwent a 7.3 minute resting-state fMRI scan. Posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) connectivity was determined in all subjects by investigating synchronized low-frequency fMRI signal fluctuations using a temporal correlation method. To assess the relationship between IGA symptom severity and PCC connectivity, contrast images representing areas correlated with PCC connectivity were correlated with the scores of the 17 subjects with IGA on the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11) and their hours of Internet use per week. There were no significant differences in the distributions of the age, gender, and years of education between the two groups. The subjects with IGA showed longer Internet use per week (hours) (p<0.0001) and higher CIAS (p<0.0001) and BIS-11 (p = 0.01) scores than the controls. Compared with the control group, subjects with IGA exhibited increased functional connectivity in the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe and middle temporal gyrus. The bilateral inferior parietal lobule and right inferior temporal gyrus exhibited decreased connectivity. Connectivity with the PCC was positively correlated with CIAS scores in the right precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, caudate, nucleus accumbens, supplementary motor area, and lingual gyrus. It was negatively correlated with the right cerebellum anterior lobe and left superior parietal lobule. Our results suggest that adolescents with IGA exhibit different resting-state patterns of brain activity. As these alterations are partially consistent with those in patients with substance addiction, they support the hypothesis that IGA as a behavioral addiction that may share similar neurobiological abnormalities with other addictive disorders.
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Li, Lei; Xu, Jian-rong
2013-01-01
Purpose Excessive use of the Internet has been linked to a variety of negative psychosocial consequences. This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether functional connectivity is altered in adolescents with Internet gaming addiction (IGA). Methods Seventeen adolescents with IGA and 24 normal control adolescents underwent a 7.3 minute resting-state fMRI scan. Posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) connectivity was determined in all subjects by investigating synchronized low-frequency fMRI signal fluctuations using a temporal correlation method. To assess the relationship between IGA symptom severity and PCC connectivity, contrast images representing areas correlated with PCC connectivity were correlated with the scores of the 17 subjects with IGA on the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11) and their hours of Internet use per week. Results There were no significant differences in the distributions of the age, gender, and years of education between the two groups. The subjects with IGA showed longer Internet use per week (hours) (p<0.0001) and higher CIAS (p<0.0001) and BIS-11 (p = 0.01) scores than the controls. Compared with the control group, subjects with IGA exhibited increased functional connectivity in the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe and middle temporal gyrus. The bilateral inferior parietal lobule and right inferior temporal gyrus exhibited decreased connectivity. Connectivity with the PCC was positively correlated with CIAS scores in the right precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, caudate, nucleus accumbens, supplementary motor area, and lingual gyrus. It was negatively correlated with the right cerebellum anterior lobe and left superior parietal lobule. Conclusion Our results suggest that adolescents with IGA exhibit different resting-state patterns of brain activity. As these alterations are partially consistent with those in patients with substance addiction, they support the hypothesis that IGA as a behavioral addiction that may share similar neurobiological abnormalities with other addictive disorders. PMID:23555827
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Neural Correlates of Empathy with Pain Show Habituation Effects. An fMRI Study
Preis, Mira A.; Kröner-Herwig, Birgit; Schmidt-Samoa, Carsten; Dechent, Peter; Barke, Antonia
2015-01-01
Background Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the actual experience of pain and the perception of another person in pain share common neural substrates, including the bilateral anterior insular cortex and the anterior midcingulate cortex. As many fMRI studies include the exposure of participants to repeated, similar stimuli, we examined whether empathic neural responses were affected by habituation and whether the participants' prior pain experience influenced these habituation effects. Method In 128 trials (four runs), 62 participants (31 women, 23.0 ± 4.2 years) were shown pictures of hands exposed to painful pressure (pain pictures) and unexposed (neutral pictures). After each trial, the participants rated the pain of the model. Prior to the experiment, participants were either exposed to the same pain stimulus (pain exposure group) or not (touch exposure group). In order to assess possible habituation effects, linear changes in the strength of the BOLD response to the pain pictures (relative to the neutral pictures) and in the ratings of the model’s pain were evaluated across the four runs. Results Although the ratings of the model’s pain remained constant over time, we found neural habituation in the bilateral anterior/midinsular cortex, the posterior midcingulate extending to dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, the supplementary motor area, the cerebellum, the right inferior parietal lobule, and the left superior frontal gyrus, stretching to the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. The participant’s prior pain experience did neither affect their ratings of the model’s pain nor their maintenance of BOLD activity in areas associated with empathy. Interestingly, participants with high trait personal distress and fantasy tended to show less habituation in the anterior insula. Conclusion Neural structures showed a decrease of the BOLD signal, indicating habituation over the course of 45 minutes. This can be interpreted as a neuronal mechanism responding to the repeated exposure to pain depictions, which may be regarded as functional in a range of contexts. PMID:26317858
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Kukleta, Miloslav; Damborská, Alena; Turak, Baris; Louvel, Jacques
2017-07-01
Comparison between the intended and performed motor action can be expected to occur in the final epoch of a voluntary movement. In search for electrophysiological correlates of this mental process the purpose of the current study was to identify intracerebral sites activated in final epoch of self-paced voluntary movement. Intracerebral EEG was recorded from 235 brain regions of 42 epileptic patients who performed self-paced voluntary movement task. Evoked potentials starting at 0 to 243ms after the peak of averaged, rectified electromyogram were identified in 21 regions of 13 subjects. The mean amplitude value of these late movement potentials (LMP) was 56.4±27.5μV. LMPs were observed in remote regions of mesiotemporal structures, cingulate, frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital cortices. Closely before the LMP onset, a significant increase of phase synchronization was observed in all EEG record pairs in 9 of 10 examined subjects; p<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test. In conclusion, mesiotemporal structures, cingulate, frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital cortices seem to represent integral functionally linked parts of network activated in final epoch of self-paced voluntary movement. Activation of this large-scale neuronal network was suggested to reflect a comparison process between the intended and actually performed motor action. Our results contribute to better understanding of neural mechanisms underlying goal-directed behavior crucial for creation of agentive experience. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Salmaso, N; Nadeau, J; Woodside, B
2009-02-01
Neocortical plasticity is not usually associated with changes in reproductive function. However, we have shown a six to 10-fold increase in the number of astrocytes labeled with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and astrocytic basic fibroblast growth factor or FGF-2 (bFGF) in the cingulate cortex area 2 (Cg2) in postpartum rats, indicative of changes in connectivity in this area. In the present studies, we investigated the necessary and sufficient stimuli for these changes to occur. We show that 3 h of maternal experience combined with a hormonal treatment that mimics late pregnancy induces the astrocytic changes in Cg2 in virgin rats. The extent of these changes was similar to those of postpartum females. Sensitized virgin females did not show any astrocytic changes after 3 h of maternal behavior, suggesting that a similar amount of maternal experience alone is not sufficient to increase astrocytic bFGF- and GFAP-immunoreactivity in Cg2. Consistent with these data, eliminating early maternal experience by removing pups immediately postpartum abolishes the increased bFGF and GFAP protein expression in the cingulate cortex. These results suggest that maternal experience and hormonal state interact to produce astrocytic remodeling in the Cg2. The current results are consistent with a role for the cingulate cortex in maternal responsivity as suggested by early lesion studies in rats and more recent imaging studies in humans.
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Reward Sensitivity and Waiting Impulsivity: Shift towards Reward Valuation away from Action Control
Mechelmans, Daisy J; Strelchuk, Daniela; Doñamayor, Nuria; Banca, Paula; Robbins, Trevor W; Baek, Kwangyeol
2017-01-01
Abstract Background Impulsivity and reward expectancy are commonly interrelated. Waiting impulsivity, measured using the rodent 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time task, predicts compulsive cocaine seeking and sign (or cue) tracking. Here, we assess human waiting impulsivity using a novel translational task, the 4-Choice Serial Reaction Time task, and the relationship with reward cues. Methods Healthy volunteers (n=29) performed the monetary incentive delay task as a functional MRI study where subjects observe a cue predicting reward (cue) and wait to respond for high (£5), low (£1), or no reward. Waiting impulsivity was tested with the 4-Choice Serial Reaction Time task. Results For high reward prospects (£5, no reward), greater waiting impulsivity on the 4-CSRT correlated with greater medial orbitofrontal cortex and lower supplementary motor area activity to cues. In response to high reward cues, greater waiting impulsivity was associated with greater subthalamic nucleus connectivity with orbitofrontal cortex and greater subgenual cingulate connectivity with anterior insula, but decreased connectivity with regions implicated in action selection and preparation. Conclusion These findings highlight a shift towards regions implicated in reward valuation and a shift towards compulsivity away from higher level motor preparation and action selection and response. We highlight the role of reward sensitivity and impulsivity, mechanisms potentially linking human waiting impulsivity with incentive approach and compulsivity, theories highly relevant to disorders of addiction. PMID:29020291
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Ogawa, Takeshi; Aihara, Takatsugu; Shimokawa, Takeaki; Yamashita, Okito
2018-04-24
Creative insight occurs with an "Aha!" experience when solving a difficult problem. Here, we investigated large-scale networks associated with insight problem solving. We recruited 232 healthy participants aged 21-69 years old. Participants completed a magnetic resonance imaging study (MRI; structural imaging and a 10 min resting-state functional MRI) and an insight test battery (ITB) consisting of written questionnaires (matchstick arithmetic task, remote associates test, and insight problem solving task). To identify the resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) associated with individual creative insight, we conducted an exploratory voxel-based morphometry (VBM)-constrained RSFC analysis. We identified positive correlations between ITB score and grey matter volume (GMV) in the right insula and middle cingulate cortex/precuneus, and a negative correlation between ITB score and GMV in the left cerebellum crus 1 and right supplementary motor area. We applied seed-based RSFC analysis to whole brain voxels using the seeds obtained from the VBM and identified insight-positive/negative connections, i.e. a positive/negative correlation between the ITB score and individual RSFCs between two brain regions. Insight-specific connections included motor-related regions whereas creative-common connections included a default mode network. Our results indicate that creative insight requires a coupling of multiple networks, such as the default mode, semantic and cerebral-cerebellum networks.
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The nature and treatment of stuttering as revealed by fMRI A within- and between-group comparison.
Neumann, Katrin; Euler, Harald A; von Gudenberg, Alexander Wolff; Giraud, Anne-Lise; Lanfermann, Heinrich; Gall, Volker; Preibisch, Christine
2003-01-01
This article reviews some of our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of stuttering. Using event-related fMRI experiments, we investigated brain activation during speech production. Results of three studies comparing persons who stutter (PWS) and persons who do not stutter (PWNS) are outlined. Their findings point to a region in the right frontal operculum (RFO) that was consistently implicated in stuttering. During overt reading and before fluency shaping therapy, PWS showed higher and more distributed neuronal activation than PWNS. Immediately after therapy differential activations were even more distributed and left sided. They extended to frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, anterior cingulate, insula, and putamen. These over-activations were slightly reduced and again more right sided two years after therapy. Left frontal deactivations remained stable over two years of observation, and therefore possibly indicate a dysfunction. After therapy, we noted higher activations in persons who stutter moderately than in those who stutter severely. These activations might reflect patterns of compensation. We discuss why these findings suggest that fluency-inducing techniques might synchronize a disturbed signal transmission between auditory, speech motor planning, and motor areas. The reader will learn about and be able to: (1) identify regions of brain activations and deactivations specific for PWS; (2) describe brain activation changes induced by fluency shaping therapy; and (3) discuss the correlation between stuttering severity and brain activation.
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Wheeler, David G; Dixon, Gavin; Harper, Clive G
2006-06-01
Schizophrenia-specific alterations in the densities of interneurons immunoreactive (ir) to the calcium binding proteins are reported for several cortical regions. However, no reported studies have searched for such differences within the posterior cingulate cortex using antibodies to a specific calcium binding protein, calbindin (Cb). Compare the (a) relative density of Cb-ir neurons (ratio of labeled neurons to total neurons), (b) relative width of cortical layers II/III and (c) somal areas of Cb-ir neurons in people with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric age-, gender- and postmortem index-matched controls (9 per group). Tissue from Brodmann's area (BA) 30 and 23 and an internal control region, the visual cortex (BA 18) were labeled with polyclonal Cb antibodies then Nissl counter-stained. Cb-ir neurons as well as counter-stained neurons with clearly visible nucleoli were plotted and counted within their area 1 and laminar boundaries. No qualitative or statistical differences in the relative density of Cb-ir neurons were observed. A trend towards a significant effect was detected in BA 30, the relative density of Cb-ir neurons for controls was greater than for schizophrenics (P=0.0518). There were no significant differences in the relative cortical widths or somal areas. The data from this study suggest that the posterior cingulate cortex may not be involved in schizophrenia, at least not as far as Cb-ir neurons are concerned.
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Qian, Shaowen; Li, Min; Li, Guoying; Liu, Kai; Li, Bo; Jiang, Qingjun; Li, Li; Yang, Zhen; Sun, Gang
2015-03-01
This study was to investigate the potential enhancing effect of heat stress on mental fatigue progression during sustained attention task using arterial spin labeling (ASL) imaging. Twenty participants underwent two thermal exposures in an environmental chamber: normothermic (NT) condition (25°C, 1h) and hyperthermic (HT) condition (50°C, 1h). After thermal exposure, they performed a twenty-minute psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) in the scanner. Behavioral analysis revealed progressively increasing subjective fatigue ratings and reaction time as PVT progressed. Moreover, heat stress caused worse performance. Perfusion imaging analyses showed significant resting-state cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations after heat exposure. Specifically, increased CBF mainly gathered in thalamic-brainstem area while decreased CBF predominantly located in fronto-parietal areas, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and medial frontal cortex. More importantly, diverse CBF distributions and trend of changes between both conditions were observed as the fatigue level progressed during subsequent PVT task. Specifically, higher CBF and enhanced rising trend were presented in superior parietal lobe, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, while lower CBF or inhibited rising trend was found in dorsolateral frontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, inferior parietal lobe and thalamic-brainstem areas. Furthermore, the decrease of post-heat resting-state CBF in fronto-parietal cortex was correlated with subsequent slower reaction time, suggesting prior disturbed resting-state CBF might be indicator of performance potential and fatigue level in following task. These findings may provide proof for such a view: heat stress has a potential fatigue-enhancing effect when individual is performing highly cognition-demanding attention task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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What Do I Want and When Do I Want It: Brain Correlates of Decisions Made for Self and Other
Albrecht, Konstanze; Volz, Kirsten G.; Sutter, Matthias; von Cramon, D. Yves
2013-01-01
A number of recent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies on intertemporal choice behavior have demonstrated that so-called emotion- and reward-related brain areas are preferentially activated by decisions involving immediately available (but smaller) rewards as compared to (larger) delayed rewards. This pattern of activation was not seen, however, when intertemporal choices were made for another (unknown) individual, which speaks to that activation having been triggered by self-relatedness. In the present fMRI study, we investigated the brain correlates of individuals who passively observed intertemporal choices being made either for themselves or for an unknown person. We found higher activation within the ventral striatum, medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex when an immediate reward was possible for the observer herself, which is in line with findings from studies in which individuals actively chose immediately available rewards. Additionally, activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus was higher for choices that included immediate options than for choices that offered only delayed options, irrespective of who was to be the beneficiary. These results indicate that (1) the activations found in active intertemporal decision making are also present when the same decisions are merely observed, thus supporting the assumption that a robust brain network is engaged in immediate gratification; and (2) with immediate rewards, certain brain areas are activated irrespective of whether the observer or another person is the beneficiary of a decision, suggesting that immediacy plays a more general role for neural activation. An explorative analysis of participants’ brain activation corresponding to chosen rewards, further indicates that activation in the aforementioned brain areas depends on the mere presence, availability, or actual reception of immediate rewards. PMID:23991196
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Mizuguchi, Nobuaki; Uehara, Shintaro; Hirose, Satoshi; Yamamoto, Shinji; Naito, Eiichi
2016-01-01
Motor performance fluctuates trial by trial even in a well-trained motor skill. Here we show neural substrates underlying such behavioral fluctuation in humans. We first scanned brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while healthy participants repeatedly performed a 10 s skillful sequential finger-tapping task. Before starting the experiment, the participants had completed intensive training. We evaluated task performance per trial (number of correct sequences in 10 s) and depicted brain regions where the activity changes in association with the fluctuation of the task performance across trials. We found that the activity in a broader range of frontoparietocerebellar network, including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortices, and left cerebellar hemisphere, was negatively correlated with the task performance. We further showed in another transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) experiment that task performance deteriorated, when we applied anodal tDCS to the right DLPFC. These results indicate that fluctuation of brain activity in the nonmotor frontoparietocerebellar network may underlie trial-by-trial performance variability even in a well-trained motor skill, and its neuromodulation with tDCS may affect the task performance.
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Saitoh, Youichi; Osaki, Yasuhiro; Nishimura, Hiroshi; Hirano, Shun-ichiro; Kato, Amami; Hashikawa, Kazuo; Hatazawa, Jun; Yoshimine, Toshiki
2004-05-01
The mechanisms underlying poststroke pain have not been clearly identified. Although motor cortex stimulation (MCS) sometimes reduces poststroke pain successfully, the exact mechanism is not yet known. For further investigation of the neural pathways involved in the processing of poststroke pain and in pain reduction by MCS, the authors used positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to determine significant changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). This 58-year-old right-handed man suffered from right-sided poststroke pain for which he underwent implantation of a stimulation electrode in the right motor cortex. After 30 minutes of stimulation, his pain was remarkably reduced (Visual Analog Scale scores decreased 8 to 1) and he felt warmth in his left arm. The rCBF was studied using PET scanning with 15O-labeled water when the patient was in the following states: before MCS (painful condition, no stimulation) and after successful MCS (painless condition, no stimulation). The images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping software. State-dependent differences in global blood flow were covaried using analysis of covariance. Comparisons of the patient's rCBF in the painful condition with that in the painless condition revealed significant rCBF increases in the left rectus gyrus (BA11), left superior frontal lobe (BA9), left anterior cingulate gyms (BA32), and the left thalamus (p < 0.05, corrected). On the other hand, there were significant decreases in rCBF in the right superior temporal gyrus (BA22, p < 0.01, corrected) and the left middle occipital gyrus (BA19, p < 0.05, corrected). The efficacy of MCS was mainly related to increased synaptic activity in the thalamus, whereas the activations in the rectus gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, and superior frontal cortex as well as the inactivation of the superior temporal lobe may be related to emotional processes. This is the first report in which the contralateral thalamus was significantly activated and pain relief was achieved using MCS.
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Shin, Yong Beom; Kim, Seong-Jang; Kim, In-Ju; Kim, Yong-Ki; Kim, Dong-Soo; Park, Jae Heung; Yeom, Seok-Ran
2006-06-01
Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was applied to brain perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to investigate regional cerebral abnormalities compared to age-matched normal controls. Thirteen patients with TBI underwent brain perfusion SPECT were included in this study (10 males, three females, mean age 39.8 +/- 18.2, range 21 - 74). SPM2 software implemented in MATLAB 5.3 was used for spatial pre-processing and analysis and to determine the quantitative differences between TBI patients and age-matched normal controls. Three large voxel clusters of significantly decreased cerebral blood perfusion were found in patients with TBI. The largest clusters were area including medial frontal gyrus (voxel number 3642, peak Z-value = 4.31, 4.27, p = 0.000) in both hemispheres. The second largest clusters were areas including cingulated gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus of left hemisphere (voxel number 381, peak Z-value = 3.67, 3.62, p = 0.000). Other clusters were parahippocampal gyrus (voxel number 173, peak Z-value = 3.40, p = 0.000) and hippocampus (voxel number 173, peak Z-value = 3.23, p = 0.001) in the left hemisphere. The false discovery rate (FDR) was less than 0.04. From this study, group and individual analyses of SPM2 could clearly identify the perfusion abnormalities of brain SPECT in patients with TBI. Group analysis of SPM2 showed hypoperfusion pattern in the areas including medial frontal gyrus of both hemispheres, cingulate gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus and hippocampus in the left hemisphere compared to age-matched normal controls. Also, left parahippocampal gyrus and left hippocampus were additional hypoperfusion areas. However, these findings deserve further investigation on a larger number of patients to be performed to allow a better validation of objective SPM analysis in patients with TBI.
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Imaging the where and when of tic generation and resting state networks in adult Tourette patients
Neuner, Irene; Werner, Cornelius J.; Arrubla, Jorge; Stöcker, Tony; Ehlen, Corinna; Wegener, Hans P.; Schneider, Frank; Shah, N. Jon
2014-01-01
Introduction: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with the core phenomenon of tics, whose origin and temporal pattern are unclear. We investigated the When and Where of tic generation and resting state networks (RSNs) via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Tic-related activity and the underlying RSNs in adult TS were studied within one fMRI session. Participants were instructed to lie in the scanner and to let tics occur freely. Tic onset times, as determined by video-observance were used as regressors and added to preceding time-bins of 1 s duration each to detect prior activation. RSN were identified by independent component analysis (ICA) and correlated to disease severity by the means of dual regression. Results: Two seconds before a tic, the supplementary motor area (SMA), ventral primary motor cortex, primary sensorimotor cortex and parietal operculum exhibited activation; 1 s before a tic, the anterior cingulate, putamen, insula, amygdala, cerebellum and the extrastriatal-visual cortex exhibited activation; with tic-onset, the thalamus, central operculum, primary motor and somatosensory cortices exhibited activation. Analysis of resting state data resulted in 21 components including the so-called default-mode network. Network strength in those regions in SMA of two premotor ICA maps that were also active prior to tic occurrence, correlated significantly with disease severity according to the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTTS) scores. Discussion: We demonstrate that the temporal pattern of tic generation follows the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit, and that cortical structures precede subcortical activation. The analysis of spontaneous fluctuations highlights the role of cortical premotor structures. Our study corroborates the notion of TS as a network disorder in which abnormal RSN activity might contribute to the generation of tics in SMA. PMID:24904391
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The neural circuits that generate tics in Tourette's syndrome.
Wang, Zhishun; Maia, Tiago V; Marsh, Rachel; Colibazzi, Tiziano; Gerber, Andrew; Peterson, Bradley S
2011-12-01
The purpose of this study was to examine neural activity and connectivity within cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits and to reveal circuit-based neural mechanisms that govern tic generation in Tourette's syndrome. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 13 individuals with Tourette's syndrome and 21 healthy comparison subjects during spontaneous or simulated tics. Independent component analysis with hierarchical partner matching was used to isolate neural activity within functionally distinct regions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. Granger causality was used to investigate causal interactions among these regions. The Tourette's syndrome group exhibited stronger neural activity and interregional causality than healthy comparison subjects throughout all portions of the motor pathway, including the sensorimotor cortex, putamen, pallidum, and substantia nigra. Activity in these areas correlated positively with the severity of tic symptoms. Activity within the Tourette's syndrome group was stronger during spontaneous tics than during voluntary tics in the somatosensory and posterior parietal cortices, putamen, and amygdala/hippocampus complex, suggesting that activity in these regions may represent features of the premonitory urges that generate spontaneous tic behaviors. In contrast, activity was weaker in the Tourette's syndrome group than in the healthy comparison group within portions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits that exert top-down control over motor pathways (the caudate and anterior cingulate cortex), and progressively less activity in these regions accompanied more severe tic symptoms, suggesting that faulty activity in these circuits may result in their failure to control tic behaviors or the premonitory urges that generate them. Our findings, taken together, suggest that tics are caused by the combined effects of excessive activity in motor pathways and reduced activation in control portions of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits.
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Ji, Gong-Jun; Yu, Fengqiong; Liao, Wei; Wang, Kai
2017-04-01
The supplementary motor area (SMA) is a key node of the motor network. Inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the SMA can potentially improve movement disorders. However, the aftereffects of inhibitory rTMS on brain function remain largely unknown. Using a single-blind, crossover within-subject design, we investigated the role of aftereffects with two inhibitory rTMS protocols [1800 pulses of either 1-Hz repetitive stimulation or continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS)] on the left SMA. A total of 19 healthy volunteers participated in the rTMS sessions on 2 separate days. Firstly, short-term aftereffects were estimated at three levels (functional connectivity, local activity, and network properties) by comparing the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets (9min) acquired before and after each rTMS session. Local activity and network properties were not significantly altered by either protocol. Functional connectivity within the SMA network was increased (in the left paracentral gyrus) by 1-Hz stimulation and decreased (in the left inferior frontal gyrus and SMA/middle cingulate cortex) by cTBS. The subsequent three-way analysis of variance (site×time×protocol) did not show a significant interaction effect or "protocol" main effect, suggesting that the two protocols share an underlying mechanism. Secondly, sliding-window analysis was used to evaluate the dynamic features of aftereffects in the ~29min after the end of stimulation. Aftereffects were maintained for a maximum of 9.8 and 6.6min after the 1-Hz and cTBS protocols, respectively. In summary, this study revealed topographical and temporal aftereffects in the SMA network following inhibitory rTMS protocols, providing valuable information for their application in future neuroscience and clinical studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Simonyan, Kristina; Fuertinger, Stefan
2015-04-01
Speech production is one of the most complex human behaviors. Although brain activation during speaking has been well investigated, our understanding of interactions between the brain regions and neural networks remains scarce. We combined seed-based interregional correlation analysis with graph theoretical analysis of functional MRI data during the resting state and sentence production in healthy subjects to investigate the interface and topology of functional networks originating from the key brain regions controlling speech, i.e., the laryngeal/orofacial motor cortex, inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri, supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex, putamen, and thalamus. During both resting and speaking, the interactions between these networks were bilaterally distributed and centered on the sensorimotor brain regions. However, speech production preferentially recruited the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and cerebellum into the large-scale network, suggesting the importance of these regions in facilitation of the transition from the resting state to speaking. Furthermore, the cerebellum (lobule VI) was the most prominent region showing functional influences on speech-network integration and segregation. Although networks were bilaterally distributed, interregional connectivity during speaking was stronger in the left vs. right hemisphere, which may have underlined a more homogeneous overlap between the examined networks in the left hemisphere. Among these, the laryngeal motor cortex (LMC) established a core network that fully overlapped with all other speech-related networks, determining the extent of network interactions. Our data demonstrate complex interactions of large-scale brain networks controlling speech production and point to the critical role of the LMC, IPL, and cerebellum in the formation of speech production network. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.
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Changes in brain activity following intensive voice treatment in children with cerebral palsy.
Bakhtiari, Reyhaneh; Cummine, Jacqueline; Reed, Alesha; Fox, Cynthia M; Chouinard, Brea; Cribben, Ivor; Boliek, Carol A
2017-09-01
Eight children (3 females; 8-16 years) with motor speech disorders secondary to cerebral palsy underwent 4 weeks of an intensive neuroplasticity-principled voice treatment protocol, LSVT LOUD ® , followed by a structured 12-week maintenance program. Children were asked to overtly produce phonation (ah) at conversational loudness, cued-phonation at perceived twice-conversational loudness, a series of single words, and a prosodic imitation task while being scanned using fMRI, immediately pre- and post-treatment and 12 weeks following a maintenance program. Eight age- and sex-matched controls were scanned at each of the same three time points. Based on the speech and language literature, 16 bilateral regions of interest were selected a priori to detect potential neural changes following treatment. Reduced neural activity in the motor areas (decreased motor system effort) before and immediately after treatment, and increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus after treatment (increased contribution of decision making processes) were observed in the group with cerebral palsy compared to the control group. Using graphical models, post-treatment changes in connectivity were observed between the left supramarginal gyrus and the right supramarginal gyrus and the left precentral gyrus for the children with cerebral palsy, suggesting LSVT LOUD enhanced contributions of the feedback system in the speech production network instead of high reliance on feedforward control system and the somatosensory target map for regulating vocal effort. Network pruning indicates greater processing efficiency and the recruitment of the auditory and somatosensory feedback control systems following intensive treatment. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4413-4429, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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[Spatial Cognition and Episodic Memory Formation in the Limbic Cortex].
Kobayashi, Yasushi
2017-04-01
The limbic lobe defined by Broca is a cortical region with highly diverse structure and functions, and comprises the paleo-, archi-, and neocortices as well as their transitional zones. In the limbic lobe, Brodmann designated areas 27, 28, 34, 35, and 36 adjacent to the hippocampus, and areas 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33 around the corpus callosum. In the current literature, areas 27 and 28 correspond to the presubiculum and entorhinal cortex, respectively. Area 34 represents the cortico-medial part of the amygdaloid complex. Areas 35 and 36 roughly cover the perirhinal and parahippocampal cortices. Areas 24, 25, 32, and 33 belong to the anterior cingulate gyrus, while areas 23, 26, 29, 30, and 31 to the posterior cingulate gyrus. Areas 25, 32, and the anteroinferior portion of area 24 are deeply involved in emotional responses, particularly in their autonomic functions, through reciprocal connections with the amygdaloid complex, anterior thalamus and projections to the brainstem and spinal visceral centers. Areas 29 and 30 have dense reciprocal connections with areas 23 and 31, the dorsolateral prefrontal areas, and the regions related to the hippocampus. They play pivotal roles in mediating spatial cognition, working memory processing, and episodic memory formation.
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Robert, Gabriel; Le Jeune, Florence; Dondaine, Thibault; Drapier, Sophie; Péron, Julie; Lozachmeur, Clément; Sauleau, Paul; Houvenaghel, Jean-François; Travers, David; Millet, Bruno; Vérin, Marc; Drapier, Dominique
2014-10-01
Apathy is a disabling non-motor symptom that is frequently observed in Parkinson's disease (PD). Its description and physiopathology suggest that it is partially mediated by emotional impairment, but this research issue has never been addressed at a clinical and metabolic level. We therefore conducted a metabolic study using (18)fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)FDG PET) in 36 PD patients without depression and dementia. Apathy was assessed on the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), and emotional facial recognition (EFR) performances (ie, percentage of correct responses) were calculated for each patient. Confounding factors such as age, antiparkinsonian and antidepressant medication, global cognitive functions and depressive symptoms were controlled for. We found a significant negative correlation between AES scores and performances on the EFR task. The apathy network was characterised by increased metabolism within the left posterior cingulate (PC) cortex (Brodmann area (BA) 31). The impaired EFR network was characterised by decreased metabolism within the bilateral PC gyrus (BA 31), right superior frontal gyrus (BAs 10, 9 and 6) and left superior frontal gyrus (BA 10 and 11). By applying conjunction analyses to both networks, we identified the right premotor cortex (BA 6), right orbitofrontal cortex (BA 10), left middle frontal gyrus (BA 8) and left posterior cingulate gyrus (BA 31) as the structures supporting the association between apathy and impaired EFR. These results confirm that apathy in PD is partially mediated by impaired EFR, opening up new prospects for alleviating apathy in PD, such as emotional rehabilitation. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.
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Chen, Hui Juan; Wang, Yun Fei; Qi, Rongfeng; Schoepf, U Joseph; Varga-Szemes, Akos; Ball, B Devon; Zhang, Zhe; Kong, Xiang; Wen, Jiqiu; Li, Xue; Lu, Guang Ming; Zhang, Long Jiang
2017-04-01
The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns in the amygdala-based emotional processing circuit of hemodialysis patients using resting-state functional MR imaging (rs-fMRI). Fifty hemodialysis patients (25 with depressed mood and 25 without depressed mood) and 26 healthy controls were included. All subjects underwent neuropsychological tests and rs-fMRI, and patients also underwent laboratory tests. Functional connectivity of the bilateral amygdala was compared among the three groups. The relationship between functional connectivity and clinical markers was investigated. Depressed patients showed increased positive functional connectivity of the left amygdala with the left superior temporal gyrus and right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) but decreased amygdala functional connectivity with the left precuneus, angular gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and left inferior parietal lobule compared with non-depressed patients (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected). Depressed patients had increased positive functional connectivity of the right amygdala with bilateral supplementary motor areas and PHG but decreased amygdala functional connectivity with the right superior frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, bilateral precuneus, and PCC (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected). After including anxiety as a covariate, we discovered additional decreased functional connectivity with anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) for bilateral amygdala (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected). For the depressed, neuropsychological test scores were correlated with functional connectivity of multiple regions (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected). In conclusion, functional connectivity in the amygdala-prefrontal-PCC-limbic circuits was impaired in depressive hemodialysis patients, with a gradual decrease in ACC between controls, non-depressed, and depressed patients for the right amygdala. This indicates that ACC plays a role in amygdala-based emotional regulatory circuits in these patients.
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Liu, Tao; Li, Jian-Jun; Zhao, Zhong-Yan; Yang, Guo-Shuai; Pan, Meng-Jie; Li, Chang-Qing; Pan, Su-Yue; Chen, Feng
2016-02-01
It has been suggested by the first voxel-based morphometry investigation that betel quid dependence (BQD) individuals are presented with brain structural changes in previous reports, and there may be a neurobiological basis for BQD individuals related to an increased risk of executive dysfunction and disinhibition, subjected to the reward system, cognitive system, and emotion system. However, the effects of BQD on neural activity remain largely unknown. Individuals with impaired cognitive control of behavior often reveal altered spontaneous cerebral activity in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and those changes are usually earlier than structural alteration.Here, we examined BQD individuals (n = 33) and age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy control participants (n = 32) in an resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study to observe brain function alterations associated with the severity of BQD. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values were both evaluated to stand for spontaneous cerebral activity. Gray matter volumes of these participants were also calculated for covariate.In comparison with healthy controls, BQD individuals demonstrated dramatically decreased ALFF and ReHo values in the prefrontal gurus along with left fusiform, and increased ALFF and ReHo values in the primary motor cortex area, temporal lobe as well as some regions of occipital lobe. The betel quid dependence scores (BQDS) were negatively related to decreased activity in the right anterior cingulate.The abnormal spontaneous cerebral activity revealed by ALFF and ReHo calculation excluding the structural differences in patients with BQD may help us probe into the neurological pathophysiology underlying BQD-related executive dysfunction and disinhibition. Diminished spontaneous brain activity in the right anterior cingulate cortex may, therefore, represent a biomarker of BQD individuals.
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Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity in Betel Quid Dependence
Liu, Tao; Li, Jian-jun; Zhao, Zhong-yan; Yang, Guo-shuai; Pan, Meng-jie; Li, Chang-qing; Pan, Su-yue; Chen, Feng
2016-01-01
Abstract It has been suggested by the first voxel-based morphometry investigation that betel quid dependence (BQD) individuals are presented with brain structural changes in previous reports, and there may be a neurobiological basis for BQD individuals related to an increased risk of executive dysfunction and disinhibition, subjected to the reward system, cognitive system, and emotion system. However, the effects of BQD on neural activity remain largely unknown. Individuals with impaired cognitive control of behavior often reveal altered spontaneous cerebral activity in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and those changes are usually earlier than structural alteration. Here, we examined BQD individuals (n = 33) and age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy control participants (n = 32) in an resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study to observe brain function alterations associated with the severity of BQD. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values were both evaluated to stand for spontaneous cerebral activity. Gray matter volumes of these participants were also calculated for covariate. In comparison with healthy controls, BQD individuals demonstrated dramatically decreased ALFF and ReHo values in the prefrontal gurus along with left fusiform, and increased ALFF and ReHo values in the primary motor cortex area, temporal lobe as well as some regions of occipital lobe. The betel quid dependence scores (BQDS) were negatively related to decreased activity in the right anterior cingulate. The abnormal spontaneous cerebral activity revealed by ALFF and ReHo calculation excluding the structural differences in patients with BQD may help us probe into the neurological pathophysiology underlying BQD-related executive dysfunction and disinhibition. Diminished spontaneous brain activity in the right anterior cingulate cortex may, therefore, represent a biomarker of BQD individuals. PMID:26844480
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Multimodal neuroimaging measures and intelligence influence pedophile child sexual offense behavior.
Lett, Tristram A; Mohnke, Sebastian; Amelung, Till; Brandl, Eva J; Schiltz, Kolja; Pohl, Alexander; Gerwinn, Hannah; Kärgel, Christian; Massau, Claudia; Tenbergen, Gilian; Wittfoth, Matthias; Kneer, Jonas; Beier, Klaus M; Walter, Martin; Ponseti, Jorge; Krüger, Tillmann H C; Schiffer, Boris; Walter, Henrik
2018-06-04
Pedophilia is a heterogeneous disorder for which the neurobiological correlates are not well established. In particular, there are no biological markers identifying individuals with high risk to commit child sexual offense (CSO). Pedophiles with CSO (P+CSO; N = 73), pedophiles without CSO (P-CSO; N = 77), and non-pedophilic controls (NPC; N = 133) were assessed using multimodal structural neuroimaging measures including: cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), as well as full scale IQ (FSIQ) performance. Cortex-wise mediation analyses were used to assess the relationships among brain structure, FSIQ and CSO behavior. Lower FSIQ performance was strongly predict with P+CSO (Wald Chi 2 = 13.0, p = 3.1 × 10 -5 ). P+CSO had lower CT in the right motor cortex and pronounced reductions in SA spanning the bilateral frontal, temporal, cingulate, and insular regions (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). P+CSO also had lower FA particularly in the corpus callosum (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). The relationship between SA and P+CSO was significantly mediated by FSIQ, particularly in the prefrontal and anterior insular cortices (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). Within P+CSO, left prefrontal and right anterior cingulate SA negatively correlated with number of CSOs (P FWE-corrected < 0.05). This study demonstrates converging neurobiological findings in which P+CSO had lower FSIQ performance, reduced CT, reduced SA, and reduced FA, compared to P-CSO as well as NPC. Further, FSIQ potentially mediates abuse by pedophiles via aberrant SA, whereas the CT and FA associations were independent of FSIQ differences. These findings suggest aberrant neuroanatomy and lower intelligence as a potential core feature underlying child sexual abuse behavior by pedophiles. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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Wright, Michael J.; Bishop, Daniel T.; Jackson, Robin C.; Abernethy, Bruce
2013-01-01
Expert soccer players are able to utilize their opponents' early body kinematics to predict the direction in which the opponent will move. We have previously demonstrated enhanced fMRI activation in experts in the motor components of an action observation network (AON) during sports anticipation tasks. Soccer players often need to prevent opponents from successfully predicting their line of attack, and consequently may try to deceive them; for example, by performing a step-over. We examined how AON activations and expertise effects are modified by the presence of deception. Three groups of participants; higher-skilled males, lower-skilled males, and lower-skilled females, viewed video clips in point-light format, from a defender's perspective, of a player approaching and turning with the ball. The observer's task in the scanner was to determine whether the move was normal or deceptive (involving a step-over), while whole-brain functional images were acquired. In a second counterbalanced block with identical stimuli the task was to predict the direction of the ball. Activations of AON for identification of deception overlapped with activations from the direction identification task. Higher-skilled players showed significantly greater activation than lower-skilled players in a subset of AON areas; and lower-skilled males in turn showed greater activation than lower-skilled females, but females showed more activation in visual cortex. Activation was greater for deception identification than for direction identification in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex, anterior insula, cingulate gyrus, and premotor cortex. Conversely, greater activation for direction than deception identification was found in anterior cingulate cortex and caudate nucleus. Results are consistent with the view that explicit identification of deceptive moves entails cognitive effort and also activates limbic structures associated with social cognition and affective responses. PMID:24381549
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Meneguzzo, Paolo; Tsakiris, Manos; Schioth, Helgi B; Stein, Dan J; Brooks, Samantha J
2014-01-01
Non-conscious neural activation may underlie various psychological functions in health and disorder. However, the neural substrates of non-conscious processing have not been entirely elucidated. Examining the differential effects of arousing stimuli that are consciously, versus unconsciously perceived will improve our knowledge of neural circuitry involved in non-conscious perception. Here we conduct preliminary analyses of neural activation in studies that have used both subliminal and supraliminal presentation of the same stimulus. We use Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to examine functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies that uniquely present the same stimuli subliminally and supraliminally to healthy participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We included a total of 193 foci from 9 studies representing subliminal stimulation and 315 foci from 10 studies representing supraliminal stimulation. The anterior cingulate cortex is significantly activated during both subliminal and supraliminal stimulus presentation. Subliminal stimuli are linked to significantly increased activation in the right fusiform gyrus and right insula. Supraliminal stimuli show significantly increased activation in the left rostral anterior cingulate. Non-conscious processing of arousing stimuli may involve primary visual areas and may also recruit the insula, a brain area involved in eventual interoceptive awareness. The anterior cingulate is perhaps a key brain region for the integration of conscious and non-conscious processing. These preliminary data provide candidate brain regions for further study in to the neural correlates of conscious experience.
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Gray matter abnormalities of the dorsal posterior cingulate in sleep walking.
Heidbreder, Anna; Stefani, Ambra; Brandauer, Elisabeth; Steiger, Ruth; Kremser, Christian; Gizewski, Elke R; Young, Peter; Poewe, Werner; Högl, Birgit; Scherfler, Christoph
2017-08-01
This study aimed to determine whether voxel-based analysis of T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging is able to detect alterations of gray and white matter morphometry as well as measures of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy in patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnia. 3 Tesla MRI was performed in 14 drug-free, polysomnography-confirmed adult patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnia (age: 29 ± 4.2 years; disease duration 19.2 ± 7.7 years) and 14 healthy subjects, matched for age and gender. Statistical parametric mapping was applied to objectively identify focal changes of MRI parameters throughout the entire brain volume. Statistical parametric mapping localized significant decreases of gray matter volume in the left dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (BA23) and posterior midcingulate cortex (BA24) in patients with non-rapid eye movement parasomnias compared to the control group (p < 0.001, corrected for multiple comparisons). No significant differences of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy measures were found between the non-rapid eye movement parasomnia group and the healthy control group. Recently, the simultaneous co-existence of arousal or wakefulness originating from the motor and cingulate cortices and persistent sleep in associative cortical regions was suggested as a functional framework of somnambulism. Gray matter volume decline in the dorsal posterior and posterior midcingulate cortex reported in this study might represent the neuroanatomical substrate for this condition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Anterior cingulate serotonin 1B receptor binding is associated with emotional response inhibition.
da Cunha-Bang, Sofi; Hjordt, Liv Vadskjær; Dam, Vibeke Høyrup; Stenbæk, Dea Siggaard; Sestoft, Dorte; Knudsen, Gitte M
2017-09-01
Serotonin has a well-established role in emotional processing and is a key neurotransmitter in impulsive aggression, presumably by facilitating response inhibition and regulating subcortical reactivity to aversive stimuli. In this study 44 men, of whom 19 were violent offenders and 25 were non-offender controls, completed an emotional Go/NoGo task requiring inhibition of prepotent motor responses to emotional facial expressions. We also measured cerebral serotonin 1B receptor (5-HT 1B R) binding with [ 11 C]AZ10419369 positron emission tomography within regions of the frontal cortex. We hypothesized that 5-HT 1B R would be positively associated with false alarms (failures to inhibit nogo responses) in the context of aversive (angry and fearful) facial expressions. Across groups, we found that frontal cortex 5-HT 1B R binding was positively correlated with false alarms when angry faces were go stimuli and neutral faces were nogo stimuli (p = 0.05, corrected alpha = 0.0125), but not with false alarms for non-emotional stimuli (failures to inhibit geometric figures). A posthoc analysis revealed the strongest association in anterior cingulate cortex (p = 0.006). In summary, 5-HT 1B Rs in the anterior cingulate are involved in withholding a prepotent response in the context of angry faces. Our findings suggest that serotonin modulates response inhibition in the context of certain emotional stimuli. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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Abdel-Rahman, A; Abou-Donia, Suzanne; El-Masry, Eman; Shetty, Ashok; Abou-Donia, Mohamed
2004-01-23
Exposure to a combination of stress and low doses of the chemicals pyridostigmine bromide (PB), DEET, and permethrin in adult rats, a model of Gulf War exposure, produces blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption and neuronal cell death in the cingulate cortex, dentate gyrus, thalamus, and hypothalamus. In this study, neuropathological alterations in other areas of the brain where no apparent BBB disruption was observed was studied following such exposure. Animals exposed to both stress and chemical exhibited decreased brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the midbrain, brainstem, and cerebellum and decreased m2 muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor ligand binding in the midbrain and cerebellum. These alterations were associated with significant neuronal cell death, reduced microtubule-associated protein (MAP-2) expression, and increased glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA3. In the cerebellum, the neurochemical alterations were associated with Purkinje cell loss and increased GFAP immunoreactivity in the white matter. However, animals subjected to either stress or chemicals alone did not show any of these changes in comparison to vehicle-treated controls. Collectively, these results suggest that prolonged exposure to a combination of stress and the chemicals PB, DEET, and permethrin can produce significant damage to the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum, even in the absence of apparent BBB damage. As these areas of the brain are respectively important for the maintenance of motor and sensory functions, learning and memory, and gait and coordination of movements, such alterations could lead to many physiological, pharmacological, and behavioral abnormalities, particularly motor deficits and learning and memory dysfunction.
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Sevinc, Gunes; Hölzel, Britta K; Hashmi, Javeria; Greenberg, Jonathan; McCallister, Adrienne; Treadway, Michael; Schneider, Marissa L; Dusek, Jeffery A; Carmody, James; Lazar, Sara W
2018-06-01
We investigated common and dissociable neural and psychological correlates of two widely used meditation-based stress reduction programs. Participants were randomized to the Relaxation Response (RR; n = 18; 56% female) or the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; n = 16; 56% female) programs. Both programs use a "bodyscan" meditation; however, the RR program explicitly emphasizes physical relaxation during this practice, whereas the MBSR program emphasizes mindful awareness with no explicit relaxation instructions. After the programs, neural activity during the respective meditation was investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Both programs were associated with reduced stress (for RR, from 14.1 ± 6.6 to 11.3 ± 5.5 [Cohen's d = 0.50; for MBSR, from 17.7 ± 5.7 to 11.9 ± 5.0 [Cohen's d = 1.02]). Conjunction analyses revealed functional coupling between ventromedial prefrontal regions and supplementary motor areas (p < .001). The disjunction analysis indicated that the RR bodyscan was associated with stronger functional connectivity of the right inferior frontal gyrus-an important hub of intentional inhibition and control-with supplementary motor areas (p < .001, family-wise error [FWE] rate corrected). The MBSR program was uniquely associated with improvements in self-compassion and rumination, and the within-group analysis of MBSR bodyscan revealed significant functional connectivity of the right anterior insula-an important hub of sensory awareness and salience-with pregenual anterior cingulate during bodyscan meditation compared with rest (p = .03, FWE corrected). The bodyscan exercises in each program were associated with both overlapping and differential functional coupling patterns, which were consistent with each program's theoretical foundation. These results may have implications for the differential effects of these programs for the treatment of diverse conditions.
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Seo, Hyojung; Lee, Daeyeol
2008-01-01
The process of decision making in humans and other animals is adaptive and can be tuned through experience so as to optimize the outcomes of their choices in a dynamic environment. Previous studies have demonstrated that the anterior cingulate cortex plays an important role in updating the animal’s behavioral strategies when the action-outcome contingencies change. Moreover, neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex often encode the signals related to expected or actual reward. We investigated whether reward-related activity in the anterior cingulate cortex is affected by the animal’s previous reward history. This was tested in rhesus monkeys trained to make binary choices in a computer-simulated competitive zero-sum game. The animal’s choice behavior was relatively close to the optimal strategy, but also revealed small but systematic biases that are consistent with the use of a reinforcement learning algorithm. In addition, the activity of neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex that was related to the reward received by the animal in a given trial was often modulated by the rewards in the previous trials. Some of these neurons encoded the rate of rewards in previous trials, whereas others displayed activity modulations more closely related to the reward prediction errors. By contrast, signals related to the animal’s choices were only weakly represented in this cortical area. These results suggest that neurons in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex might be involved in the subjective evaluation of choice outcomes based on the animal’s reward history. PMID:17670983
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Nitschke, Jack B; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros; Oathes, Desmond J; Johnstone, Tom; Whalen, Paul J; Davidson, Richard J; Kalin, Ned H
2009-03-01
The anticipation of adverse outcomes, or worry, is a cardinal symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. Prior work with healthy subjects has shown that anticipating aversive events recruits a network of brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study tested whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder have alterations in anticipatory amygdala function and whether anticipatory activity in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts treatment response. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 14 generalized anxiety disorder patients and 12 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The event-related fMRI paradigm was composed of one warning cue that preceded aversive pictures and a second cue that preceded neutral pictures. Following the fMRI session, patients received 8 weeks of treatment with extended-release venlafaxine. Patients with generalized anxiety disorder showed greater anticipatory activity than healthy comparison subjects in the bilateral dorsal amygdala preceding both aversive and neutral pictures. Building on prior reports of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity predicting treatment response, anticipatory activity in that area was associated with clinical outcome 8 weeks later following treatment with venlafaxine. Higher levels of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity in anticipation of both aversive and neutral pictures were associated with greater reductions in anxiety and worry symptoms. These findings of heightened and indiscriminate amygdala responses to anticipatory signals in generalized anxiety disorder and of anterior cingulate cortex associations with treatment response provide neurobiological support for the role of anticipatory processes in the pathophysiology of generalized anxiety disorder.
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Nitschke, Jack B.; Sarinopoulos, Issidoros; Oathes, Desmond J.; Johnstone, Tom; Whalen, Paul J.; Davidson, Richard J.; Kalin, Ned H.
2009-01-01
Objective The anticipation of adverse outcomes, or worry, is a cardinal symptom of generalized anxiety disorder. Prior work with healthy subjects has shown that anticipating aversive events recruits a network of brain regions, including the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study tested whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder have alterations in anticipatory amygdala function and whether anticipatory activity in the anterior cingulate cortex predicts treatment response. Method Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed with 14 generalized anxiety disorder patients and 12 healthy comparison subjects matched for age, sex, and education. The event-related fMRI paradigm was composed of one warning cue that preceded aversive pictures and a second cue that preceded neutral pictures. Following the fMRI session, patients received 8 weeks of treatment with extended-release venlafaxine. Results Patients with generalized anxiety disorder showed greater anticipatory activity than healthy comparison subjects in the bilateral dorsal amygdala preceding both aversive and neutral pictures. Building on prior reports of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity predicting treatment response, anticipatory activity in that area was associated with clinical outcome 8 weeks later following treatment with venlafaxine. Higher levels of pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex activity in anticipation of both aversive and neutral pictures were associated with greater reductions in anxiety and worry symptoms. Conclusions These findings of heightened and indiscriminate amygdala responses to anticipatory signals in generalized anxiety disorder and of anterior cingulate cortex associations with treatment response provide neurobiological support for the role of anticipatory processes in the pathophysiology of generalized anxiety disorder. PMID:19122007
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Traumatic stress: effects on the brain
Bremner, J. Douglas
2006-01-01
Brain areas implicated in the stress response include the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Traumatic stress can be associated with lasting changes in these brain areas. Traumatic stress is associated with increased cortisol and norepinephrine responses to subsequent stressors. Antidepressants have effets on the hippocampus that counteract the effects of stress. Findings from animal studies have been extended to patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showing smaller hippocampal and anterior cingulate volumes, increased amygdala function, and decreased medial prefrontal/anterior cingulate function. In addition, patients with PTSD show increased cortisol and norepinephrine responses to stress. Treatments that are efficacious for PTSD show a promotion of neurogenesis in animal studies, as well as promotion of memory and increased hippocampal volume in PTSD. PMID:17290802
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Goozee, Rhianna; O'Daly, Owen; Handley, Rowena; Reis Marques, Tiago; Taylor, Heather; McQueen, Grant; Hubbard, Kathryn; Pariante, Carmine; Mondelli, Valeria; Reinders, Antje A T S; Dazzan, Paola
2017-04-01
The dopaminergic system plays a key role in motor function and motor abnormalities have been shown to be a specific feature of psychosis. Due to their dopaminergic action, antipsychotic drugs may be expected to modulate motor function, but the precise effects of these drugs on motor function remain unclear. We carried out a within-subject, double-blind, randomized study of the effects of aripiprazole, haloperidol and placebo on motor function in 20 healthy men. For each condition, motor performance on an auditory-paced task was investigated. We entered maps of neural activation into a random effects general linear regression model to investigate motor function main effects. Whole-brain imaging revealed a significant treatment effect in a distributed network encompassing posterior orbitofrontal/anterior insula cortices, and the inferior temporal and postcentral gyri. Post-hoc comparison of treatments showed neural activation after aripiprazole did not differ significantly from placebo in either voxel-wise or region of interest analyses, with the results above driven primarily by haloperidol. We also observed a simple main effect of haloperidol compared with placebo, with increased task-related recruitment of posterior cingulate and precentral gyri. Furthermore, region of interest analyses revealed greater activation following haloperidol compared with placebo in the precentral and post-central gyri, and the putamen. These diverse modifications in cortical motor activation may relate to the different pharmacological profiles of haloperidol and aripiprazole, although the specific mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear. Evaluating healthy individuals can allow investigation of the effects of different antipsychotics on cortical activation, independently of either disease-related pathology or previous treatment. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1833-1845, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Probing Compulsive and Impulsive Behaviors, from Animal Models to Endophenotypes: A Narrative Review
Fineberg, Naomi A; Potenza, Marc N; Chamberlain, Samuel R; Berlin, Heather A; Menzies, Lara; Bechara, Antoine; Sahakian, Barbara J; Robbins, Trevor W; Bullmore, Edward T; Hollander, Eric
2010-01-01
Failures in cortical control of fronto-striatal neural circuits may underpin impulsive and compulsive acts. In this narrative review, we explore these behaviors from the perspective of neural processes and consider how these behaviors and neural processes contribute to mental disorders such as obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessive–compulsive personality disorder, and impulse-control disorders such as trichotillomania and pathological gambling. We present findings from a broad range of data, comprising translational and human endophenotypes research and clinical treatment trials, focussing on the parallel, functionally segregated, cortico-striatal neural projections, from orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to medial striatum (caudate nucleus), proposed to drive compulsive activity, and from the anterior cingulate/ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens shell), proposed to drive impulsive activity, and the interaction between them. We suggest that impulsivity and compulsivity each seem to be multidimensional. Impulsive or compulsive behaviors are mediated by overlapping as well as distinct neural substrates. Trichotillomania may stand apart as a disorder of motor-impulse control, whereas pathological gambling involves abnormal ventral reward circuitry that identifies it more closely with substance addiction. OCD shows motor impulsivity and compulsivity, probably mediated through disruption of OFC-caudate circuitry, as well as other frontal, cingulate, and parietal connections. Serotonin and dopamine interact across these circuits to modulate aspects of both impulsive and compulsive responding and as yet unidentified brain-based systems may also have important functions. Targeted application of neurocognitive tasks, receptor-specific neurochemical probes, and brain systems neuroimaging techniques have potential for future research in this field. PMID:19940844
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Brown, Joshua W.
2009-01-01
The error likelihood computational model of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (Brown & Braver, 2005) has successfully predicted error likelihood effects, risk prediction effects, and how individual differences in conflict and error likelihood effects vary with trait differences in risk aversion. The same computational model now makes a further prediction that apparent conflict effects in ACC may result in part from an increasing number of simultaneously active responses, regardless of whether or not the cued responses are mutually incompatible. In Experiment 1, the model prediction was tested with a modification of the Eriksen flanker task, in which some task conditions require two otherwise mutually incompatible responses to be generated simultaneously. In that case, the two response processes are no longer in conflict with each other. The results showed small but significant medial PFC effects in the incongruent vs. congruent contrast, despite the absence of response conflict, consistent with model predictions. This is the multiple response effect. Nonetheless, actual response conflict led to greater ACC activation, suggesting that conflict effects are specific to particular task contexts. In Experiment 2, results from a change signal task suggested that the context dependence of conflict signals does not depend on error likelihood effects. Instead, inputs to ACC may reflect complex and task specific representations of motor acts, such as bimanual responses. Overall, the results suggest the existence of a richer set of motor signals monitored by medial PFC and are consistent with distinct effects of multiple responses, conflict, and error likelihood in medial PFC. PMID:19375509
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Cerebral somatic pain modulation during autogenic training in fMRI.
Naglatzki, R P; Schlamann, M; Gasser, T; Ladd, M E; Sure, U; Forsting, M; Gizewski, E R
2012-10-01
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are increasingly employed in different conscious states. Autogenic training (AT) is a common clinically used relaxation method. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cerebral modulation of pain activity patterns due to AT and to correlate the effects to the degree of experience with AT and strength of stimuli. Thirteen volunteers familiar with AT were studied with fMRI during painful electrical stimulation in a block design alternating between resting state and electrical stimulation, both without AT and while employing the same paradigm when utilizing their AT abilities. The subjective rating of painful stimulation and success in modulation during AT was assessed. During painful electrical stimulation without AT, fMRI revealed activation of midcingulate, right secondary sensory, right supplementary motor, and insular cortices, the right thalamus and left caudate nucleus. In contrast, utilizing AT only activation of left insular and supplementary motor cortices was revealed. The paired t-test revealed pain-related activation in the midcingulate, posterior cingulate and left anterior insular cortices for the condition without AT, and activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex under AT. Activation of the posterior cingulate cortex and thalamus correlated with the amplitude of electrical stimulation. This study revealed an effect on cerebral pain processing while performing AT. This might represent the cerebral correlate of different painful stimulus processing by subjects who are trained in performing relaxation techniques. However, due to the absence of a control group, further studies are needed to confirm this theory. © 2012 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters.
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The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in emotional response inhibition.
Albert, Jacobo; López-Martín, Sara; Tapia, Manuel; Montoya, Daniel; Carretié, Luis
2012-09-01
Although the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in emotional response inhibition is well established, there are several outstanding issues about the nature of this involvement that are not well understood. The present study aimed to examine the precise contribution of the ACC to emotion-modulated response inhibition by capitalizing on fine temporal resolution of the event-related potentials (ERPs) and the recent advances in source localization. To this end, participants (N = 30) performed an indirect affective Go/Nogo task (i.e., unrelated to the emotional content of stimulation) that required the inhibition of a motor response to three types of visual stimuli: arousing negative (A-), neutral (N), and arousing positive (A+). Behavioral data revealed that participants made more commission errors to A+ than to N and A-. Electrophysiological data showed that a specific region of the ACC at the intersection of its dorsal and rostral subdivisions was significantly involved in the interaction between emotional processing and motor inhibition. Specifically, activity reflecting this interaction was observed in the P3 (but not in the N2) time range, and was greater during the inhibition of responses to A+ than to N and A-. Additionally, regression analyses showed that inhibition-related activity within this ACC region was associated with the emotional content of the stimuli (its activity increased as stimulus valence was more positive), and also with behavioral performance (both with reaction times and commission errors). The present results provide additional data for understanding how, when, and where emotion interacts with response inhibition within the ACC. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Structural and Functional Cerebral Correlates of Hypnotic Suggestibility
Huber, Alexa; Lui, Fausta; Duzzi, Davide; Pagnoni, Giuseppe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo
2014-01-01
Little is known about the neural bases of hypnotic suggestibility, a cognitive trait referring to the tendency to respond to hypnotic suggestions. In the present magnetic resonance imaging study, we performed regression analyses to assess hypnotic suggestibility-related differences in local gray matter volume, using voxel-based morphometry, and in waking resting state functional connectivity of 10 resting state networks, in 37 healthy women. Hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with gray matter volume in portions of the left superior and medial frontal gyri, roughly overlapping with the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor area, and negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and insula. In the functional connectivity analysis, hypnotic suggestibility was positively correlated with functional connectivity between medial posterior areas, including bilateral posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, and both the lateral visual network and the left fronto-parietal network; a positive correlation was also found with functional connectivity between the executive-control network and a right postcentral/parietal area. In contrast, hypnotic suggestibility was negatively correlated with functional connectivity between the right fronto-parietal network and the right lateral thalamus. These findings demonstrate for the first time a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility, the structural features of specific cortical regions, and the functional connectivity during the normal resting state of brain structures involved in imagery and self-monitoring activity. PMID:24671130
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Nitric oxide signaling in the development and evolution of language and cognitive circuits.
Funk, Owen H; Kwan, Kenneth Y
2014-09-01
The neocortex underlies not only remarkable motor and sensory capabilities, but also some of our most distinctly human cognitive functions. The emergence of these higher functions during evolution was accompanied by structural changes in the neocortex, including the acquisition of areal specializations such as Broca's speech and language area. The study of these evolutionary mechanisms, which likely involve species-dependent gene expression and function, represents a substantial challenge. These species differences, however, may represent valuable opportunities to understand the molecular underpinnings of neocortical evolution. Here, we discuss nitric oxide signaling as a candidate mechanism in the assembly of neocortical circuits underlying language and higher cognitive functions. This hypothesis was based on the highly specific mid-fetal pattern of nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOS1, previously nNOS) expression in the pyramidal (projection) neurons of two human neocortical areas respectively involved in speech and language, and higher cognition; the frontal operculum (FOp) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This expression is transiently present during mid-gestation, suggesting that NOS1 may be involved in the development of these areas and the assembly of their neural circuits. As no other gene product is known to exhibit such exquisite spatiotemporal expression, NOS1 represents a remarkable candidate for these functions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.
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Rodrigo, María José; Padrón, Iván; de Vega, Manuel; Ferstl, Evelyn C.
2014-01-01
This study examines by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging the neural mechanisms underlying adolescents’ risk decision-making in social contexts. We hypothesize that the social context could engage brain regions associated with social cognition processes and developmental changes are also expected. Sixty participants (adolescents: 17–18, and young adults: 21–22 years old) read narratives describing typical situations of decision-making in the presence of peers. They were asked to make choices in risky situations (e.g., taking or refusing a drug) or ambiguous situations (e.g., eating a hamburger or a hotdog). Risky as compared to ambiguous scenarios activated bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG), right medial prefrontal cortex, and the precuneus bilaterally; i.e., brain regions related to social cognition processes, such as self-reflection and theory of mind (ToM). In addition, brain structures related to cognitive control were active [right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), bilateral orbitofrontal cortex], whereas no significant clusters were obtained in the reward system (ventral striatum). Choosing the dangerous option involved a further activation of control areas (ACC) and emotional and social cognition areas (temporal pole). Adolescents employed more neural resources than young adults in the right DLPFC and the right TPJ in risk situations. When choosing the dangerous option, young adults showed a further engagement in ToM related regions (bilateral MTG) and in motor control regions related to the planning of actions (pre-supplementary motor area). Finally, the right insula and the right superior temporal gyrus were more activated in women than in men, suggesting more emotional involvement and more intensive modeling of the others’ perspective in the risky conditions. These findings call for more comprehensive developmental accounts of decision-making in social contexts that incorporate the role of emotional and social cognition processes. PMID:24592227
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Functional neuroanatomical networks associated with expertise in motor imagery.
Guillot, Aymeric; Collet, Christian; Nguyen, Vo An; Malouin, Francine; Richards, Carol; Doyon, Julien
2008-07-15
Although numerous behavioural studies provide evidence that there exist wide differences within individual motor imagery (MI) abilities, little is known with regards to the functional neuroanatomical networks that dissociate someone with good versus poor MI capacities. For the first time, we thus compared, through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the pattern of cerebral activations in 13 skilled and 15 unskilled imagers during both physical execution and MI of a sequence of finger movements. Differences in MI abilities were assessed using well-established questionnaire and chronometric measures, as well as a new index based upon the subject's peripheral responses from the autonomic nervous system. As expected, both good and poor imagers activated the inferior and superior parietal lobules, as well as motor-related regions including the lateral and medial premotor cortex, the cerebellum and putamen. Inter-group comparisons revealed that good imagers activated more the parietal and ventrolateral premotor regions, which are known to play a critical role in the generation of mental images. By contrast, poor imagers recruited the cerebellum, orbito-frontal and posterior cingulate cortices. Consistent with findings from the motor sequence learning literature and Doyon and Ungerleider's model of motor learning [Doyon, J., Ungerleider, L.G., 2002. Functional anatomy of motor skill learning. In: Squire, L.R., Schacter, D.L. (Eds.), Neuropsychology of memory, Guilford Press, pp. 225-238], our results demonstrate that compared to skilled imagers, poor imagers not only need to recruit the cortico-striatal system, but to compensate with the cortico-cerebellar system during MI of sequential movements.
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The Distressed Brain: A Group Blind Source Separation Analysis on Tinnitus
De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven; Congedo, Marco
2011-01-01
Background Tinnitus, the perception of a sound without an external sound source, can lead to variable amounts of distress. Methodology In a group of tinnitus patients with variable amounts of tinnitus related distress, as measured by the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ), an electroencephalography (EEG) is performed, evaluating the patients' resting state electrical brain activity. This resting state electrical activity is compared with a control group and between patients with low (N = 30) and high distress (N = 25). The groups are homogeneous for tinnitus type, tinnitus duration or tinnitus laterality. A group blind source separation (BSS) analysis is performed using a large normative sample (N = 84), generating seven normative components to which high and low tinnitus patients are compared. A correlation analysis of the obtained normative components' relative power and distress is performed. Furthermore, the functional connectivity as reflected by lagged phase synchronization is analyzed between the brain areas defined by the components. Finally, a group BSS analysis on the Tinnitus group as a whole is performed. Conclusions Tinnitus can be characterized by at least four BSS components, two of which are posterior cingulate based, one based on the subgenual anterior cingulate and one based on the parahippocampus. Only the subgenual component correlates with distress. When performed on a normative sample, group BSS reveals that distress is characterized by two anterior cingulate based components. Spectral analysis of these components demonstrates that distress in tinnitus is related to alpha and beta changes in a network consisting of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex extending to the pregenual and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex as well as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and parahippocampus. This network overlaps partially with brain areas implicated in distress in patients suffering from pain, functional somatic syndromes and posttraumatic stress disorder, and might therefore represent a specific distress network. PMID:21998628
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[Hyperlexia in an adult patient with lesions in the left medial frontal lobe].
Suzuki, K; Yamadori, A; Kumabe, T; Endo, K; Fujii, T; Yoshimoto, T
2000-04-01
A 69-year-old right-handed woman developed a transcortical motor aphasia with hyperlexia following resection of a glioma in the left medial frontal lobe. Neurological examination revealed grasp reflex in the right hand and underutilization of the right upper extremity. An MRI demonstrated lesions in the left medial frontal lobe including the supplementary motor area and the anterior part of the cingulate gyrus, which extended to the anterior part of the body of corpus callosum. Neuropsychologically she was alert and cooperative. She demonstrated transcortical motor aphasia. Her verbal output began with echolalia. Furthermore hyperlexia was observed in daily activities and during examinations. During conversation she suddenly read words written on objects around her which were totally irrelevant to the talk. When she was walking in the ward with an examiner she read words written on a trash bag that passed by and signboards which indicated a name of a room. Her conversation while walking was intermingled with reading words, which was irrelevant to the conversation. She also read time on analog clocks, which were hung on a wall in a watch store. In a naming task, she read words written on objects first and named them upon repeated question about their names. When an examiner opened a newspaper in front of her without any instructions she began reading until the examiner prohibited it. Then she began reading again when an examiner turned the page, although she remembered that she should not read it aloud. She showed mild ideomotor apraxia of a left hand. Utilization behavior, imitation behavior, hypergraphia, or compulsive use of objects was not observed throughout the course. Hyperlexic tendency is a prominent feature of this patient's language output. Hyperlexia was often reported in children with pervasive developmental disorders including autism. There are only a few reports about hyperlexia in adults and some of them were related to diffuse brain dysfunction. Hyperlexia of our patient was associated with echolalia but not with the other "echo" phenomena, which may be because the lesion was unilateral on the left side. Dysfunction of the left supplementary motor area could lead to disinhibition of regulatory mechanism of verbal output in response to auditory and visual stimuli.
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Bogert, Brigitte; Numminen-Kontti, Taru; Gold, Benjamin; Sams, Mikko; Numminen, Jussi; Burunat, Iballa; Lampinen, Jouko; Brattico, Elvira
2016-08-01
Music is often used to regulate emotions and mood. Typically, music conveys and induces emotions even when one does not attend to them. Studies on the neural substrates of musical emotions have, however, only examined brain activity when subjects have focused on the emotional content of the music. Here we address with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the neural processing of happy, sad, and fearful music with a paradigm in which 56 subjects were instructed to either classify the emotions (explicit condition) or pay attention to the number of instruments playing (implicit condition) in 4-s music clips. In the implicit vs. explicit condition, stimuli activated bilaterally the inferior parietal lobule, premotor cortex, caudate, and ventromedial frontal areas. The cortical dorsomedial prefrontal and occipital areas activated during explicit processing were those previously shown to be associated with the cognitive processing of music and emotion recognition and regulation. Moreover, happiness in music was associated with activity in the bilateral auditory cortex, left parahippocampal gyrus, and supplementary motor area, whereas the negative emotions of sadness and fear corresponded with activation of the left anterior cingulate and middle frontal gyrus and down-regulation of the orbitofrontal cortex. Our study demonstrates for the first time in healthy subjects the neural underpinnings of the implicit processing of brief musical emotions, particularly in frontoparietal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and striatal areas of the brain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Error-related negativity in the skilled brain of pianists reveals motor simulation.
Proverbio, Alice Mado; Cozzi, Matteo; Orlandi, Andrea; Carminati, Manuel
2017-03-27
Evidences have been provided of a crucial role of multimodal audio-visuomotor processing in subserving the musical ability. In this paper we investigated whether musical audiovisual stimulation might trigger the activation of motor information in the brain of professional pianists, due to the presence of permanent gestures/sound associations. At this aim EEG was recorded in 24 pianists and naive participants engaged in the detection of rare targets while watching hundreds of video clips showing a pair of hands in the act of playing, along with a compatible or incompatible piano soundtrack. Hands size and apparent distance allowed self-ownership and agency illusions, and therefore motor simulation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and relative source reconstruction showed the presence of an Error-related negativity (ERN) to incongruent trials at anterior frontal scalp sites, only in pianists, with no difference in naïve participants. ERN was mostly explained by an anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) source. Other sources included "hands" IT regions, the superior temporal gyrus (STG) involved in conjoined auditory and visuomotor processing, SMA and cerebellum (representing and controlling motor subroutines), and regions involved in body parts representation (somatosensory cortex, uncus, cuneus and precuneus). The findings demonstrate that instrument-specific audiovisual stimulation is able to trigger error shooting and correction neural responses via motor resonance and mirroring, being a possible aid in learning and rehabilitation. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Spetter, Maartje S; Feld, Gordon B; Thienel, Matthias; Preissl, Hubert; Hege, Maike A; Hallschmid, Manfred
2018-02-09
The hypothalamic neurohormone oxytocin decreases food intake via largely unexplored mechanisms. We investigated the central nervous mediation of oxytocin's hypophagic effect in comparison to its impact on the processing of generalized rewards. Fifteen fasted normal-weight, young men received intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) or placebo before functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements of brain activity during exposure to food stimuli and a monetary incentive delay task (MID). Subsequently, ad-libitum breakfast intake was assessed. Oxytocin compared to placebo increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices in response to high- vs. low-calorie food images in the fasted state, and reduced calorie intake by 12%. During anticipation of monetary rewards, oxytocin compared to placebo augmented striatal, orbitofrontal and insular activity without altering MID performance. We conclude that during the anticipation of generalized rewards, oxytocin stimulates dopaminergic reward-processing circuits. In contrast, oxytocin restrains food intake by enhancing the activity of brain regions that exert cognitive control, while concomitantly increasing the activity of structures that process food reward value. This pattern points towards a specific role of oxytocin in the regulation of eating behaviour in humans that might be of relevance for potential clinical applications.
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[A voxel-based morphometric analysis of brain gray matter in online game addicts].
Weng, Chuan-bo; Qian, Ruo-bing; Fu, Xian-ming; Lin, Bin; Ji, Xue-bing; Niu, Chao-shi; Wang, Ye-han
2012-12-04
To explore the possible brain mechanism of online game addiction (OGA) in terms of brain morphology through voxel-based morphometric (VBM) analysis. Seventeen subjects with OGA and 17 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC group) were recruited from Department of Psychology at our hospital during February-December 2011. The internet addiction scale (IAS) was used to measure the degree of OGA tendency. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed to acquire 3-dimensional T1-weighted images. And FSL 4.1 software was employed to confirm regional gray matter volume changes. For the regions where OGA subjects showed significantly different gray matter volumes from the controls, the gray matter volumes of these areas were extracted, averaged and regressed against the scores of IAS. The OGA group had lower gray matter volume in left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), bilateral insula (INS), left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and left supplementary motor area (SMA). Gray matter volumes of left OFC and bilateral INS showed a negative correlation with the scores of IAS (r = -0.65, r = -0.78, P < 0.05). Gray matter volume changes are present in online game addicts and they may be correlated with the occurrence and maintenance of OGA.
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Shi, Baoguo; Cao, Xiaoqing; Chen, Qunlin; Zhuang, Kaixiang; Qiu, Jiang
2017-02-21
Creativity is the ability to produce original and valuable ideas or behaviors. In real life, artistic and scientific creativity promoted the development of human civilization; however, to date, no studies have systematically investigated differences in the brain structures responsible for artistic and scientific creativity in a large sample. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), this study identified differences in regional gray matter volume (GMV) across the brain between artistic and scientific creativity (assessed by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire) in 356 young, healthy subjects. The results showed that artistic creativity was significantly negatively associated with the regional GMV of the supplementary motor area (SMA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In contrast, scientific creativity was significantly positively correlated with the regional GMV of the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG). Overall, artistic creativity was associated with the salience network (SN), whereas scientific creativity was associated with the executive attention network and semantic processing. These results may provide an effective marker that can be used to predict and evaluate individuals' creative performance in the fields of science and art.
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Shi, Baoguo; Cao, Xiaoqing; Chen, Qunlin; Zhuang, Kaixiang; Qiu, Jiang
2017-01-01
Creativity is the ability to produce original and valuable ideas or behaviors. In real life, artistic and scientific creativity promoted the development of human civilization; however, to date, no studies have systematically investigated differences in the brain structures responsible for artistic and scientific creativity in a large sample. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), this study identified differences in regional gray matter volume (GMV) across the brain between artistic and scientific creativity (assessed by the Creative Achievement Questionnaire) in 356 young, healthy subjects. The results showed that artistic creativity was significantly negatively associated with the regional GMV of the supplementary motor area (SMA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In contrast, scientific creativity was significantly positively correlated with the regional GMV of the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG). Overall, artistic creativity was associated with the salience network (SN), whereas scientific creativity was associated with the executive attention network and semantic processing. These results may provide an effective marker that can be used to predict and evaluate individuals’ creative performance in the fields of science and art. PMID:28220826
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Weisstanner, Christian; Saxer, Stefanie; Wiest, Roland; Kaelin-Lang, Alain; Newman, Christopher J; Steinlin, Maja; Grunt, Sebastian
2017-03-21
To investigate the neuronal activation pattern underlying the effects of mirror illusion in children/adolescents with normal motor development and in children/adolescents with hemiparesis and preserved contralateral corticospinal organisation. The type of cortical reorganisation was classified according to results of transcranial magnetic stimulation. Only subjects with congenital lesions and physiological contralateral cortical reorganisation were included. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed to investigate neuronal activation patterns with and without a mirror box. Each test consisted of a unimanual and a bimanual motor task. Seven children/adolescents with congenital hemiparesis (10-20 years old, three boys and four girls) and seven healthy subjects (8-17 years old, four boys and three girls) participated in this study. In the bimanual experiment, children with hemiparesis showed a significant effect of the mirror illusion (p<0.001 at voxel level, family-wise error corrected at cluster level) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex of the affected and unaffected hemispheres, respectively. No significant effects of the mirror illusion were observed in unimanual experiments and in healthy participants. Mirror illusion in children/adolescents with hemiparesis leads to activation of brain areas involved in visual conflict detection and cognitive control to resolve this conflict. This effect is observed only in bimanual training. We consider that for mirror therapy in children and adolescents with hemiparesis a bimanual approach is more suitable than a unimanual approach.
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Boccia, M; Dacquino, C; Piccardi, L; Cordellieri, P; Guariglia, C; Ferlazzo, F; Ferracuti, S; Giannini, A M
2017-02-01
Moral sense is defined as a feeling of the rightness or wrongness of an action that knowingly causes harm to people other than the agent. The large amount of data collected over the past decade allows drawing some definite conclusions about the neurobiological foundations of moral reasoning as well as a systematic investigation of methodological variables during fMRI studies. Here, we verified the existence of converging and consistent evidence in the current literature by means of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies of moral reasoning, using activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. We also tested for a possible neural segregation as function of the perspective used during moral reasoning i.e., first or third person perspectives. Results demonstrate the existence of a wide network of areas underpinning moral reasoning, including orbitofrontal cortex, insula, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex as well as precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. Within this network we found a neural segregation as a function of the personal perspective, with 1PP eliciting higher activation in the bilateral insula and superior temporal gyrus as well as in the anterior cingulate cortex, lingual and fusiform gyri, middle temporal gyrus and precentral gyrus in the left hemisphere, and 3PP eliciting higher activation in the bilateral amygdala, the posterior cingulate cortex, insula and supramarginal gyrus in the left hemisphere as well as the medial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the right hemisphere. These results shed some more light on the contribution of these areas to moral reasoning, strongly supporting a functional specialization as a function of the perspective used during moral reasoning.
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Galindo, Liliana; Bergé, Daniel; Murray, Graham K; Mané, Anna; Bulbena, Antonio; Pérez, Victor; Vilarroya, Oscar
2017-01-01
Brain connectivity and neurological soft signs (NSS) are reportedly abnormal in schizophrenia and unaffected relatives, suggesting they might be useful neurobiological markers of the illness. NSS are discrete sensorimotor impairments thought to correspond to deviant brain development. Although NSS support the hypothesis that schizophrenia involves disruption in functional circuits involving several hetero modal association areas, little is known about the relationship between NSS and brain connectivity. We explored functional connectivity abnormalities of the default mode network (DMN) related to NSS in schizophrenia. A cross-sectional study was performed with 27 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, 23 unaffected relatives who were unrelated to the schizophrenia subjects included in the study, and 35 healthy controls. Subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans including a functional resting-state acquisition and NSS evaluation. Seed-to-voxel and independent component analyses were used to study brain connectivity. NSS scores were significantly different between groups, ranging from a higher to lower scores for patients, unaffected relatives, and healthy controls, respectively (analysis of variance effect of group F = 56.51, p < 0.001). The connectivity analysis revealed significant hyperconnectivity in the fusiform gyrus, insular and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, inferior and middle frontal gyri, middle and superior temporal gyri, and posterior cingulate cortex [minimum p-family wise error (FWE) < 0.05 for all clusters] in patients with schizophrenia as compared with in controls. Also, unaffected relatives showed hyperconnectivity in relation to controls in the supramarginal association and dorsal posterior cingulate cortices (p-FWE < 0.05 for all clusters) in patients with schizophrenia as compared with in controls. Also, unaffected relatives showed hyperconnectivity in relation to controls in the supramarginal association and dorsal posterior cingulate cortices (p-FWE = 0.001) and in the anterior prefrontal cortex (42 voxels, p-FWE = 0.047). A negative correlation was found between left caudate connectivity and NSS [p-FWE = 0.044, cluster size ( k ) = 110 voxels]. These findings support the theory of widespread abnormal connectivity in schizophrenia, reinforcing DMN hyperconnectivity and NSS as neurobiological markers of schizophrenia. The results also indicate the caudate nucleus as the gateway to the motor consequences of abnormal DMN connectivity.
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Justen, Christoph; Herbert, Cornelia
2016-01-01
So far, neurophysiological studies have investigated implicit and explicit self-related processing particularly for self-related stimuli such as the own face or name. The present study extends previous research to the implicit processing of self-related movement sounds and explores their spatio-temporal dynamics. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were assessed while participants (N = 12 healthy subjects) listened passively to previously recorded self- and other-related finger snapping sounds, presented either as deviants or standards during an oddball paradigm. Passive listening to low (500 Hz) and high (1000 Hz) pure tones served as additional control. For self- vs. other-related finger snapping sounds, analysis of ERPs revealed significant differences in the time windows of the N2a/MMN and P3. An subsequent source localization analysis with standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) revealed increased cortical activation in distinct motor areas such as the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the N2a/mismatch negativity (MMN) as well as the P3 time window during processing of self- and other-related finger snapping sounds. In contrast, brain regions associated with self-related processing [e.g., right anterior/posterior cingulate cortex (ACC/PPC)] as well as the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) showed increased activation particularly during processing of self- vs. other-related finger snapping sounds in the time windows of the N2a/MMN (ACC/PCC) or the P3 (IPL). None of these brain regions showed enhanced activation while listening passively to low (500 Hz) and high (1000 Hz) pure tones. Taken together, the current results indicate (1) a specific role of motor regions such as SMA during auditory processing of movement-related information, regardless of whether this information is self- or other-related, (2) activation of neural sources such as the ACC/PCC and the IPL during implicit processing of self-related movement stimuli, and (3) their differential temporal activation during deviance (N2a/MMN – ACC/PCC) and target detection (P3 – IPL) of self- vs. other-related movement sounds. PMID:27777557
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Symmetry of fMRI activation in the primary sensorimotor cortex during unilateral chewing.
Lotze, M; Domin, M; Kordass, B
2017-05-01
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is one of the most advanced techniques to analyze the cerebral effects on many behavior aspects of the oral system such as chewing and mastication. Studies on imaging of the cerebral representation of chewing demonstrated differential results with respect to cortical lateralization during unilateral chewing. The aim of our study is to clarify the effects of cerebral responses during unilateral chewing. We used fMRI to compare brain activities during occlusal function in centric occlusion on natural teeth and chewing on a gum located on the right or the left teeth in 15 healthy subjects. Group data were performed by Talairach normalization and in addition by an assignment of activation maxima to individual anatomical landmarks in order to avoid possible loss of spatial preciseness of activation sites by normalization procedures. Evaluation of group data by Talairach normalization revealed representation sites for occlusal movements in bilateral primary (S1) and secondary (S2) somatosensory cortices, primary motor (M1) and premotor cortices, supplementary motor area (SMA) and medial cingulate gyrus, bilateral anterior cerebellar hemispheres and vermis, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, and left pallidum. Right-sided chewing showed no differential activation to left-sided chewing, and both showed activation in areas also involved in bilateral occlusion. Both techniques, the one based on group normalization and the one based on an individual evaluation method, revealed remarkable low differences in activation maximum location in the primary motor, the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, and the anterior cerebellar lobe. All chewing movements tested involved bilateral sensorimotor activation without a significant lateralization of activation intensities. Overall, a general lateralization of occlusion movements to the dominant side could not be verified in the present study. Chewing on the left or on the right side of teeth makes no difference for brain representation of chewing. The results describe the basic effects of what we can expect by evaluation of cerebral effects of chewing and mastication. Based on these results, clinical fMRI studies can be performed in different patient groups.
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Fortea, Adriana; van Eindhjoven, Phillip; Pariente, Jose; Calvo, Anna; Batalla, Albert; de la Serna, Elena; Ilzarbe, Daniel; Tor, Jordina; Dolz, Montserrat; Baeza, Inmaculada; Sugranyes, Gisela
2018-01-01
Abstract Background Identification of biomarkers of transition to psychosis in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) has the potential to improve future outcomes (McGorry, 2008). Structural MRI studies with UHR samples have revealed steeper rates of cortical thinning in temporal, prefrontal and cingulate cortices in individuals who later develop psychosis in both baseline and longitudinal comparisons (Fusar-Poli, 2011; Cannon, 2014). However, little is known about how onset of prodromal symptoms during adolescence impacts on changes in cortical thickness (CTH) (Ziermans, 2012). Methods Multicentre cross-sectional case-control study, including youth aged 10–17 years, recruited from two child and adolescent mental health centres. UHR individuals were identified using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes criteria with some modifications. Healthy controls (HC) were recruited from the same geographical area. Exclusion criteria comprised personal history of psychotic symptoms, IQ<70, autism spectrum disorder, presence of neurological disorder, or antecedents of head trauma with loss of consciousness. The study was approved by the local Ethical Review Boards. All participants underwent a comprehensive socio-demographic and clinical evaluation at baseline and after 6, 12 and 18 months follow-up to identify which individuals converted to psychosis (UHR-P) and which did not (UHR-NP). High-resolution magnetic resonance structural images were acquired at baseline on a 3Tesla and 1.5Tesla scanners. An inter-site compatibility study was conducted with healthy controls which revealed high inter-site correlation coefficients (r>.6) for CTH measures. Images were pre-processed employing automated procedures implemented in FreeSurfer 5.3.0, cortical parcellation employed the Desikan-Killiany brain atlas. Analyses: First, mean global and lobar (frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, insula and cingulate) CTH measurements were computed. Then, within lobes showing group effects, CTH was measured for each parcellation. ANCOVA was performed to test differences between groups in SPSS 22.0, including gender, age, total intracranial volume and site as covariates. Significance was set at p<.05, corrected using the false discovery rate (FDR). Results 122 subjects were included (59 UHR-NP vs. 18 UHR-P vs. 45 HC, mean ages: 15.2 ± 1.5 vs. 15.0 ± 1.8 vs. 15.8 ± 1.5, F=1.9, p=.15; gender (%female): 61.0% vs 61.1% vs 68.9%, χ2=.76, p=.68). There were no significant differences in case-control proportion between centres: χ2=1.3, p=.25. No significant differences in global CTH in UHR-P (2.57 ± 0.13mm) relative to UHR-NP (2.56 ± 0.11mm) and HC (2.58 ± 0.09mm) were found. There was a significant group effect on the right cingulate cortex (F=6.6, pFDR=.024): UHR-P showed lower CTH in this area relative to controls (p=.007 uncorrected). Within the right cingulate cortex, a significant group effect was found in the posterior cingulate (F=5.7, pFDR=.016) and isthmus (F=4.6, pFDR=.024), and a trend level in the caudal anterior cingulate (F=2.9, p=.057): with smaller CTH in UHR-P relative to HC in the isthmus cingulate (p=.025) and the posterior cingulate (p=.066). No significant differences were observed between UHR-P and UHR-NP groups. Discussion UHR-P showed significant cortical thinning in several regions of the right cingulate cortex in comparison to HC, giving support to the notion that structural alterations in the cingulate cortex may be present in children and adolescents prior the onset of psychosis. Longitudinal changes in CTH have the potential to increase understanding of changes related to transition to clinical illness.
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DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Kurumaji, A.; McCulloch, J.
1989-12-01
The effects of MK-801 (0.5 mg/kg i.v.), a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, upon local cerebral glucose utilization were examined in conscious, lightly restrained rats and in rats anaesthetised with halothane in nitrous oxide by means of the quantitative autoradiographic (14C)-2-deoxyglucose technique. In the conscious rats, MK-801 produced a heterogenous pattern of altered cerebral glucose utilization with significant increases being observed in 12 of the 28 regions of gray matter examined and significant decreases in 6 of the 28 regions. Pronounced increases in glucose use were observed after MK-801 in the olfactory areas and in a number of brain areas inmore » the limbic system (e.g., hippocampus molecular layer, dentate gyrus, subicular complex, posterior cingulate cortex, and mammillary body). In the cerebral cortices, large reductions in glucose use were observed after administration of MK-801, whereas in the extrapyramidal and sensory-motor areas, glucose use remained unchanged after MK-801 administration in conscious rats. In the halothane-anaesthetised rats, the pattern of altered glucose use after MK-801 differed qualitatively and quantitatively from that observed in conscious rats. In anaesthetised rats, significant reductions in glucose use were noted after MK-801 in 10 of the 28 regions examined, with no area displaying significantly increased glucose use after administration of the drug. In halothane-anaesthetised rats, MK-801 failed to change the rates of glucose use in the olfactory areas, the hippocampus molecular layer, and the dentate gyrus.« less
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Holschneider, Daniel P; Wang, Zhuo; Pang, Raina D
2014-01-01
Rodent cortical midline structures (CMS) are involved in emotional, cognitive and attentional processes. Tract tracing has revealed complex patterns of structural connectivity demonstrating connectivity-based integration and segregation for the prelimbic, cingulate area 1, retrosplenial dysgranular cortices dorsally, and infralimbic, cingulate area 2, and retrosplenial granular cortices ventrally. Understanding of CMS functional connectivity (FC) remains more limited. Here we present the first subregion-level FC analysis of the mouse CMS, and assess whether fear results in state-dependent FC changes analogous to what has been reported in humans. Brain mapping using [(14)C]-iodoantipyrine was performed in mice during auditory-cued fear conditioned recall and in controls. Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) was analyzed in 3-D images reconstructed from brain autoradiographs. Regions-of-interest were selected along the CMS anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes. In controls, pairwise correlation and graph theoretical analyses showed strong FC within each CMS structure, strong FC along the dorsal-ventral axis, with segregation of anterior from posterior structures. Seed correlation showed FC of anterior regions to limbic/paralimbic areas, and FC of posterior regions to sensory areas-findings consistent with functional segregation noted in humans. Fear recall increased FC between the cingulate and retrosplenial cortices, but decreased FC between dorsal and ventral structures. In agreement with reports in humans, fear recall broadened FC of anterior structures to the amygdala and to somatosensory areas, suggesting integration and processing of both limbic and sensory information. Organizational principles learned from animal models at the mesoscopic level (brain regions and pathways) will not only critically inform future work at the microscopic (single neurons and synapses) level, but also have translational value to advance our understanding of human brain architecture.
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Activation of Premotor Vocal Areas during Musical Discrimination
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Brown, Steven; Martinez, Michael J.
2007-01-01
Two same/different discrimination tasks were performed by amateur-musician subjects in this functional magnetic resonance imaging study: Melody Discrimination and Harmony Discrimination. Both tasks led to activations not only in classic working memory areas--such as the cingulate gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex--but in a series of…
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Cytology of human caudomedial cingulate, retrosplenial, and caudal parahippocampal cortices.
Vogt, B A; Vogt, L J; Perl, D P; Hof, P R
2001-09-24
Brodmann showed areas 26, 29, 30, 23, and 31 on the human posterior cingulate gyrus without marking sulcal areas. Histologic studies of retrosplenial areas 29 and 30 identify them on the ventral bank of the cingulate gyrus (CGv), whereas standardized atlases show area 30 on the surface of the caudomedial region. This study evaluates all areas on the CGv and caudomedial region with rigorous cytologic criteria in coronal and oblique sections Nissl stained or immunoreacted for neuron-specific nuclear binding protein and nonphosphorylated neurofilament proteins (NFP-ir). Ectosplenial area 26 has a granular layer with few large pyramidal neurons below. Lateral area 29 (29l) has a dense granular layer II-IV and undifferentiated layers V and VI. Medial area 29 (29m) has a layer III of medium and NFP-ir pyramids and a layer IV with some large, NFP-ir pyramidal neurons that distinguish it from areas 29l, 30, and 27. Although area 29m is primarily on the CGv, a terminal branch can extend onto the caudomedial lobule. Area 30 is dysgranular with a variable thickness layer IV that is interrupted by large NFP-ir neurons in layers IIIc and Va. Although area 30 does not appear on the surface of the caudomedial lobule, a terminal branch can form less that 1% of this gyrus. Area 23a is isocortex with a clear layer IV and large, NFP-ir neurons in layers IIIc and Va. Area 23b is similar to area 23a but with a thicker layer IV, more large neurons in layer Va, and a higher density of NFP-ir neurons in layer III. The caudomedial gyral surface is composed of areas 23a and 23b and a caudal extension of area 31. Although posterior area 27 and the parasubiculum are similar to rostral levels, posterior area 36' differs from rostral area 36. Subregional flat maps show that retrosplenial cortex is on the CGv, most of the surface of caudomedial cortex is areas 23a, 23b, and 31, and the retrosplenial/parahippocampal border is at the ventral edge of the splenium. Thus, Brodmann's map understates the rostral extent of retrosplenial cortex, overstates its caudoventral extent, and abridges the caudomedial extent of area 23. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Altered cerebral perfusion in executive, affective, and motor networks during adolescent depression.
Ho, Tiffany C; Wu, Jing; Shin, David D; Liu, Thomas T; Tapert, Susan F; Yang, Guang; Connolly, Colm G; Frank, Guido K W; Max, Jeffrey E; Wolkowitz, Owen; Eisendrath, Stuart; Hoeft, Fumiko; Banerjee, Dipavo; Hood, Korey; Hendren, Robert L; Paulus, Martin P; Simmons, Alan N; Yang, Tony T
2013-10-01
Although substantial literature has reported regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities in adults with depression, these studies commonly necessitated the injection of radioisotopes into subjects. The recent development of arterial spin labeling (ASL), however, allows noninvasive measurements of rCBF. Currently, no published ASL studies have examined cerebral perfusion in adolescents with depression. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine baseline cerebral perfusion in adolescent depression using a newly developed ASL technique: pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL). A total of 25 medication-naive adolescents (13-17 years of age) diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 26 well-matched control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Baseline rCBF was measured via a novel PCASL method that optimizes tagging efficiency. Voxel-based whole brain analyses revealed significant frontal, limbic, paralimbic, and cingulate hypoperfusion in the group with depression (p < .05, corrected). Hyperperfusion was also observed within the subcallosal cingulate, putamen, and fusiform gyrus (p < .05, corrected). Similarly, region-of-interest analyses revealed amygdalar and insular hypoperfusion in the group with depression, as well as hyperperfusion in the putamen and superior insula (p < .05, corrected). Adolescents with depression and healthy adolescents appear to differ on rCBF in executive, affective, and motor networks. Dysfunction in these regions may contribute to the cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor symptoms commonly present in adolescent depression. These findings point to possible biomarkers for adolescent depression that could inform early interventions and treatments, and establishes a methodology for using PCASL to noninvasively measure rCBF in clinical and healthy adolescent populations. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Syrimi, Zoe Joanna; Vojtisek, Lubomir; Eliasova, Ilona; Viskova, Jana; Svatkova, Alena; Vanicek, Jiri; Rektorova, Irena
2017-05-01
While previous studies suggested that perfusion abnormalities in Parkinson's disease (PD) are driven by dementia, our study aimed to identify perfusion underpinning of cognitive alteration in non-demented PD patients. Cerebral blood flow was measured using arterial spin labelling (ASL) in 28 PD patients (age 65 years ± 9.9 SD) and 16 age-matched healthy controls (HC) (age 65 years ± 7.8 SD), who also underwent neurological and cognitive testing. The 3D pseudocontinuous ASL and T2-weighted scans from 22 PD patients and 16 HC were analysed in a voxel-wise manner using SPM8 software. Associations between the ASL values in volumes of interest (VOIs) and behavioural and cognitive measures were assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. Posterior cortical hypoperfusion was found in PD patients compared to HC in the left supramarginal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (VOI1) and left posterior cingulate/precuneus (VOI2). Positive correlation was revealed between perfusion in the VOI2 and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) scores after filtering out the effect of age, levodopa equivalent dose (LED), and total intracranial volume (TIV) (R = 0.51, p = 0.04). Conversely, negative correlation between VOI1 and ACE-R was detected (R = -0.62, p = 0.01) after regressing out the effects of motor impairment, age, LED, and TIV. In non-demented subjects with PD, blood flow abnormalities in precuneus/posterior cingulate were linked to the level of motor impairment and global cognitive performance. Oppositely, perfusion abnormalities in supramarginal gyrus might serve as a compensatory mechanism for brain degeneration and decreased cognitive performance.
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Medalla, M.; Barbas, H.
2011-01-01
Dorsolateral prefrontal areas 46 and 10 are involved in distinct aspects of cognition. Area 46 has a key role in working memory tasks, and frontopolar area 10 is recruited in complex multi-task operations. Both areas are innervated by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) a region associated with emotions and memory, but is also important for attentional control through unknown synaptic mechanisms. Here we found that in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) most axon terminals labeled from tracers injected in ACC area 32 innervated spines of presumed excitatory neurons, but about 20–30% formed mostly large synapses with dendritic shafts of presumed inhibitory neurons in the upper layers (I–IIIa) of dorsolateral areas 10, 46, and 9. Moreover, area 32 terminals targeted preferentially calbindin and, to a lesser extent, calretinin neurons, which are thought to be inhibitory neurons that modulate the gain of task-relevant activity during working memory tasks. Area 46 was distinguished as recipient of more (by ~40%) area 32 synapses on putative inhibitory neurons. Area 10 stood apart as recipient of significantly larger (by ~40% in volume) area 32 terminals on spines of putative excitatory neurons. These synaptic specializations suggest that area 32 has complementary roles, potentially enhancing inhibition in area 46 and strengthening excitation in area 10, which may help direct attention to new tasks while temporarily holding in memory another task. PMID:21123554
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Kadowaki, Masaru; Tadenuma, Taku; Kumahashi, Nobuyuki; Uchio, Yuji
2017-11-01
Patellar instability with medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) deficiency is a common sports injury among young people. Although nonoperative and surgical treatment can provide stability of the patella, patients often have anxiety related to the knee. We speculate that neural dysfunction may be related to anxiety in these patients; however, the mechanism in the brain that generates this anxiety remains unknown. (1) How does brain activity in patients with MPFL deficiency change in the areas related to somatic sensation against lateral shift of the patella? (2) How does patella instability, which can lead to continuous fear or apprehension for dislocation, influence brain activity in the areas related to emotion? Nineteen patients with MPFL deficiency underwent surgical reconstruction in our hospital from April 2012 to March 2014. Excluding seven patients with osteochondral lesions, 12 patients (five males and seven females; mean age, 20 years) with MPFL deficiency were sequentially included in this study. Eleven control subjects (four males and seven females; mean age, 23 years) were recruited from medical students who had no history of knee injury. Diagnosis of the MPFL deficiency was made with MR images, which confirmed the rupture, and by proving the instability with a custom-made biomechanical device. Brain activity during passive lateral stress to the patella was assessed by functional MRI. Functional and anatomic images were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping. Differences in functional MRI outcome measures from the detected activated brain regions between the patients with MPFL deficiency and controls were assessed using t tests. Intergroup analysis showed less activity in several sensorimotor cortical areas, including the contralateral primary somatosensory areas (% signal change for MPFL group 0.49% versus 1.1% for the control group; p < 0.001), thalamus (0.2% versus 0.41% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), ipsilateral thalamus (0.02% versus 0.27% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), and ipsilateral cerebellum (0.82% versus 1.25% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001) in the MPFL deficiency group than in the control group. In contrast, the MPFL deficiency group showed more activity in several areas, including the contralateral primary motor area (1.06% versus 0.6% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), supplementary motor area (0.89% versus 0.52% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), prefrontal cortex (1.09% versus 1.09% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), inferior parietal lobule (0.89% versus 0.62% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), anterior cingulate cortex (0.84% versus 0.08% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), visual cortex (0.86% versus 0.14% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), vermis (1.18% versus 0.37% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001), and ipsilateral prefrontal cortex (1.1% versus 0.75% for the MPFL versus control, respectively; p < 0.001) than did the control group. Less activity in the contralateral somatosensory cortical areas suggested that MPFL deficiency may lead to diminished somatic sensation against lateral shift of the patella. In contrast, increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, and inferior parietal lobule may indicate anxiety or fear resulting from patellar instability, which is recognized as an aversion similar to that toward chronic pain. This study suggests that specific brain-area activity is increased in patients with MPFL deficiency relative to that in controls. Further longitudinal research to assess brain activity and proprioception between patients pre- and postreconstructive knee surgery may reveal more regarding how patella instability is related to brain function. We hope that based on such research, a neural approach to improve patella-instability-related brain function can be developed.
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Barzgari, Amy; Sojkova, Jitka; Maritza Dowling, N; Pozorski, Vincent; Okonkwo, Ozioma C; Starks, Erika J; Oh, Jennifer; Thiesen, Frances; Wey, Alexandra; Nicholas, Christopher R; Johnson, Sterling; Gallagher, Catherine L
2018-05-09
Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that produces changes in movement, cognition, sleep, and autonomic function. Motor learning involves acquisition of new motor skills through practice, and is affected by PD. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate regional differences in resting cerebral blood flow (rCBF), measured using arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI, during a finger-typing task of motor skill acquisition in PD patients compared to age- and gender-matched controls. Voxel-wise multiple linear regression models were used to examine the relationship between rCBF and several task variables, including initial speed, proficiency gain, and accuracy. In these models, a task-by-disease group interaction term was included to investigate where the relationship between rCBF and task performance was influenced by PD. At baseline, perfusion was lower in PD subjects than controls in the right occipital cortex. The task-by-disease group interaction for initial speed was significantly related to rCBF (p < 0.05, corrected) in several brain regions involved in motor learning, including the occipital, parietal, and temporal cortices, cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and the superior and middle frontal gyri. In these regions, PD patients showed higher rCBF, and controls lower rCBF, with improved performance. Within the control group, proficiency gain over 12 typing trials was related to greater rCBF in cerebellar, occipital, and temporal cortices. These results suggest that higher rCBF within networks involved in motor learning enable PD patients to compensate for disease-related deficits.
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Smile and laughter elicited by electrical stimulation of the frontal operculum.
Caruana, F; Gozzo, F; Pelliccia, V; Cossu, M; Avanzini, P
2016-08-01
Laughter and smile are typical expressions of mirth and fundamental means of social communication. Despite their general interest, the current knowledge about the brain regions involved in the production of these expressions is still very limited, and the principal insights come from electrical stimulation (ES) studies in patients, in which, nevertheless, laughter or smile have been elicited very rarely. Previous studies showed that laughter is evoked by the stimulation of nodes of an emotional network encompassing the anterior cingulate, the superior frontal and basal temporal cortex. A common feature of these stimulation studies is that the facial expression was always accompanied by motor awareness and often by mirth, in line with the affective functions attributed to these regions. Little is known, in contrast, on the neural basis of the voluntary motor control of this expression. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ES of the frontal operculum (FO), which is considered a crucial node for the linkage of the voluntary motor system for emotional expression and limbic emotional network. We report the case of ES applied to the frontal operculum (FO) in four patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy undergoing stereo-electroencephalographic (SEEG) implantation of intracerebral electrodes. In all patients, ES applied to the FO produced laughter or smile. Interestingly, in one patient, the production of a smiling expression was also clearly accompanied by the lack of motor awareness. Since the lack of motor awareness has been previously observed only after the stimulation of the voluntary motor network, we speculate that FO is involved in the voluntary control of facial expressions, and is placed at the interface with the emotional network, gating limbic information to the motor system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Anatomic Connections of the Subgenual Cingulate Region.
Vergani, Francesco; Martino, Juan; Morris, Christopher; Attems, Johannes; Ashkan, Keyoumars; DellʼAcqua, Flavio
2016-09-01
The subgenual cingulate gyrus (SCG) has been proposed as a target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in neuropsychiatric disorders, mainly major depression. Despite promising clinical results, the mechanism of action of DBS in this region is poorly understood. Knowledge of the connections of the SCG can elucidate the network involved by DBS in this area and can help refine the targeting for DBS electrode placement. To investigate the anatomic connections of the SCG region. An anatomic study of the connections of the SCG was performed on postmortem specimens and in vivo with MR diffusion imaging tractography. Postmortem dissections were performed according to the Klingler technique. Specimens were fixed in 10% formalin and frozen at -15°C for 2 weeks. After thawing, dissection was performed with blunt dissectors. Whole brain tractography was performed using spherical deconvolution tractography. Four main connections were found: (1) fibers of the cingulum, originating at the level of the SCG and terminating at the medial aspect of the temporal lobe (parahippocampal gyrus); (2) fibers running toward the base of the frontal lobe, connecting the SCG with frontopolar areas; (3) fibers running more laterally, converging onto the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens); (4) fibers of the uncinate fasciculus, connecting the orbitofrontal with the anterior temporal region. The SCG shows a wide range of white matter connections with limbic, prefrontal, and mesiotemporal areas. These findings can help to explain the role of the SCG in DBS for psychiatric disorders. DBS, deep brain stimulationSCG, subgenual cingulate gyrus.
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Affective brain areas and sleep disordered breathing
Harper, Ronald M.; Kumar, Rajesh; Macey, Paul M.; Woo, Mary A.; Ogren, Jennifer A.
2014-01-01
The neural damage accompanying the hypoxia, reduced perfusion, and other consequences of sleep-disordered breathing found in obstructive sleep apnea, heart failure (HF), and congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), appears in areas that serve multiple functions, including emotional drives to breathe, and involve systems that serve affective, cardiovascular, and breathing roles. The damage, assessed with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures, shows tissue loss or water content and diffusion changes indicative of injury, and impaired axonal integrity between structures; damage is preferentially unilateral. Functional MRI responses in affected areas also are time- or amplitude- distorted to ventilatory or autonomic challenges. Among the structures injured are the insular, cingulate, and ventral medial prefrontal cortices, as well as cerebellar deep nuclei and cortex, anterior hypothalamus, raphé, ventrolateral medulla, basal ganglia and, in CCHS, the locus coeruleus. Raphé and locus coeruleus injury may modify serotonergic and adrenergic modulation of upper airway and arousal characteristics. Since both axons and gray matter show injury, the consequences to function, especially to autonomic, cognitive, and mood regulation, are major. Several affected rostral sites, including the insular and cingulate cortices and hippocampus, mediate aspects of dyspnea, especially in CCHS, while others, including the anterior cingulate and thalamus, participate in initiation of inspiration after central breathing pauses, and the medullary injury can impair baroreflex and breathing control. The ancillary injury associated with sleep-disordered breathing to central structures can elicit multiple other distortions in cardiovascular, cognitive, and emotional functions in addition to effects on breathing regulation. PMID:24746053
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Modelling brain activations and connectivity of pain modulated by having a loved one nearby
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tamam, Sofina; Ahmad, Asma Hayati; Kamil, Wan Ahmad
2018-06-01
This study is to model the connectivity between activated areas in the brain associated with pain responses in the presence and absence of a loved one. We used Th:YAG laser targeted onto the dorsum of the right hand of 17 Malay-female participants (mean age 20.59; SD 2.85 years) in two conditions: (1) in the absence of a loved one in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) room (Alone condition), and (2) in the presence of a loved one (Support condition). The laser-induced pain stimuli were delivered according to an fMRI paradigm utilising blocked design comprising 15 blocks of activity and 15 blocks of rest. Brain activations and connectivity were analysed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM), dynamic causal modelling (DCM) and Bayesian model selection (BMS) analyses. Individual responses to pain were found to be divided into two categories: (1) Love Hurts (participants who reported more pain in the presence of a loved one) involved activations in thalamus (THA), parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) and hippocampus (HIP); and (2) Love Heals (participants who reported less pain in the presence of a loved one) involved activations in all parts of cingulate cortex. BMS showed that Love Heals could be represented by a cortical network involving the area of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in the intrinsic connectivity of ACC → PCC → MCC and ACC → MCC. There was no optimal model to explain the increase in pain threshold when accompanied by the loved one in Love Hurts. The present study reveals a new possible cortical network for the reduction of pain by having a loved one nearby.
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Color-word matching stroop task: separating interference and response conflict.
Zysset, S; Müller, K; Lohmann, G; von Cramon , D Y
2001-01-01
The Stroop interference task requires a person to respond to a specific dimension of a stimulus while suppressing a competing stimulus dimension. Previous PET and fMRI studies using the Color Stroop paradigm have shown increased activity in the "cognitive division" of the cingulate cortex. In our fMRI study with nine subjects, we used a Color-Word Matching Stroop task. A frontoparietal network, including structures in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the frontopolar region, the intraparietal sulcus, as well as the lateral occipitotemporal gyrus, was activated when contrasting the incongruent vs the neutral condition. However, no substantial activation in either the right or left hemisphere of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was detected. In accordance with a series of recent articles, we argue that the ACC is not specifically involved in interference processes. The ACC seems rather involved in motor preparation processes which were controlled in the present Color-Word Matching Stroop task. We argue that the region around the banks of the inferior frontal sulcus is required to solve interference problems, a concept which can also be seen as a component of task set management. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.
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Xiuwen, Yang; Hongchen, Liu; Ke, Li; Zhen, Jin; Gang, Liu
2014-12-01
We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of noxious coldness and non-noxious warmth on the magnitude of cerebral cortex activation during intraoral stimulation with water. Six male and female subjects were subjected to whole-brain fMRI during the phasic delivery of non-noxious hot (23 °C) and no- xious cold (4 °C) water intraoral stimulation. A block-design blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI scan covering the entire brain was also carried out. The activated cortical areas were as follows: left pre-/post-central gyrus, insula/operculum, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), midbrain red nucleus, and thalamus. The activated cortical areas under cold condition were as follows: left occipital lobe, premotor cortex/Brodmann area (BA) 6, right motor language area BA44, lingual gyrus, parietal lobule (BA7, 40), and primary somatosensory cortex S I. Comparisons of the regional cerebral blood flow response magnitude were made among stereotactically concordant brain regions that showed significant responses under the two conditions of this study. Compared with non-noxious warmth, more regions were activated in noxious coldness, and the magnitude of activation in areas produced after non-noxious warm stimulation significantly increased. However, ACC only significantly increased the magnitude of activation under noxious coldness stimulation. Results suggested that a similar network of regions was activated common to the perception of pain and no-pain produced by either non-noxious warmth or noxious coldness stimulation. Non-noxious warmth also activated more brain regions and significantly increased the response magnitude of cerebral-cortex activation compared with noxious coldness. Noxious coldness stimulation further significantly increased the magnitude of activation in ACC areas compared with noxious warmth.
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Cognitive Reserve in Healthy Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Studies.
Colangeli, Stefano; Boccia, Maddalena; Verde, Paola; Guariglia, Paola; Bianchini, Filippo; Piccardi, Laura
2016-08-01
Cognitive reserve (CR) has been defined as the ability to optimize or maximize performance through differential recruitment of brain networks. In the present study, we aimed at providing evidence for a consistent brain network underpinning CR in healthy and pathological aging. To pursue this aim, we performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis of 17 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies on CR proxies in healthy aging, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We found that different brain areas were associated with CR proxies in healthy and pathological aging. A wide network of areas, including medial and lateral frontal areas, that is, anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as precuneus, was associated with proxies of CR in healthy elderly patients. The CR proxies in patients with AD and amnesic-MCI were associated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex. These results were discussed hypothesizing the existence of possible compensatory mechanisms in healthy and pathological aging. © The Author(s) 2016.
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Beyond Broca's and Wernicke's Areas: A New Perspective on the Neurobiology of Language.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Lem, Lawrence
1992-01-01
Proposes a neurobiological model in which a greater number of brain structures than previously indicated are involved in language functions, with particular reference to second language learning. The study examines three areas of the brain rarely associated with language: the anterior cingulate gyrus, the prefrontal cortex, and the basal temporal…
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Gauvin, Hanna S; De Baene, Wouter; Brass, Marcel; Hartsuiker, Robert J
2016-02-01
To minimize the number of errors in speech, and thereby facilitate communication, speech is monitored before articulation. It is, however, unclear at which level during speech production monitoring takes place, and what mechanisms are used to detect and correct errors. The present study investigated whether internal verbal monitoring takes place through the speech perception system, as proposed by perception-based theories of speech monitoring, or whether mechanisms independent of perception are applied, as proposed by production-based theories of speech monitoring. With the use of fMRI during a tongue twister task we observed that error detection in internal speech during noise-masked overt speech production and error detection in speech perception both recruit the same neural network, which includes pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), anterior insula (AI), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Although production and perception recruit similar areas, as proposed by perception-based accounts, we did not find activation in superior temporal areas (which are typically associated with speech perception) during internal speech monitoring in speech production as hypothesized by these accounts. On the contrary, results are highly compatible with a domain general approach to speech monitoring, by which internal speech monitoring takes place through detection of conflict between response options, which is subsequently resolved by a domain general executive center (e.g., the ACC). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Guerrero Arenas, Coral; Hidalgo Tobón, Silvia S; Dies Suarez, Pilar; Barragán Pérez, Eduardo; Castro Sierra, Eduardo; García, Julio; de Celis Alonso, Benito
2016-04-01
Early childhood is known to be a period when cortical plasticity phenomena are at a maximum. Music is a stimulus known to modulate these mechanisms. On the other hand, neurological impairments like blindness are also known to affect cortical plasticity. Here, we address how tonal and atonal musical stimuli are processed in control and blind young children. We aimed to understand the differences between the two groups when processing this physiological information. Atonal stimuli produced larger activations in cerebellum, fusiform, and temporal lobe structures than tonal. In contrast, tonal stimuli induced larger frontal lobe representations than atonal. Control participants presented large activations in cerebellum, fusiform, and temporal lobe. A correlation/connectivity study showed that the blind group incorporated larger amounts of perceptual information (somatosensory and motor) into tonal processing through the function of the anterior prefrontal cortex (APC). They also used the visual cortex in conjunction with the Wernicke's area to process this information. In contrast, controls processed sound with perceptual stimuli from auditory cortex structures (including Wernicke's area). In this case, information was processed through the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex and not the APC. The orbitofrontal cortex also played a key role for atonal interpretation in this group. Wernicke's area, known to be involved in speech, was heavily involved for both groups and all stimuli. The two groups presented clear differences in strategies for music processing, with very different recruitment of brain regions.
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Neural network of cognitive emotion regulation — An ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis
Kohn, N.; Eickhoff, S.B.; Scheller, M.; Laird, A.R.; Fox, P.T.; Habel, U.
2016-01-01
Cognitive regulation of emotions is a fundamental prerequisite for intact social functioning which impacts on both well being and psychopathology. The neural underpinnings of this process have been studied intensively in recent years, without, however, a general consensus. We here quantitatively summarize the published literature on cognitive emotion regulation using activation likelihood estimation in fMRI and PET (23 studies/479 subjects). In addition, we assessed the particular functional contribution of identified regions and their interactions using quantitative functional inference and meta-analytic connectivity modeling, respectively. In doing so, we developed a model for the core brain network involved in emotion regulation of emotional reactivity. According to this, the superior temporal gyrus, angular gyrus and (pre) supplementary motor area should be involved in execution of regulation initiated by frontal areas. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may be related to regulation of cognitive processes such as attention, while the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex may not necessarily reflect the regulatory process per se, but signals salience and therefore the need to regulate. We also identified a cluster in the anterior middle cingulate cortex as a region, which is anatomically and functionally in an ideal position to influence behavior and subcortical structures related to affect generation. Hence this area may play a central, integrative role in emotion regulation. By focusing on regions commonly active across multiple studies, this proposed model should provide important a priori information for the assessment of dysregulated emotion regulation in psychiatric disorders. PMID:24220041
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Brain activity and connectivity changes in response to glucose ingestion.
van Opstal, A M; Hafkemeijer, A; van den Berg-Huysmans, A A; Hoeksma, M; Blonk, C; Pijl, H; Rombouts, S A R B; van der Grond, J
2018-05-27
The regulatory role of the brain in directing eating behavior becomes increasingly recognized. Although many areas in the brain have been found to respond to food cues, very little data is available after actual caloric intake. The aim of this study was to determine normal whole brain functional responses to ingestion of glucose after an overnight fast. Twenty-five normal weight, adult males underwent functional MRI on two separate visits. In a single-blind randomized study setup, participants received either glucose solution (50 g/300 ml of water) or plain water. We studied changes in Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal, voxel-based connectivity by Eigenvector Centrality Mapping, and functional network connectivity. Ingestion of glucose led to increased centrality in the thalamus and to decreases in BOLD signal in various brain areas. Decreases in connectivity in the sensory-motor and dorsal visual stream networks were found. Ingestion of water resulted in increased centrality across the brain, and increases in connectivity in the medial and lateral visual cortex network. Increased BOLD intensity was found in the intracalcarine and cingulate cortex. Our data show that ingestion of glucose leads to decreased activity and connectivity in brain areas and networks linked to energy seeking and satiation. In contrast, drinking plain water leads to increased connectivity probably associated with continued food seeking and unfulfilled reward. Trail registration: This study combines data of two studies registered at clinicaltrails.gov under numbers NCT03202342 and NCT03247114.
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Brattico, Elvira; Bogert, Brigitte; Alluri, Vinoo; Tervaniemi, Mari; Eerola, Tuomas; Jacobsen, Thomas
2015-01-01
Emotion-related areas of the brain, such as the medial frontal cortices, amygdala, and striatum, are activated during listening to sad or happy music as well as during listening to pleasurable music. Indeed, in music, like in other arts, sad and happy emotions might co-exist and be distinct from emotions of pleasure or enjoyment. Here we aimed at discerning the neural correlates of sadness or happiness in music as opposed those related to musical enjoyment. We further investigated whether musical expertise modulates the neural activity during affective listening of music. To these aims, 13 musicians and 16 non-musicians brought to the lab their most liked and disliked musical pieces with a happy and sad connotation. Based on a listening test, we selected the most representative 18 sec excerpts of the emotions of interest for each individual participant. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings were obtained while subjects listened to and rated the excerpts. The cortico-thalamo-striatal reward circuit and motor areas were more active during liked than disliked music, whereas only the auditory cortex and the right amygdala were more active for disliked over liked music. These results discern the brain structures responsible for the perception of sad and happy emotions in music from those related to musical enjoyment. We also obtained novel evidence for functional differences in the limbic system associated with musical expertise, by showing enhanced liking-related activity in fronto-insular and cingulate areas in musicians.
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Brattico, Elvira; Bogert, Brigitte; Alluri, Vinoo; Tervaniemi, Mari; Eerola, Tuomas; Jacobsen, Thomas
2016-01-01
Emotion-related areas of the brain, such as the medial frontal cortices, amygdala, and striatum, are activated during listening to sad or happy music as well as during listening to pleasurable music. Indeed, in music, like in other arts, sad and happy emotions might co-exist and be distinct from emotions of pleasure or enjoyment. Here we aimed at discerning the neural correlates of sadness or happiness in music as opposed those related to musical enjoyment. We further investigated whether musical expertise modulates the neural activity during affective listening of music. To these aims, 13 musicians and 16 non-musicians brought to the lab their most liked and disliked musical pieces with a happy and sad connotation. Based on a listening test, we selected the most representative 18 sec excerpts of the emotions of interest for each individual participant. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings were obtained while subjects listened to and rated the excerpts. The cortico-thalamo-striatal reward circuit and motor areas were more active during liked than disliked music, whereas only the auditory cortex and the right amygdala were more active for disliked over liked music. These results discern the brain structures responsible for the perception of sad and happy emotions in music from those related to musical enjoyment. We also obtained novel evidence for functional differences in the limbic system associated with musical expertise, by showing enhanced liking-related activity in fronto-insular and cingulate areas in musicians. PMID:26778996
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Feasibility of using fMRI to study mothers responding to infant cries.
Lorberbaum, J P; Newman, J D; Dubno, J R; Horwitz, A R; Nahas, Z; Teneback, C C; Bloomer, C W; Bohning, D E; Vincent, D; Johnson, M R; Emmanuel, N; Brawman-Mintzer, O; Book, S W; Lydiard, R B; Ballenger, J C; George, M S
1999-01-01
While parenting is a universal human behavior, its neuroanatomic basis is currently unknown. Animal data suggest that the cingulate may play an important function in mammalian parenting behavior. For example, in rodents cingulate lesions impair maternal behavior. Here, in an attempt to understand the brain basis of human maternal behavior, we had mothers listen to recorded infant cries and white noise control sounds while they underwent functional MRI (fMRI) of the brain. We hypothesized that mothers would show significantly greater cingulate activity during the cries compared to the control sounds. Of 7 subjects scanned, 4 had fMRI data suitable for analysis. When fMRI data were averaged for these 4 subjects, the anterior cingulate and right medial prefrontal cortex were the only brain regions showing statistically increased activity with the cries compared to white noise control sounds (cluster analysis with one-tailed z-map threshold of P < 0.001 and spatial extent threshold of P < 0.05). These results demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to study brain activity in mothers listening to infant cries and that the anterior cingulate may be involved in mothers listening to crying babies. We are currently replicating this study in a larger group of mothers. Future work in this area may help (1) unravel the functional neuroanatomy of the parent-infant bond and (2) examine whether markers of this bond, such as maternal brain response to infant crying, can predict maternal style (i.e., child neglect), offspring temperament, or offspring depression or anxiety.
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Knight, Emily J; Testini, Paola; Min, Hoon-Ki; Gibson, William S; Gorny, Krzysztof R; Favazza, Christopher P; Felmlee, Joel P; Kim, Inyong; Welker, Kirk M; Clayton, Daniel A; Klassen, Bryan T; Chang, Su-youne; Lee, Kendall H
2015-06-01
To test the hypothesis suggested by previous studies that subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with Parkinson disease would affect the activity of motor and nonmotor networks, we applied intraoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to patients receiving DBS. Ten patients receiving STN DBS for Parkinson disease underwent intraoperative 1.5-T fMRI during high-frequency stimulation delivered via an external pulse generator. The study was conducted between January 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014. We observed blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes (false discovery rate <0.001) in the motor circuitry (including the primary motor, premotor, and supplementary motor cortices; thalamus; pedunculopontine nucleus; and cerebellum) and in the limbic circuitry (including the cingulate and insular cortices). Activation of the motor network was observed also after applying a Bonferroni correction (P<.001) to the data set, suggesting that across patients, BOLD changes in the motor circuitry are more consistent compared with those occurring in the nonmotor network. These findings support the modulatory role of STN DBS on the activity of motor and nonmotor networks and suggest complex mechanisms as the basis of the efficacy of this treatment modality. Furthermore, these results suggest that across patients, BOLD changes in the motor circuitry are more consistent than those in the nonmotor network. With further studies combining the use of real-time intraoperative fMRI with clinical outcomes in patients treated with DBS, functional imaging techniques have the potential not only to elucidate the mechanisms of DBS functioning but also to guide and assist in the surgical treatment of patients affected by movement and neuropsychiatric disorders. clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01809613. Copyright © 2015 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Brewer, Judson A.; Worhunsky, Patrick D.; Gray, Jeremy R.; Tang, Yi-Yuan; Weber, Jochen; Kober, Hedy
2011-01-01
Many philosophical and contemplative traditions teach that “living in the moment” increases happiness. However, the default mode of humans appears to be that of mind-wandering, which correlates with unhappiness, and with activation in a network of brain areas associated with self-referential processing. We investigated brain activity in experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls as they performed several different meditations (Concentration, Loving-Kindness, Choiceless Awareness). We found that the main nodes of the default-mode network (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) were relatively deactivated in experienced meditators across all meditation types. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed stronger coupling in experienced meditators between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (regions previously implicated in self-monitoring and cognitive control), both at baseline and during meditation. Our findings demonstrate differences in the default-mode network that are consistent with decreased mind-wandering. As such, these provide a unique understanding of possible neural mechanisms of meditation. PMID:22114193
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Lopez-Garcia, Pilar; Cristobal-Huerta, Alexandra; Young Espinoza, Leslie; Molero, Patricio; Ortuño Sanchez-Pedreño, Felipe; Hernández-Tamames, Juan Antonio
2016-11-03
Context processing deficits have been shown to be present in chronic and first episode schizophrenia patients and in their relatives. This cognitive process is linked to frontal functioning and is highly dependent on dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) enzyme plays a prominent role in regulating dopamine levels in PFC. Genotypic variations in the functional polymorphism Val(158)Met COMT appear to have an impact in dopamine signaling in the PFC of healthy subjects and schizophrenia patients. We aimed to explore the effect of the Val(158)Met COMT polymorphism on brain activation during the performance of a context processing task in healthy subjects, schizophrenia spectrum patients and their healthy relatives. 56 participants performed the Dot Probe Expectancy task (DPX) during the fMRI session. Subjects were genotyped and only the Val and Met homozygotes participated in the study. Schizophrenia spectrum patients and their relatives showed worse performance on context processing measures than healthy control subjects. The Val allele was associated with more context processing errors in healthy controls and in relatives compared to patients. There was a greater recruitment of frontal areas (supplementary motor area/cingulate gyrus) during context processing in patients relative to healthy controls. Met homozygotes subjects activated more frontal areas than Val homozygotes subjects. The Val(158)Met COMT polymorphism influences context processing and on its underlying brain activation, showing less recruitment of frontal areas in the subjects with the genotype associated to lower dopamine availability in PFC. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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Zazen meditation and no-task resting EEG compared with LORETA intracortical source localization.
Faber, Pascal L; Lehmann, Dietrich; Gianotti, Lorena R R; Milz, Patricia; Pascual-Marqui, Roberto D; Held, Marlene; Kochi, Kieko
2015-02-01
Meditation is a self-induced and willfully initiated practice that alters the state of consciousness. The meditation practice of Zazen, like many other meditation practices, aims at disregarding intrusive thoughts while controlling body posture. It is an open monitoring meditation characterized by detached moment-to-moment awareness and reduced conceptual thinking and self-reference. Which brain areas differ in electric activity during Zazen compared to task-free resting? Since scalp electroencephalography (EEG) waveforms are reference-dependent, conclusions about the localization of active brain areas are ambiguous. Computing intracerebral source models from the scalp EEG data solves this problem. In the present study, we applied source modeling using low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) to 58-channel scalp EEG data recorded from 15 experienced Zen meditators during Zazen and no-task resting. Zazen compared to no-task resting showed increased alpha-1 and alpha-2 frequency activity in an exclusively right-lateralized cluster extending from prefrontal areas including the insula to parts of the somatosensory and motor cortices and temporal areas. Zazen also showed decreased alpha and beta-2 activity in the left angular gyrus and decreased beta-1 and beta-2 activity in a large bilateral posterior cluster comprising the visual cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex and the parietal cortex. The results include parts of the default mode network and suggest enhanced automatic memory and emotion processing, reduced conceptual thinking and self-reference on a less judgmental, i.e., more detached moment-to-moment basis during Zazen compared to no-task resting.
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hof, P. R.; Vogt, B. A.; Bouras, C.; Morrison, J. H.; Bloom, F. E. (Principal Investigator)
1997-01-01
In recent years, the existence of visual variants of Alzheimer's disease characterized by atypical clinical presentation at onset has been increasingly recognized. In many of these cases post-mortem neuropathological assessment revealed that correlations could be established between clinical symptoms and the distribution of neurodegenerative lesions. We have analyzed a series of Alzheimer's disease patients presenting with prominent visual symptomatology as a cardinal sign of the disease. In these cases, a shift in the distribution of pathological lesions was observed such that the primary visual areas and certain visual association areas within the occipito-parieto-temporal junction and posterior cingulate cortex had very high densities of lesions, whereas the prefrontal cortex had fewer lesions than usually observed in Alzheimer's disease. Previous quantitative analyses have demonstrated that in Alzheimer's disease, primary sensory and motor cortical areas are less damaged than the multimodal association areas of the frontal and temporal lobes, as indicated by the laminar and regional distribution patterns of neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. The distribution of pathological lesions in the cerebral cortex of Alzheimer's disease cases with visual symptomatology revealed that specific visual association pathways were disrupted, whereas these particular connections are likely to be affected to a less severe degree in the more common form of Alzheimer's disease. These data suggest that in some cases with visual variants of Alzheimer's disease, the neurological symptomatology may be related to the loss of certain components of the cortical visual pathways, as reflected by the particular distribution of the neuropathological markers of the disease.
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Holschneider, Daniel P.; Wang, Zhuo; Pang, Raina D.
2014-01-01
Rodent cortical midline structures (CMS) are involved in emotional, cognitive and attentional processes. Tract tracing has revealed complex patterns of structural connectivity demonstrating connectivity-based integration and segregation for the prelimbic, cingulate area 1, retrosplenial dysgranular cortices dorsally, and infralimbic, cingulate area 2, and retrosplenial granular cortices ventrally. Understanding of CMS functional connectivity (FC) remains more limited. Here we present the first subregion-level FC analysis of the mouse CMS, and assess whether fear results in state-dependent FC changes analogous to what has been reported in humans. Brain mapping using [14C]-iodoantipyrine was performed in mice during auditory-cued fear conditioned recall and in controls. Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) was analyzed in 3-D images reconstructed from brain autoradiographs. Regions-of-interest were selected along the CMS anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes. In controls, pairwise correlation and graph theoretical analyses showed strong FC within each CMS structure, strong FC along the dorsal-ventral axis, with segregation of anterior from posterior structures. Seed correlation showed FC of anterior regions to limbic/paralimbic areas, and FC of posterior regions to sensory areas–findings consistent with functional segregation noted in humans. Fear recall increased FC between the cingulate and retrosplenial cortices, but decreased FC between dorsal and ventral structures. In agreement with reports in humans, fear recall broadened FC of anterior structures to the amygdala and to somatosensory areas, suggesting integration and processing of both limbic and sensory information. Organizational principles learned from animal models at the mesoscopic level (brain regions and pathways) will not only critically inform future work at the microscopic (single neurons and synapses) level, but also have translational value to advance our understanding of human brain architecture. PMID:24966831
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The neural organization of perception in chess experts.
Krawczyk, Daniel C; Boggan, Amy L; McClelland, M Michelle; Bartlett, James C
2011-07-20
The human visual system responds to expertise, and it has been suggested that regions that process faces also process other objects of expertise including chess boards by experts. We tested whether chess and face processing overlap in brain activity using fMRI. Chess experts and novices exhibited face selective areas, but these regions showed no selectivity to chess configurations relative to other stimuli. We next compared neural responses to chess and to scrambled chess displays to isolate areas relevant to expertise. Areas within the posterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex, and right temporal cortex were active in this comparison in experts over novices. We also compared chess and face responses within the posterior cingulate and found this area responsive to chess only in experts. These findings indicate that the configurations in chess are not strongly processed by face-selective regions that are selective for faces in individuals who have expertise in both domains. Further, the area most consistently involved in chess did not show overlap with faces. Overall, these results suggest that expert visual processing may be similar at the level of recognition, but need not show the same neural correlates. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Trait impulsivity components correlate differently with proactive and reactive control
Huang, Shihua; Zhu, Zude; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Yu; Zhen, Shuangju
2017-01-01
The relationship between impulsivity and cognitive control is still unknown. We hypothesized that trait impulsivity would differentially correlate with specific cognitive control processes. Trait impulsivity was measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, which assesses motor, attention, and non-planning impulsiveness components. Cognitive control was measured by a hybrid-designed Stroop task, which distinguishes proactive and reactive control. Thirty-three participants performed the Stroop task while they were scanned by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Proactive and reactive control involved increased activity in the fronto-parietal network, and brain activity was associated with impulsivity scores. Specifically, higher motor impulsiveness was associated with a larger proactive control effect in the inferior parietal lobule and a smaller reactive control effect in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate contex. Higher attention impulsivity was associated with a smaller proactive control effect in the right DLPFC. Such a correlation pattern suggests that impulsivity trait components are attributable to different cognitive control subsystems. PMID:28423021
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EMDR therapy for PTSD after motor vehicle accidents: meta-analytic evidence for specific treatment
Boccia, Maddalena; Piccardi, Laura; Cordellieri, Pierluigi; Guariglia, Cecilia; Giannini, Anna Maria
2015-01-01
Motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims may suffer both acute and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). With PTSD affecting social, interpersonal and occupational functioning, clinicians as well as the National Institute of Health are very interested in identifying the most effective psychological treatment to reduce PTSD. From research findings, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is considered as one of the effective treatment of PTSD. In this paper, we present the results of a meta-analysis of fMRI studies on PTSD after MVA through activation likelihood estimation. We found that PTSD following MVA is characterized by neural modifications in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a cerebral structure involved in fear-conditioning mechanisms. Basing on previous findings in both humans and animals, which demonstrate that desensitization techniques and extinction protocols act on the limbic system, the effectiveness of EMDR and of cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) may be related to the fact that during these therapies the ACC is stimulated by desensitization. PMID:25954183
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Trait impulsivity components correlate differently with proactive and reactive control.
Huang, Shihua; Zhu, Zude; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Yu; Zhen, Shuangju
2017-01-01
The relationship between impulsivity and cognitive control is still unknown. We hypothesized that trait impulsivity would differentially correlate with specific cognitive control processes. Trait impulsivity was measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, which assesses motor, attention, and non-planning impulsiveness components. Cognitive control was measured by a hybrid-designed Stroop task, which distinguishes proactive and reactive control. Thirty-three participants performed the Stroop task while they were scanned by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Proactive and reactive control involved increased activity in the fronto-parietal network, and brain activity was associated with impulsivity scores. Specifically, higher motor impulsiveness was associated with a larger proactive control effect in the inferior parietal lobule and a smaller reactive control effect in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate contex. Higher attention impulsivity was associated with a smaller proactive control effect in the right DLPFC. Such a correlation pattern suggests that impulsivity trait components are attributable to different cognitive control subsystems.
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Quidé, Y; O'Reilly, N; Watkeys, O J; Carr, V J; Green, M J
2018-07-01
Childhood trauma is a risk factor for psychosis. Deficits in response inhibition are common to psychosis and trauma-exposed populations, and associated brain functions may be affected by trauma exposure in psychotic disorders. We aimed to identify the influence of trauma-exposure on brain activation and functional connectivity during a response inhibition task. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain function within regions-of-interest [left and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right supplementary motor area, right inferior parietal lobule and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex], during the performance of a Go/No-Go Flanker task, in 112 clinical cases with psychotic disorders and 53 healthy controls (HCs). Among the participants, 71 clinical cases and 21 HCs reported significant levels of childhood trauma exposure, while 41 clinical cases and 32 HCs did not. In the absence of effects on response inhibition performance, childhood trauma exposure was associated with increased activation in the left IFG, and increased connectivity between the left IFG seed region and the cerebellum and calcarine sulcus, in both cases and healthy individuals. There was no main effect of psychosis, and no trauma-by-psychosis interaction for any other region-of-interest. Within the clinical sample, the effects of trauma-exposure on the left IFG activation were mediated by symptom severity. Trauma-related increases in activation of the left IFG were not associated with performance differences, or dependent on clinical diagnostic status; increased IFG functionality may represent a compensatory (overactivation) mechanism required to exert adequate inhibitory control of the motor response.
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Sensory modality of smoking cues modulates neural cue reactivity.
Yalachkov, Yavor; Kaiser, Jochen; Görres, Andreas; Seehaus, Arne; Naumer, Marcus J
2013-01-01
Behavioral experiments have demonstrated that the sensory modality of presentation modulates drug cue reactivity. The present study on nicotine addiction tested whether neural responses to smoking cues are modulated by the sensory modality of stimulus presentation. We measured brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 15 smokers and 15 nonsmokers while they viewed images of smoking paraphernalia and control objects and while they touched the same objects without seeing them. Haptically presented, smoking-related stimuli induced more pronounced neural cue reactivity than visual cues in the left dorsal striatum in smokers compared to nonsmokers. The severity of nicotine dependence correlated positively with the preference for haptically explored smoking cues in the left inferior parietal lobule/somatosensory cortex, right fusiform gyrus/inferior temporal cortex/cerebellum, hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and supplementary motor area. These observations are in line with the hypothesized role of the dorsal striatum for the expression of drug habits and the well-established concept of drug-related automatized schemata, since haptic perception is more closely linked to the corresponding object-specific action pattern than visual perception. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that with the growing severity of nicotine dependence, brain regions involved in object perception, memory, self-processing, and motor control exhibit an increasing preference for haptic over visual smoking cues. This difference was not found for control stimuli. Considering the sensory modality of the presented cues could serve to develop more reliable fMRI-specific biomarkers, more ecologically valid experimental designs, and more effective cue-exposure therapies of addiction.
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Sneider, Jennifer Tropp; Sava, Simona; Rogowska, Jadwiga; Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah A
2011-10-01
The hippocampus plays a significant role in spatial memory processing, with sex differences being prominent on various spatial tasks. This study examined sex differences in healthy adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in areas implicated in spatial processing during navigation of a virtual analogue of the Morris water-maze. There were three conditions: learning, hidden, and visible control. There were no significant differences in performance measures. However, sex differences were found in regional brain activation during learning in the right hippocampus, right parahippocampal gyrus, and the cingulate cortex. During the hidden condition, the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate cortex were activated in both men and women. Additional brain areas involved in spatial processing may be recruited in women when learning information about the environment, by utilizing external cues (landmarks) more than do men, contributing to the observed sex differences in brain activation.
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Zhu, Chun-Min; Ma, Ye; Xie, Lei; Huang, Jin-Zhuang; Sun, Zong-Bo; Duan, Shou-Xing; Lin, Zhi-Rong; Yin, Jing-Jing; Le, Hong-Bo; Sun, Dan-Miao; Xu, Wen-Can; Ma, Shu-Hua
2017-02-01
Using ethology and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore mild cognitive dysfunction and spatial working memory (WM) impairment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without overt neuropsychiatric symptoms (non-NPSLE) and to study whether any clinical biomarkers could serve as predictors of brain dysfunction in this disease. Eighteen non-NPSLE patients and 18 matched subjects were all tested using the Montreal cognitive assessment scale test and scanned using blood-oxygen-level dependent fMRI while performing the n-back task to investigate the activation intensity of some cognition-related areas. Ethology results showed that non-NPSLE patients had mild cognitive dysfunction and memory dysfunction (p < 0.05). The fMRI scan confirmed a neural network consisting of bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), premotor area, parietal lobe, and supplementary motor area (SMA)/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) that was activated during the n-back task, with right hemisphere dominance. However, only the right SMA/ACC showed a load effect in the non-NPSLE group; the activation intensity of most WM-related brain areas for the non-NPSLE group was lower than for the control group under 3 memory loads. Further, we found that the activation intensity of some cognition-related areas, including the bilateral caudate nucleus/insula and hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus were lower than the control group under the memory loads. An inverse correlation existed between individual activation intensity and disease duration. Non-NPSLE-related brain damage with right DLPFC-posterior parietal lobe and parahippocampal gyrus default network causes impairment of spatial WM and mild cognitive dysfunction. Patients with longer disease duration would be expected to exhibit increased central nervous system damage.
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Huang, Ran-Ran; Jia, Bao-Hui; Xie, Lei; Ma, Shu-Hua; Yin, Jing-Jing; Sun, Zong-Bo; Le, Hong-Bo; Xu, Wen-Can; Huang, Jin-Zhuang; Luo, Dong-Xue
2016-01-01
To explore mild cognitive dysfunction and/or spatial working memory impairment in patients with primary onset middle-age type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM] using ethology (behavior tests) and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI). Eighteen primary onset T2DM patients and 18 matched subjects with normal blood glucose levels were all tested using the Montreal cognitive assessment scale test, the Wechsler Memory Scale Chinese-revised test, and scanned using BOLD-fMRI (1.5T, EPI sequence) while performing the n-back task to find the activation intensity of some cognition-related areas. The ethology results showed that T2DM patients had a mild cognitive impairment and memory dysfunction (P < 0.05). The fMRI scan identified a neural network consisting of bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), bilateral premotor area (PreMA), bilateral parietal lobe (PA), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) / supplementary motor area (SMA) that was activated during the n-back task, with right hemisphere dominance. However, only the right PA and ACC/SMA showed a load effect via quantitative analysis in the T2DM group; the activation intensity of most working memory-related brain areas for the T2DM group were lower than for the control group under three memory loads. Furthermore, we found that the activation intensity of some cognition-related areas, including the right insular lobe, left caudate nucleus, and bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus were lower than the control group under the memory loads. Diabetes-related brain damage of primary onset middle-age T2DM patients with right DLPFC-posterior parietal lobe and parahippocampal gyrus default network causes impairment of spatial working memory and mild cognitive dysfunction. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Song, Jae-Jin; Vanneste, Sven; Lazard, Diane S; Van de Heyning, Paul; Park, Joo Hyun; Oh, Seung Ha; De Ridder, Dirk
2015-05-01
Previous positron emission tomography (PET) studies have shown that various cortical areas are activated to process speech signal in cochlear implant (CI) users. Nonetheless, differences in task dimension among studies and low statistical power preclude from understanding sound processing mechanism in CI users. Hence, we performed activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of PET studies in CI users and normal hearing (NH) controls to compare the two groups. Eight studies (58 CI subjects/92 peak coordinates; 45 NH subjects/40 peak coordinates) were included and analyzed, retrieving areas significantly activated by lexical and nonlexical stimuli. For lexical and nonlexical stimuli, both groups showed activations in the components of the dual-stream model such as bilateral superior temporal gyrus/sulcus, middle temporal gyrus, left posterior inferior frontal gyrus, and left insula. However, CI users displayed additional unique activation patterns by lexical and nonlexical stimuli. That is, for the lexical stimuli, significant activations were observed in areas comprising salience network (SN), also known as the intrinsic alertness network, such as the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), left insula, and right supplementary motor area in the CI user group. Also, for the nonlexical stimuli, CI users activated areas comprising SN such as the right insula and left dACC. Previous episodic observations on lexical stimuli processing using the dual auditory stream in CI users were reconfirmed in this study. However, this study also suggests that dual-stream auditory processing in CI users may need supports from the SN. In other words, CI users need to pay extra attention to cope with degraded auditory signal provided by the implant. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Age Differences in Prefrontal Surface Area and Thickness in Middle Aged to Older Adults.
Dotson, Vonetta M; Szymkowicz, Sarah M; Sozda, Christopher N; Kirton, Joshua W; Green, Mackenzie L; O'Shea, Andrew; McLaren, Molly E; Anton, Stephen D; Manini, Todd M; Woods, Adam J
2015-01-01
Age is associated with reductions in surface area and cortical thickness, particularly in prefrontal regions. There is also evidence of greater thickness in some regions at older ages. Non-linear age effects in some studies suggest that age may continue to impact brain structure in later decades of life, but relatively few studies have examined the impact of age on brain structure within middle-aged to older adults. We investigated age differences in prefrontal surface area and cortical thickness in healthy adults between the ages of 51 and 81 years. Participants received a structural 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scan. Based on a priori hypotheses, primary analyses focused on surface area and cortical thickness in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex. We also performed exploratory vertex-wise analyses of surface area and cortical thickness across the entire cortex. We found that older age was associated with smaller surface area in the dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices but greater cortical thickness in the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. Vertex-wise analyses revealed smaller surface area in primarily frontal regions at older ages, but no age effects were found for cortical thickness. Results suggest age is associated with reduced surface area but greater cortical thickness in prefrontal regions during later decades of life, and highlight the differential effects age has on regional surface area and cortical thickness.
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Janssen, Tieme W P; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; van Mourik, Rosa; Geladé, Katleen; Maras, Athanasios; Oosterlaan, Jaap
2018-05-01
Deficits in response inhibition figure prominently in models of ADHD; however, attentional deficiencies may better explain previous findings of impaired response inhibition in ADHD. We tested this hypothesis at the neurophysiological level. Dense array ERPs (event-related potentials) were obtained for 46 children with ADHD and 51 controls using the stop-signal task (SST). Early and late components were compared between groups. N2 and P3 components were localized with LAURA distributed linear inverse solution. A success-related N1 modulation was only apparent in the ADHD group. N2 and P3 amplitudes were reduced in ADHD. During the successful inhibition N2, the ADHD group showed reduced activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), supplementary motor area (SMA), and right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), and during failed inhibition in the rIFG. During the successful inhibition P3, reduced activation was found in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and SMA. Impairments in the ventral attention network contribute to the psychopathology of ADHD and challenge the dominant view that ADHD is underpinned by impaired inhibitory control.
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Guo, Taomei; Liu, Hongyan; Misra, Maya; Kroll, Judith F.
2011-01-01
The current study examined the neural correlates associated with local and global inhibitory processes used by bilinguals to resolve interference between competing responses. Two groups of participants completed both blocked and mixed picture naming tasks while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One group first named a set of pictures in L1, and then named the same pictures in L2. The other group first named pictures in L2, and then in L1. After the blocked naming tasks, both groups performed a mixed language naming task (i.e., naming pictures in either language according to a cue). The comparison between the blocked and mixed naming tasks, collapsed across groups, was defined as the local switching effect, while the comparison between blocked naming in each language was defined as the global switching effect. Distinct patterns of neural activation were found for local inhibition as compared to global inhibition in bilingual word production. Specifically, the results suggest that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the supplementary motor area (SMA) play important roles in local inhibition, while the dorsal left frontal gyrus and parietal cortex are important for global inhibition. PMID:21440072
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Wang, Lubin; Zou, Feng; Shao, Yongcong; Ye, Enmao; Jin, Xiao; Tan, Shuwen; Hu, Dewen; Yang, Zheng
2014-12-01
The default mode network (DMN) plays an important role in the physiopathology of schizophrenia. Previous studies have suggested that the cerebellum participates in higher-order cognitive networks such as the DMN. However, the specific contribution of the cerebellum to the DMN abnormalities in schizophrenia has yet to be established. In this study, we investigated cerebellar functional connectivity differences between 60 patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy controls from a public resting-state fMRI database. Seed-based correlation analysis was performed by using seeds from the left Crus I, right Crus I and Lobule IX, which have previously been identified as being involved in the DMN. Our results revealed that, compared with the healthy controls, the patients showed significantly reduced cerebellar functional connectivity with the thalamus and several frontal regions including the middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and supplementary motor area. Moreover, the positive correlations between the strength of frontocerebellar and thalamocerebellar functional connectivity observed in the healthy subjects were diminished in the patients. Our findings implicate disruptive changes of the fronto-thalamo-cerebellar circuit in schizophrenia, which may provide further evidence for the "cognitive dysmetria" concept of schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Fox, Kieran C R; Dixon, Matthew L; Nijeboer, Savannah; Girn, Manesh; Floman, James L; Lifshitz, Michael; Ellamil, Melissa; Sedlmeier, Peter; Christoff, Kalina
2016-06-01
Meditation is a family of mental practices that encompasses a wide array of techniques employing distinctive mental strategies. We systematically reviewed 78 functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) studies of meditation, and used activation likelihood estimation to meta-analyze 257 peak foci from 31 experiments involving 527 participants. We found reliably dissociable patterns of brain activation and deactivation for four common styles of meditation (focused attention, mantra recitation, open monitoring, and compassion/loving-kindness), and suggestive differences for three others (visualization, sense-withdrawal, and non-dual awareness practices). Overall, dissociable activation patterns are congruent with the psychological and behavioral aims of each practice. Some brain areas are recruited consistently across multiple techniques-including insula, pre/supplementary motor cortices, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and frontopolar cortex-but convergence is the exception rather than the rule. A preliminary effect-size meta-analysis found medium effects for both activations (d=0.59) and deactivations (d=-0.74), suggesting potential practical significance. Our meta-analysis supports the neurophysiological dissociability of meditation practices, but also raises many methodological concerns and suggests avenues for future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Morawetz, Carmen; Bode, Stefan; Derntl, Birgit; Heekeren, Hauke R
2017-01-01
Emotion regulation comprises all extrinsic and intrinsic control processes whereby people monitor, evaluate and modify the occurrence, intensity and duration of emotional reactions. Here we sought to quantitatively summarize the existing neuroimaging literature to investigate a) whether different emotion regulation strategies are based on different or the same neural networks; b) which brain regions in particular support the up- and down-regulation of emotions, respectively; and c) to which degree the neural networks realising emotion regulation depend on the stimulus material used to elicit emotions. The left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), the anterior insula and the supplementary motor area were consistently activated independent of the regulation strategy. VLPFC and posterior cingulate cortex were the main regions consistently found to be recruited during the up-regulation as well as the down-regulation of emotion. The down-regulation compared to the up-regulation of emotions was associated with more right-lateralized activity while up-regulating emotions more strongly modulated activity in the ventral striatum. Finally, the process of emotion regulation appeared to be unaffected by stimulus material. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Acting on social exclusion: neural correlates of punishment and forgiveness of excluders
Crone, Eveline A.; Güroğlu, Berna
2015-01-01
This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural correlates of punishment and forgiveness of initiators of social exclusion (i.e. ‘excluders’). Participants divided money in a modified Dictator Game between themselves and people who previously either included or excluded them during a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball). Participants selectively punished the excluders by decreasing their outcomes; even when this required participants to give up monetary rewards. Punishment of excluders was associated with increased activation in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and bilateral anterior insula. Costly punishment was accompanied by higher activity in the pre-SMA compared with punishment that resulted in gains or was non-costly. Refraining from punishment (i.e. forgiveness) was associated with self-reported perspective-taking and increased activation in the bilateral temporoparietal junction, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings show that social exclusion can result in punishment as well as forgiveness of excluders and that separable neural networks implicated in social cognition and cognitive control are recruited when people choose either to punish or to forgive those who excluded them. PMID:24652858
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Acting on social exclusion: neural correlates of punishment and forgiveness of excluders.
Will, Geert-Jan; Crone, Eveline A; Güroğlu, Berna
2015-02-01
This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural correlates of punishment and forgiveness of initiators of social exclusion (i.e. 'excluders'). Participants divided money in a modified Dictator Game between themselves and people who previously either included or excluded them during a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball). Participants selectively punished the excluders by decreasing their outcomes; even when this required participants to give up monetary rewards. Punishment of excluders was associated with increased activation in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and bilateral anterior insula. Costly punishment was accompanied by higher activity in the pre-SMA compared with punishment that resulted in gains or was non-costly. Refraining from punishment (i.e. forgiveness) was associated with self-reported perspective-taking and increased activation in the bilateral temporoparietal junction, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings show that social exclusion can result in punishment as well as forgiveness of excluders and that separable neural networks implicated in social cognition and cognitive control are recruited when people choose either to punish or to forgive those who excluded them. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Distributed affective space represents multiple emotion categories across the human brain
Saarimäki, Heini; Ejtehadian, Lara Farzaneh; Jääskeläinen, Iiro P; Vuilleumier, Patrik; Sams, Mikko; Nummenmaa, Lauri
2018-01-01
Abstract The functional organization of human emotion systems as well as their neuroanatomical basis and segregation in the brain remains unresolved. Here, we used pattern classification and hierarchical clustering to characterize the organization of a wide array of emotion categories in the human brain. We induced 14 emotions (6 ‘basic’, e.g. fear and anger; and 8 ‘non-basic’, e.g. shame and gratitude) and a neutral state using guided mental imagery while participants' brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twelve out of 14 emotions could be reliably classified from the haemodynamic signals. All emotions engaged a multitude of brain areas, primarily in midline cortices including anterior and posterior cingulate gyri and precuneus, in subcortical regions, and in motor regions including cerebellum and premotor cortex. Similarity of subjective emotional experiences was associated with similarity of the corresponding neural activation patterns. We conclude that different basic and non-basic emotions have distinguishable neural bases characterized by specific, distributed activation patterns in widespread cortical and subcortical circuits. Regionally differentiated engagement of these circuits defines the unique neural activity pattern and the corresponding subjective feeling associated with each emotion. PMID:29618125
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Chaim, Tiffany M.; Zhang, Tianhao; Zanetti, Marcus V.; da Silva, Maria Aparecida; Louzã, Mário R.; Doshi, Jimit; Serpa, Mauricio H.; Duran, Fabio L. S.; Caetano, Sheila C.; Davatzikos, Christos; Busatto, Geraldo F.
2014-01-01
Background Attention-Deficit/Hiperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent disorder, but its neuroanatomical circuitry is still relatively understudied, especially in the adult population. The few morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies available to date have found heterogeneous results. This may be at least partly attributable to some well-known technical limitations of the conventional voxel-based methods usually employed to analyze such neuroimaging data. Moreover, there is a great paucity of imaging studies of adult ADHD to date that have excluded patients with history of use of stimulant medication. Methods A newly validated method named optimally-discriminative voxel-based analysis (ODVBA) was applied to multimodal (structural and DTI) MRI data acquired from 22 treatment-naïve ADHD adults and 19 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). Results Regarding DTI data, we found higher fractional anisotropy in ADHD relative to HC encompassing the white matter (WM) of the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal left gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, bilateral cingulate gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus; reductions in trace (a measure of diffusivity) in ADHD relative to HC were also found in fronto-striatal-parieto-occipital circuits, including the right superior frontal gyrus and bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus and bilateral cingulate gyrus, as well as the left body and right splenium of the corpus callosum, right superior corona radiata, and right superior longitudinal and fronto-occipital fasciculi. Volumetric abnormalities in ADHD subjects were found only at a trend level of significance, including reduced gray matter (GM) in the right angular gyrus, and increased GM in the right supplementary motor area and superior frontal gyrus. Conclusions Our results suggest that adult ADHD is associated with neuroanatomical abnormalities mainly affecting the WM microstructure in fronto-parieto-temporal circuits that have been implicated in cognitive, emotional and visuomotor processes. PMID:25310815
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Antagonism of Sigma-1 Receptors Blocks Compulsive-Like Eating
Cottone, Pietro; Wang, Xiaofan; Park, Jin Won; Valenza, Marta; Blasio, Angelo; Kwak, Jina; Iyer, Malliga R; Steardo, Luca; Rice, Kenner C; Hayashi, Teruo; Sabino, Valentina
2012-01-01
Binge eating disorder is an addiction-like disorder characterized by episodes of rapid and excessive food consumption within discrete periods of time which occur compulsively despite negative consequences. This study was aimed at determining whether antagonism of Sigma-1 receptors (Sig-1Rs) blocked compulsive-like binge eating. We trained male wistar rats to obtain a sugary, highly palatable diet (Palatable group) or a regular chow diet (Chow control group), for 1 h a day under fixed ratio 1 operant conditioning. Following intake stabilization, we evaluated the effects of the selective Sig-1R antagonist BD-1063 on food responding. Using a light/dark conflict test, we also tested whether BD-1063 could block the time spent and the food eaten in an aversive, open compartment, where the palatable diet was offered. Furthermore, we measured Sig-1R mRNA and protein expression in several brain areas of the two groups, 24 h after the last binge session. Palatable rats rapidly developed binge-like eating, escalating the 1 h intake by four times, and doubling the eating rate and the regularity of food responding, compared to Chow rats. BD-1063 dose-dependently reduced binge-like eating and the regularity of food responding, and blocked the increased eating rate in Palatable rats. In the light/dark conflict test, BD-1063 antagonized the increased time spent in the aversive compartment and the increased intake of the palatable diet, without affecting motor activity. Finally, Palatable rats showed reduced Sig-1R mRNA expression in prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, and a two-fold increase in Sig-1R protein expression in anterior cingulate cortex compared to control Chow rats. These findings suggest that the Sig-1R system may contribute to the neurobiological adaptations driving compulsive-like eating, opening new avenues of investigation towards pharmacologically treating binge eating disorder. PMID:22713906
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From Vivaldi to Beatles and back: predicting lateralized brain responses to music.
Alluri, Vinoo; Toiviainen, Petri; Lund, Torben E; Wallentin, Mikkel; Vuust, Peter; Nandi, Asoke K; Ristaniemi, Tapani; Brattico, Elvira
2013-12-01
We aimed at predicting the temporal evolution of brain activity in naturalistic music listening conditions using a combination of neuroimaging and acoustic feature extraction. Participants were scanned using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while listening to two musical medleys, including pieces from various genres with and without lyrics. Regression models were built to predict voxel-wise brain activations which were then tested in a cross-validation setting in order to evaluate the robustness of the hence created models across stimuli. To further assess the generalizability of the models we extended the cross-validation procedure by including another dataset, which comprised continuous fMRI responses of musically trained participants to an Argentinean tango. Individual models for the two musical medleys revealed that activations in several areas in the brain belonging to the auditory, limbic, and motor regions could be predicted. Notably, activations in the medial orbitofrontal region and the anterior cingulate cortex, relevant for self-referential appraisal and aesthetic judgments, could be predicted successfully. Cross-validation across musical stimuli and participant pools helped identify a region of the right superior temporal gyrus, encompassing the planum polare and the Heschl's gyrus, as the core structure that processed complex acoustic features of musical pieces from various genres, with or without lyrics. Models based on purely instrumental music were able to predict activation in the bilateral auditory cortices, parietal, somatosensory, and left hemispheric primary and supplementary motor areas. The presence of lyrics on the other hand weakened the prediction of activations in the left superior temporal gyrus. Our results suggest spontaneous emotion-related processing during naturalistic listening to music and provide supportive evidence for the hemispheric specialization for categorical sounds with realistic stimuli. We herewith introduce a powerful means to predict brain responses to music, speech, or soundscapes across a large variety of contexts. © 2013.
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Clemens, Benjamin; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail; Sack, Alexander T; Sack, Alexander; Heinecke, Armin; Willmes, Klaus; Sturm, Walter
2011-01-01
Clinical observations and neuroimaging data revealed a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal-thalamic-brainstem network for intrinsic alertness, and additional left fronto-parietal activity during phasic alertness. The primary objective of this fMRI study was to map the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness as precisely as possible in healthy participants, using a novel assessment paradigm already employed in clinical settings. Both the paradigm and the experimental design were optimized to specifically assess intrinsic alertness, while at the same time controlling for sensory-motor processing. The present results suggest that the processing of intrinsic alertness is accompanied by increased activity within the brainstem, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, right insula, and right parietal cortex. Additionally, we found increased activation in the left hemisphere around the middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), the insula, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Our results further suggest that rather minute aspects of the experimental design may induce aspects of phasic alertness, which in turn might lead to additional brain activation in left-frontal areas not normally involved in intrinsic alertness. Accordingly, left BA 9 activation may be related to co-activation of the phasic alertness network due to the switch between rest and task conditions functioning as an external warning cue triggering the phasic alertness network. Furthermore, activation of the intrinsic alertness network during fixation blocks due to enhanced expectancy shortly before the switch to the task block might, when subtracted from the task block, lead to diminished activation in the typical right hemisphere intrinsic alertness network. Thus, we cautiously suggest that--as a methodological artifact--left frontal activations might show up due to phasic alertness involvement and intrinsic alertness activations might be weakened due to contrasting with fixation blocks, when assessing the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness with a block design in fMRI studies.
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Clemens, Benjamin; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail; Sack, Alexander; Heinecke, Armin; Willmes, Klaus; Sturm, Walter
2011-01-01
Clinical observations and neuroimaging data revealed a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal-thalamic-brainstem network for intrinsic alertness, and additional left fronto-parietal activity during phasic alertness. The primary objective of this fMRI study was to map the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness as precisely as possible in healthy participants, using a novel assessment paradigm already employed in clinical settings. Both the paradigm and the experimental design were optimized to specifically assess intrinsic alertness, while at the same time controlling for sensory-motor processing. The present results suggest that the processing of intrinsic alertness is accompanied by increased activity within the brainstem, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, right insula, and right parietal cortex. Additionally, we found increased activation in the left hemisphere around the middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), the insula, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Our results further suggest that rather minute aspects of the experimental design may induce aspects of phasic alertness, which in turn might lead to additional brain activation in left-frontal areas not normally involved in intrinsic alertness. Accordingly, left BA 9 activation may be related to co-activation of the phasic alertness network due to the switch between rest and task conditions functioning as an external warning cue triggering the phasic alertness network. Furthermore, activation of the intrinsic alertness network during fixation blocks due to enhanced expectancy shortly before the switch to the task block might, when subtracted from the task block, lead to diminished activation in the typical right hemisphere intrinsic alertness network. Thus, we cautiously suggest that – as a methodological artifact – left frontal activations might show up due to phasic alertness involvement and intrinsic alertness activations might be weakened due to contrasting with fixation blocks, when assessing the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness with a block design in fMRI studies. PMID:21984928
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Cortical midline involvement in autobiographical memory
Summerfield, Jennifer J.; Hassabis, Demis; Maguire, Eleanor A.
2009-01-01
Recollecting autobiographical memories of personal past experiences is an integral part of our everyday lives and relies on a distributed set of brain regions. Their occurrence externally in the real world (‘realness’) and their self-relevance (‘selfness’) are two defining features of these autobiographical events. Distinguishing between personally experienced events and those that happened to other individuals, and between events that really occurred and those that were mere figments of the imagination, is clearly advantageous, yet the respective neural correlates remain unclear. Here we experimentally manipulated and dissociated realness and selfness during fMRI using a novel paradigm where participants recalled self (autobiographical) and non-self (from a movie or television news clips) events that were either real or previously imagined. Distinct sub-regions within dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, retrosplenial cortex and along the parieto-occipital sulcus preferentially coded for events (real or imagined) involving the self. By contrast, recollection of autobiographical events that really happened in the external world activated different areas within ventromedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, recall of externally experienced real events (self or non-self) was associated with increased activity in areas of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Taken together our results permitted a functional deconstruction of anterior (medial prefrontal) and posterior (retrosplenial cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus) cortical midline regions widely associated with autobiographical memory but whose roles have hitherto been poorly understood. PMID:18973817
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Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love.
Acevedo, Bianca P; Aron, Arthur; Fisher, Helen E; Brown, Lucy L
2012-02-01
The present study examined the neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten women and 7 men married an average of 21.4 years underwent fMRI while viewing facial images of their partner. Control images included a highly familiar acquaintance; a close, long-term friend; and a low-familiar person. Effects specific to the intensely loved, long-term partner were found in: (i) areas of the dopamine-rich reward and basal ganglia system, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and dorsal striatum, consistent with results from early-stage romantic love studies; and (ii) several regions implicated in maternal attachment, such as the globus pallidus (GP), substantia nigra, Raphe nucleus, thalamus, insular cortex, anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate. Correlations of neural activity in regions of interest with widely used questionnaires showed: (i) VTA and caudate responses correlated with romantic love scores and inclusion of other in the self; (ii) GP responses correlated with friendship-based love scores; (iii) hypothalamus and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with sexual frequency; and (iv) caudate, septum/fornix, posterior cingulate and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with obsession. Overall, results suggest that for some individuals the reward-value associated with a long-term partner may be sustained, similar to new love, but also involves brain systems implicated in attachment and pair-bonding.
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Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love
Aron, Arthur; Fisher, Helen E.; Brown, Lucy L.
2012-01-01
The present study examined the neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten women and 7 men married an average of 21.4 years underwent fMRI while viewing facial images of their partner. Control images included a highly familiar acquaintance; a close, long-term friend; and a low-familiar person. Effects specific to the intensely loved, long-term partner were found in: (i) areas of the dopamine-rich reward and basal ganglia system, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and dorsal striatum, consistent with results from early-stage romantic love studies; and (ii) several regions implicated in maternal attachment, such as the globus pallidus (GP), substantia nigra, Raphe nucleus, thalamus, insular cortex, anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate. Correlations of neural activity in regions of interest with widely used questionnaires showed: (i) VTA and caudate responses correlated with romantic love scores and inclusion of other in the self; (ii) GP responses correlated with friendship-based love scores; (iii) hypothalamus and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with sexual frequency; and (iv) caudate, septum/fornix, posterior cingulate and posterior hippocampus responses correlated with obsession. Overall, results suggest that for some individuals the reward-value associated with a long-term partner may be sustained, similar to new love, but also involves brain systems implicated in attachment and pair-bonding. PMID:21208991
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Grey matter alterations in migraine: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Jia, Zhihua; Yu, Shengyuan
2017-01-01
To summarize and meta-analyze studies on changes in grey matter (GM) in patients with migraine. We aimed to determine whether there are concordant structural changes in the foci, whether structural changes are concordant with functional changes, and provide further understanding of the anatomy and biology of migraine. We searched PubMed and Embase for relevant articles published between January 1985 and November 2015, and examined the references within relevant primary articles. Following exclusion of unsuitable studies, meta-analysis were performed using activation likelihood estimation (ALE). Eight clinical studies were analyzed for structural changes, containing a total of 390 subjects (191 patients and 199 controls). Five functional studies were enrolled, containing 93 patients and 96 controls. ALE showed that the migraineurs had concordant decreases in the GM volume (GMV) in the bilateral inferior frontal gyri, the right precentral gyrus, the left middle frontal gyrus and the left cingulate gyrus. GMV decreases in right claustrum, left cingulated gyrus, right anterior cingulate, amygdala and left parahippocampal gyrus are related to estimated frequency of headache attack . Activation was found in the somatosensory, cingulate, limbic lobe, basal ganglia and midbrain in migraine patients. GM changes in migraineurs may indicate the mechanism of pain processing and associated symptoms. Changes in the frontal gyrus may predispose a person to pain conditions. The limbic regions may be accumulated damage due to the repetitive occurrence of pain-related processes. Increased activation in precentral gyrus and cingulate opposed to GMV decrease might suggest increased effort duo to disorganization of these areas and/or the use of compensatory strategies involving pain processing in migraine. Knowledge of these structural and functional changes may be useful for monitoring disease progression as well as for therapeutic interventions.
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London, Edythe D; Simon, Sara L; Berman, Steven M; Mandelkern, Mark A; Lichtman, Aaron M; Bramen, Jennifer; Shinn, Ann K; Miotto, Karen; Learn, Jennifer; Dong, Yun; Matochik, John A; Kurian, Varughese; Newton, Thomas; Woods, Roger; Rawson, Richard; Ling, Walter
2004-01-01
Mood disturbances in methamphetamine (MA) abusers likely influence drug use, but the neurobiological bases for these problems are poorly understood. To assess regional brain function and its possible relationships with negative affect in newly abstinent MA abusers. Two groups were compared by measures of mood and cerebral glucose metabolism ([18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) during performance of a vigilance task. Participants were recruited from the general community to a research center. Seventeen abstaining (4-7 days) MA abusers (6 women) were compared with 18 control subjects (8 women). Self-reports of depressive symptoms and anxiety were measured, as were global and relative glucose metabolism in the orbitofrontal, cingulate, lateral prefrontal, and insular cortices and the amygdala, striatum, and cerebellum. Abusers of MA provided higher self-ratings of depression and anxiety than control subjects and differed significantly in relative regional glucose metabolism: lower in the anterior cingulate and insula and higher in the lateral orbitofrontal area, middle and posterior cingulate, amygdala, ventral striatum, and cerebellum. In MA abusers, self-reports of depressive symptoms covaried positively with relative glucose metabolism in limbic regions (eg, perigenual anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala) and ratings of state and trait anxiety covaried negatively with relative activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and left insula. Trait anxiety also covaried negatively with relative activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and positively with amygdala activity. Abusers of MA have abnormalities in brain regions implicated in mood disorders. Relationships between relative glucose metabolism in limbic and paralimbic regions and self-reports of depression and anxiety in MA abusers suggest that these regions are involved in affective dysregulation and may be an important target of intervention for MA dependence.
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Iacono, Diego; Resnick, Susan M; O'Brien, Richard; Zonderman, Alan B; An, Yang; Pletnikova, Olga; Rudow, Gay; Crain, Barbara; Troncoso, Juan C
2014-04-01
Older adults with intact cognition before death and substantial Alzheimer disease (AD) lesions at autopsy have been termed "asymptomatic AD subjects" (ASYMAD). We previously reported hypertrophy of neuronal cell bodies, nuclei, and nucleoli in the CA1 of the hippocampus (CA1), anterior cingulate gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and primary visual cortex of ASYMAD versus age-matched Control and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. However, it was unclear whether the neuronal hypertrophy could be attributed to differences in the severity of AD pathology. Here, we performed quantitative analyses of the severity of β-amyloid (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau (tau) loads in the brains of ASYMAD, Control, MCI, and AD subjects (n = 15 per group) from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Tissue sections from CA1, anterior cingulate gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and primary visual cortex were immunostained for Aβ and tau; the respective loads were assessed using unbiased stereology by measuring the fractional areas of immunoreactivity for each protein in each region. The ASYMAD and MCI groups did not differ in Aβ and tau loads. These data confirm that ASYMAD and MCI subjects have comparable loads of insoluble Aβ and tau in regions vulnerable to AD pathology despite divergent cognitive outcomes. These findings imply that cognitive impairment in AD may be caused or modulated by factors other than insoluble forms of Aβ and tau.
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Midcingulate cortex: Structure, connections, homologies, functions and diseases.
Vogt, Brent A
2016-07-01
Midcingulate cortex (MCC) has risen in prominence as human imaging identifies unique structural and functional activity therein and this is the first review of its structure, connections, functions and disease vulnerabilities. The MCC has two divisions (anterior, aMCC and posterior, pMCC) that represent functional units and the cytoarchitecture, connections and neurocytology of each is shown with immunohistochemistry and receptor binding. The MCC is not a division of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the "dorsal ACC" designation is a misnomer as it incorrectly implies that MCC is a division of ACC. Interpretation of findings among species and developing models of human diseases requires detailed comparative studies which is shown here for five species with flat maps and immunohistochemistry (human, monkey, rabbit, rat, mouse). The largest neurons in human cingulate cortex are in layer Vb of area 24 d in pMCC which project to the spinal cord. This area is part of the caudal cingulate premotor area which is involved in multisensory orientation of the head and body in space and neuron responses are tuned for the force and direction of movement. In contrast, the rostral cingulate premotor area in aMCC is involved in action-reinforcement associations and selection based on the amount of reward or aversive properties of a potential movement. The aMCC is activated by nociceptive information from the midline, mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei which evoke fear and mediates nocifensive behaviors. This subregion also has high dopaminergic afferents and high dopamine-1 receptor binding and is engaged in reward processes. Opposing pain/avoidance and reward/approach functions are selected by assessment of potential outcomes and error detection according to feedback-mediated, decision making. Parietal afferents differentially terminate in MCC and provide for multisensory control in an eye- and head-centric manner. Finally, MCC vulnerability in human disease confirms the unique organization of MCC and supports the predictive validity of the MCC dichotomy. Vulnerability of aMCC is shown in chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder with checking symptoms and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and methylphenidate and pain medications selectively impact aMCC. In contrast, pMCC vulnerabilities are for progressive supranuclear palsy, unipolar depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Thus, there is an emerging picture of the organization, functions and diseases of MCC. Future work will take this type of modular analysis to individual areas of which there are at least 10 in MCC. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Does Zoning Winter Recreationists Reduce Recreation Conflict?
Miller, Aubrey D; Vaske, Jerry J; Squires, John R; Olson, Lucretia E; Roberts, Elizabeth K
2017-01-01
Parks and protected area managers use zoning to decrease interpersonal conflict between recreationists. Zoning, or segregation, of recreation-often by non-motorized and motorized activity-is designed to limit physical interaction while providing recreation opportunities to both groups. This article investigated the effectiveness of zoning to reduce recreation conflict in the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area in Colorado, USA. Despite a zoning management system, established groomed travel routes were used by both non-motorized recreationists (backcountry skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers) and motorized recreationists (snowmobilers). We hypothesized that persistent recreation conflict reported by non-motorized recreationists was the result of recreation occurring in areas of mixed non-motorized and motorized use, mostly along groomed routes. We performed a geospatial analysis of recreation [from Global Positioning System (GPS) points, n = 1,233,449] in the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area to identify areas of mixed non-motorized and motorized use. We then surveyed non-motorized recreationists (n = 199) to test whether reported conflict is higher for respondents who traveled in areas of mixed-use, compared with respondents traveling outside areas of mixed-use. Results from the geospatial analysis showed that only 0.7 % of the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area contained recreation from both groups, however that area contained 14.8 % of all non-motorized recreation and 49.1 % of all motorized recreation. Survey analysis results showed higher interpersonal conflict for all five standard conflict variables among non-motorized respondents who traveled in areas of mixed-use, compared with those traveling outside mixed-use areas. Management implications and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of zoning are provided.
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Does Zoning Winter Recreationists Reduce Recreation Conflict?
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Miller, Aubrey D.; Vaske, Jerry J.; Squires, John R.; Olson, Lucretia E.; Roberts, Elizabeth K.
2017-01-01
Parks and protected area managers use zoning to decrease interpersonal conflict between recreationists. Zoning, or segregation, of recreation—often by non-motorized and motorized activity—is designed to limit physical interaction while providing recreation opportunities to both groups. This article investigated the effectiveness of zoning to reduce recreation conflict in the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area in Colorado, USA. Despite a zoning management system, established groomed travel routes were used by both non-motorized recreationists (backcountry skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers) and motorized recreationists (snowmobilers). We hypothesized that persistent recreation conflict reported by non-motorized recreationists was the result of recreation occurring in areas of mixed non-motorized and motorized use, mostly along groomed routes. We performed a geospatial analysis of recreation [from Global Positioning System (GPS) points, n = 1,233,449] in the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area to identify areas of mixed non-motorized and motorized use. We then surveyed non-motorized recreationists ( n = 199) to test whether reported conflict is higher for respondents who traveled in areas of mixed-use, compared with respondents traveling outside areas of mixed-use. Results from the geospatial analysis showed that only 0.7 % of the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area contained recreation from both groups, however that area contained 14.8 % of all non-motorized recreation and 49.1 % of all motorized recreation. Survey analysis results showed higher interpersonal conflict for all five standard conflict variables among non-motorized respondents who traveled in areas of mixed-use, compared with those traveling outside mixed-use areas. Management implications and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of zoning are provided.
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Bissonette, Gregory B; Roesch, Matthew R
2016-01-01
Many brain areas are activated by the possibility and receipt of reward. Are all of these brain areas reporting the same information about reward? Or are these signals related to other functions that accompany reward-guided learning and decision-making? Through carefully controlled behavioral studies, it has been shown that reward-related activity can represent reward expectations related to future outcomes, errors in those expectations, motivation, and signals related to goal- and habit-driven behaviors. These dissociations have been accomplished by manipulating the predictability of positively and negatively valued events. Here, we review single neuron recordings in behaving animals that have addressed this issue. We describe data showing that several brain areas, including orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and basolateral amygdala signal reward prediction. In addition, anterior cingulate, basolateral amygdala, and dopamine neurons also signal errors in reward prediction, but in different ways. For these areas, we will describe how unexpected manipulations of positive and negative value can dissociate signed from unsigned reward prediction errors. All of these signals feed into striatum to modify signals that motivate behavior in ventral striatum and guide responding via associative encoding in dorsolateral striatum.
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Roesch, Matthew R.
2017-01-01
Many brain areas are activated by the possibility and receipt of reward. Are all of these brain areas reporting the same information about reward? Or are these signals related to other functions that accompany reward-guided learning and decision-making? Through carefully controlled behavioral studies, it has been shown that reward-related activity can represent reward expectations related to future outcomes, errors in those expectations, motivation, and signals related to goal- and habit-driven behaviors. These dissociations have been accomplished by manipulating the predictability of positively and negatively valued events. Here, we review single neuron recordings in behaving animals that have addressed this issue. We describe data showing that several brain areas, including orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and basolateral amygdala signal reward prediction. In addition, anterior cingulate, basolateral amygdala, and dopamine neurons also signal errors in reward prediction, but in different ways. For these areas, we will describe how unexpected manipulations of positive and negative value can dissociate signed from unsigned reward prediction errors. All of these signals feed into striatum to modify signals that motivate behavior in ventral striatum and guide responding via associative encoding in dorsolateral striatum. PMID:26276036
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Verdejo-Román, Juan; Bueso-Izquierdo, Natalia; Daugherty, Julia C; Pérez-García, Miguel; Hidalgo-Ruzzante, Natalia
2018-05-31
Poor emotion processing is thought to influence violent behaviors among male batterers in abusive relationships. Nevertheless, little is known about the neural mechanisms of emotion processing in this population. With the objective of better understanding brain structure and its relation to emotion processing in male batterers, the present study compares the cortical grey matter thickness of male batterers to that of other criminals in brain areas related to emotion. Differences among these brain areas were also compared to an emotional perception task. An MRI study and an emotional perception assessment was conducted with 21 male batterers and 20 men convicted of crimes other than Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Results demonstrated that batterers' had significantly thinner cortices in prefrontal (orbitofrontal), midline (anterior and posterior cingulate) and limbic (insula, parahipocampal) brain regions. The thickness of the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex in the batterer group correlated with scores on the emotional perception task. These findings shed light on a neuroscientific approach to analyzing violent behavior perpetrated by male batterers, leading to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in IPV.
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Ahamed, Tosif; Kawanabe, Motoaki; Ishii, Shin; Callan, Daniel E.
2014-01-01
Glider flying is a unique skill that requires pilots to control an aircraft at high speeds in three dimensions and amidst frequent full-body rotations. In the present study, we investigated the neural correlates of flying a glider using voxel-based morphometry. The comparison between gray matter densities of 15 glider pilots and a control group of 15 non-pilots exhibited significant gray matter density increases in left ventral premotor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the supplementary eye field. We posit that the identified regions might be associated with cognitive and motor processes related to flying, such as joystick control, visuo-vestibular interaction, and oculomotor control. PMID:25506339
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Ahamed, Tosif; Kawanabe, Motoaki; Ishii, Shin; Callan, Daniel E
2014-01-01
Glider flying is a unique skill that requires pilots to control an aircraft at high speeds in three dimensions and amidst frequent full-body rotations. In the present study, we investigated the neural correlates of flying a glider using voxel-based morphometry. The comparison between gray matter densities of 15 glider pilots and a control group of 15 non-pilots exhibited significant gray matter density increases in left ventral premotor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the supplementary eye field. We posit that the identified regions might be associated with cognitive and motor processes related to flying, such as joystick control, visuo-vestibular interaction, and oculomotor control.
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[Neuroanatomy of Frontal Association Cortex].
Takada, Masahiko
2016-11-01
The frontal association cortex is composed of the prefrontal cortex and the motor-related areas except the primary motor cortex (i.e., the so-called higher motor areas), and is well-developed in primates, including humans. The prefrontal cortex receives and integrates large bits of diverse information from the parietal, temporal, and occipital association cortical areas (termed the posterior association cortex), and paralimbic association cortical areas. This information is then transmitted to the primary motor cortex via multiple motor-related areas. Given these facts, it is likely that the prefrontal cortex exerts executive functions for behavioral control. The functional input pathways from the posterior and paralimbic association cortical areas to the prefrontal cortex are classified primarily into six groups. Cognitive signals derived from the prefrontal cortex are conveyed to the rostral motor-related areas to transform them into motor signals, which finally enter the primary motor cortex via the caudal motor-related areas. Furthermore, it has been shown that, similar to the primary motor cortex, areas of the frontal association cortex form individual networks (known as "loop circuits") with the basal ganglia and cerebellum via the thalamus, and hence are extensively involved in the expression and control of behavioral actions.
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Hosking, Jay G; Cocker, Paul J; Winstanley, Catharine A
2014-06-01
Personal success often requires the choice to expend greater effort for larger rewards, and deficits in such effortful decision making accompany a number of illnesses including depression, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Animal models have implicated brain regions such as the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in physical effort-based choice, but disentangling the unique contributions of these two regions has proven difficult, and effort demands in industrialized society are predominantly cognitive in nature. Here we utilize the rodent cognitive effort task (rCET), a modification of the five-choice serial reaction-time task, wherein animals can choose to expend greater visuospatial attention to obtain larger sucrose rewards. Temporary inactivation (via baclofen-muscimol) of BLA and ACC showed dissociable effects: BLA inactivation caused hard-working rats to 'slack off' and 'slacker' rats to work harder, whereas ACC inactivation caused all animals to reduce willingness to expend mental effort. Furthermore, BLA inactivation increased the time needed to make choices, whereas ACC inactivation increased motor impulsivity. These data illuminate unique contributions of BLA and ACC to effort-based decision making, and imply overlapping yet distinct circuitry for cognitive vs physical effort. Our understanding of effortful decision making may therefore require expanding our models beyond purely physical costs.
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[MRI for brain structure and function in patients with first-episode panic disorder].
Zhang, Yan; Duan, Lian; Liao, Mei; Yang, Fan; Liu, Jun; Shan, Baoci; Li, Lingjiang
2011-12-01
To determine the brain function and structure in patinets with first-episode panic disorder (PD). All subjects (24 PD patients and 24 healthy subjects) received MRI scan and emotional counting Stroop task during the functional magnetic resonance imaging. Blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometric technology were used to detect the gray matter volume. Compared with the healthy controls, left thalamus, left medial frontal gyrus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, left insula (panic-related words vs. neutral words) lacked activation in PD patients, but the over-activation were found in right brain stem, right occipital lobe/lingual gyrus in PD patients. Compared with the healthy controls, the gray matter volume in the PD patients significantly decreased in the left superior temporal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, left medial occipital gyrus, dorsomedial nucleus of left thalamus and right anterior cingulate gyrus. There was no significantly increased gray matter volume in any brain area in PD patients. PD patients have selective attentional bias in processing threatening information due to the depression and weakening of the frontal cingulated gyrus.
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Resting state electrical brain activity and connectivity in fibromyalgia
Vanneste, Sven; Ost, Jan; Van Havenbergh, Tony; De Ridder, Dirk
2017-01-01
The exact mechanism underlying fibromyalgia is unknown, but increased facilitatory modulation and/or dysfunctional descending inhibitory pathway activity are posited as possible mechanisms contributing to sensitization of the central nervous system. The primary goal of this study is to identify a fibromyalgia neural circuit that can account for these abnormalities in central pain. The second goal is to gain a better understanding of the functional connectivity between the default and the executive attention network (salience network plus dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex) in fibromyalgia. We examine neural activity associated with fibromyalgia (N = 44) and compare these with healthy controls (N = 44) using resting state source localized EEG. Our data support an important role of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex but also suggest that the degree of activation and the degree of integration between different brain areas is important. The inhibition of the connectivity between the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex on the pain inhibitory pathway seems to be limited by decreased functional connectivity with the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Our data highlight the functional dynamics of brain regions integrated in brain networks in fibromyalgia patients. PMID:28650974
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Arterial spin labelling reveals an abnormal cerebral perfusion pattern in Parkinson's disease.
Melzer, Tracy R; Watts, Richard; MacAskill, Michael R; Pearson, John F; Rüeger, Sina; Pitcher, Toni L; Livingston, Leslie; Graham, Charlotte; Keenan, Ross; Shankaranarayanan, Ajit; Alsop, David C; Dalrymple-Alford, John C; Anderson, Tim J
2011-03-01
There is a need for objective imaging markers of Parkinson's disease status and progression. Positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography studies have suggested patterns of abnormal cerebral perfusion in Parkinson's disease as potential functional biomarkers. This study aimed to identify an arterial spin labelling magnetic resonance-derived perfusion network as an accessible, non-invasive alternative. We used pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling to measure cerebral grey matter perfusion in 61 subjects with Parkinson's disease with a range of motor and cognitive impairment, including patients with dementia and 29 age- and sex-matched controls. Principal component analysis was used to derive a Parkinson's disease-related perfusion network via logistic regression. Region of interest analysis of absolute perfusion values revealed that the Parkinson's disease pattern was characterized by decreased perfusion in posterior parieto-occipital cortex, precuneus and cuneus, and middle frontal gyri compared with healthy controls. Perfusion was preserved in globus pallidus, putamen, anterior cingulate and post- and pre-central gyri. Both motor and cognitive statuses were significant factors related to network score. A network approach, supported by arterial spin labelling-derived absolute perfusion values may provide a readily accessible neuroimaging method to characterize and track progression of both motor and cognitive status in Parkinson's disease.
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Ramirez-Mahaluf, Juan P; Perramon, Joan; Otal, Begonya; Villoslada, Pablo; Compte, Albert
2018-06-04
The regulation of cognitive and emotional processes is critical for proper executive functions and social behavior, but its specific mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we addressed this issue by studying with functional magnetic resonance imaging the changes in network topology that underlie competitive interactions between emotional and cognitive networks in healthy participants. Our behavioral paradigm contrasted periods with high emotional and cognitive demands by including a sadness provocation task followed by a spatial working memory task. The sharp contrast between successive tasks was designed to enhance the separability of emotional and cognitive networks and reveal areas that regulate the flow of information between them (hubs). By applying graph analysis methods on functional connectivity between 20 regions of interest in 22 participants we identified two main brain network modules, one dorsal and one ventral, and their hub areas: the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the left medial frontal pole (mFP). These hub areas did not modulate their mutual functional connectivity following sadness but they did so through an interposed area, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC). Our results identify dlPFC and mFP as areas regulating interactions between emotional and cognitive networks, and suggest that their modulation by sadness experience is mediated by sACC.
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Bär, Karl-Jürgen; de la Cruz, Feliberto; Berger, Sandy; Schultz, Carl Christoph; Wagner, Gerd
2015-01-01
Background The dysfunction of specific brain areas might account for the distortion of body image in patients with anorexia nervosa. The present study was designed to reveal brain regions that are abnormal in structure and function in patients with this disorder. We hypothesized, based on brain areas of altered activity in patients with anorexia nervosa and regions involved in pain processing, an interrelation of structural aberrations in the frontoparietal–cingulate network and aberrant functional activation during thermal pain processing in patients with the disorder. Methods We determined pain thresholds outside the MRI scanner in patients with anorexia nervosa and matched healthy controls. Thereafter, thermal pain stimuli were applied during fMRI imaging. Structural analyses with high-resolution structural T1-weighted volumes were performed using voxel-based morphometry and a surface-based approach. Results Twenty-six patients and 26 controls participated in our study, and owing to technical difficulties, 15 participants in each group were included in our fMRI analysis. Structural analyses revealed significantly decreased grey matter volume and cortical thickness in the frontoparietal–cingulate network in patients with anorexia nervosa. We detected an increased blood oxygen level–dependent signal in patients during the painful 45°C condition in the midcingulate and posterior cingulate cortex, which positively correlated with increased pain thresholds. Decreased grey matter and cortical thickness correlated negatively with pain thresholds, symptom severity and illness duration, but not with body mass index. Limitations The lack of a specific quantification of body image distortion is a limitation of our study. Conclusion This study provides further evidence for confined structural and functional brain abnormalities in patients with anorexia nervosa in brain regions that are involved in perception and integration of bodily stimuli. The association of structural and functional deviations with thermal thresholds as well as with clinical characteristics might indicate a common neuronal origin. PMID:25825813
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Bueichekú, Elisenda; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Palomar-García, María-Ángeles; Miró-Padilla, Anna; Parcet, María-Antonia; Ávila, César
2015-10-01
Spatiotemporal activity that emerges spontaneously "at rest" has been proposed to reflect individual a priori biases in cognitive processing. This research focused on testing neurocognitive models of visual attention by studying the functional connectivity (FC) of the superior parietal lobule (SPL), given its central role in establishing priority maps during visual search tasks. Twenty-three human participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session that featured a resting-state scan, followed by a visual search task based on the alphanumeric category effect. As expected, the behavioral results showed longer reaction times and more errors for the within-category (i.e., searching a target letter among letters) than the between-category search (i.e., searching a target letter among numbers). The within-category condition was related to greater activation of the superior and inferior parietal lobules, occipital cortex, inferior frontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and the superior colliculus than the between-category search. The resting-state FC analysis of the SPL revealed a broad network that included connections with the inferotemporal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsal frontal areas like the supplementary motor area and frontal eye field. Noteworthy, the regression analysis revealed that the more efficient participants in the visual search showed stronger FC between the SPL and areas of primary visual cortex (V1) related to the search task. We shed some light on how the SPL establishes a priority map of the environment during visual attention tasks and how FC is a valuable tool for assessing individual differences while performing cognitive tasks.
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Naeser, M A; Baker, E H; Palumbo, C L; Nicholas, M; Alexander, M P; Samaraweera, R; Prete, M N; Hodge, S M; Weissman, T
1998-11-01
To test whether lesion site patterns in patients with chronic, severe aphasia who have no meaningful spontaneous speech are predictive of outcome following treatment with a nonverbal, icon-based computer-assisted visual communication (C-ViC) program. Retrospective study in which computed tomographic scans performed 3 months after onset of stroke and aphasia test scores obtained before C-ViC therapy were reviewed for patients after receiving C-ViC treatment. A neurology department and speech pathology service of a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center and a university aphasia research center. Seventeen patients with stroke and severe aphasia who began treatment with C-ViC from 3 months to 10 years after onset of stroke. Level of ability to use C-ViC on a personal computer to communicate. All patients with bilateral lesions failed to learn C-ViC. For patients with unilateral left hemisphere lesion sites, statistical analyses accurately discriminated between those who could initiate communication with C-ViC from those who were only able to answer directed questions. The critical lesion areas involved temporal lobe structures (Wernicke cortical area and the subcortical temporal isthmus), supraventricular frontal lobe structures (supplementary motor area or cingulate gyrus 24), and the subcortical medial subcallosal fasciculus, deep to the Broca area. Specific lesion sites were also identified for appropriate candidacy for C-ViC. Lesion site patterns on computed tomographic scans are helpful to define candidacy for C-ViC training, and to predict outcome level. A practical method is presented for clinical application of these lesion site results in combination with aphasia test scores.
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Temporal changes in cortical activation during conditioned pain modulation (CPM), a LORETA study.
Moont, Ruth; Crispel, Yonatan; Lev, Rina; Pud, Dorit; Yarnitsky, David
2011-07-01
For most healthy subjects, both subjective pain ratings and pain-evoked potentials are attenuated under conditioned pain modulation (CPM; formerly termed diffuse noxious inhibitory controls, or DNIC). Although essentially spinal-bulbar, this inhibition is under cortical control. This is the first study to observe temporal as well as spatial changes in cortical activations under CPM. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the interplay of areas involved in the perception and processing of pain and those involved in controlling descending inhibition. We examined brief consecutive poststimulus time windows of 50 ms using a method of source-localization from pain evoked potentials, sLORETA. This enabled determination of dynamic changes in localized cortical generators evoked by phasic noxious heat stimuli to the left volar forearm in healthy young males, with and without conditioning hot-water pain to the right hand. We found a CPM effect characterized by an initial increased activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and amygdala at 250-300 ms poststimulus, which was correlated with the extent of psychophysical pain reduction. This was followed by reduced activations in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, supplementary motor area, posterior insula, and anterior cingulate cortex from 400 ms poststimulus. Our findings show that the prefrontal pain-controlling areas of OFC and amygdala increase their activity in parallel with subjective pain reduction under CPM, and that this increased activity occurs prior to reductions in activations of the pain sensory areas. In conclusion, achieving pain inhibition by the CPM process seems to be under control of the OFC and the amygdala. Copyright © 2011 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Visuomotor Dissociation in Cerebral Scaling of Size.
Potgieser, Adriaan R E; de Jong, Bauke M
2016-01-01
Estimating size and distance is crucial in effective visuomotor control. The concept of an internal coordinate system implies that visual and motor size parameters are scaled onto a common template. To dissociate perceptual and motor components in such scaling, we performed an fMRI experiment in which 16 right-handed subjects copied geometric figures while the result of drawing remained out of sight. Either the size of the example figure varied while maintaining a constant size of drawing (visual incongruity) or the size of the examples remained constant while subjects were instructed to make changes in size (motor incongruity). These incongruent were compared to congruent conditions. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8) revealed brain activations related to size incongruity in the dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex, pre-SMA / anterior cingulate and anterior insula, dominant in the right hemisphere. This pattern represented simultaneous use of a 'resized' virtual template and actual picture information requiring spatial working memory, early-stage attention shifting and inhibitory control. Activations were strongest in motor incongruity while right pre-dorsal premotor activation specifically occurred in this condition. Visual incongruity additionally relied on a ventral visual pathway. Left ventral premotor activation occurred in all variably sized drawing while constant visuomotor size, compared to congruent size variation, uniquely activated the lateral occipital cortex additional to superior parietal regions. These results highlight size as a fundamental parameter in both general hand movement and movement guided by objects perceived in the context of surrounding 3D space.
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Numb rats walk - a behavioural and fMRI comparison of mild and moderate spinal cord injury.
Hofstetter, Christoph P; Schweinhardt, Petra; Klason, Tomas; Olson, Lars; Spenger, Christian
2003-12-01
Assessment of sensory function serves as a sensitive measure for predicting the functional outcome following spinal cord injury in patients. However, little is known about loss and recovery of sensory function in rodent spinal cord injury models as most tests of sensory functions rely on behaviour and thus motor function. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate cortical and thalamic BOLD-signal changes in response to limb stimulation following mild or moderate thoracic spinal cord weight drop injury in Sprague-Dawley rats. While there was recovery of close to normal hindlimb motor function as determined by open field locomotor testing following both degrees of injury, recovery of hindlimb sensory function as determined by fMRI and hot plate testing was only seen following mild injury and not following moderate injury. Thus, moderate injury can lead to near normal hindlimb motor function in animals with major sensory deficits. Recovered fMRI signals following mild injury had a partly altered cortical distribution engaging also ipsilateral somatosensory cortex and the cingulate gyrus. Importantly, thoracic spinal cord injury also affected sensory representation of the upper nonaffected limbs. Thus, cortical and thalamic activation in response to forelimb stimulation was significantly increased 16 weeks after spinal cord injury compared to control animals. We conclude that both forelimb and hindlimb cortical sensory representation is altered following thoracic spinal cord injury. Furthermore tests of sensory function that are independent of motor behaviour are needed in rodent spinal cord injury research.
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Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Neural Networks in Young and Older Adults
Martin, Andrew K; Meinzer, Marcus; Lindenberg, Robert; Sieg, Mira M; Nachtigall, Laura; Flöel, Agnes
2017-11-01
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may be a viable tool to improve motor and cognitive function in advanced age. However, although a number of studies have demonstrated improved cognitive performance in older adults, other studies have failed to show restorative effects. The neural effects of beneficial stimulation response in both age groups is lacking. In the current study, tDCS was administered during simultaneous fMRI in 42 healthy young and older participants. Semantic word generation and motor speech baseline tasks were used to investigate behavioral and neural effects of uni- and bihemispheric motor cortex tDCS in a three-way, crossover, sham tDCS controlled design. Independent components analysis assessed differences in task-related activity between the two age groups and tDCS effects at the network level. We also explored whether laterality of language network organization was effected by tDCS. Behaviorally, both active tDCS conditions significantly improved semantic word retrieval performance in young and older adults and were comparable between groups and stimulation conditions. Network-level tDCS effects were identified in the ventral and dorsal anterior cingulate networks in the combined sample during semantic fluency and motor speech tasks. In addition, a shift toward enhanced left laterality was identified in the older adults for both active stimulation conditions. Thus, tDCS results in common network-level modulations and behavioral improvements for both age groups, with an additional effect of increasing left laterality in older adults.
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Cognitive and brain consequences of conflict.
Fan, Jin; Flombaum, Jonathan I; McCandliss, Bruce D; Thomas, Kathleen M; Posner, Michael I
2003-01-01
Tasks involving conflict between stimulus dimensions have been shown to activate dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal areas. It has been proposed that the dorsal anterior cingulate is involved a domain general process of monitoring conflict, while prefrontal areas are involved in resolving conflict. We examine three tasks that all require people to respond based on one stimulus dimension while ignoring another conflicting dimension, but which vary in the source of conflict. One of the tasks uses language stimuli (Stroop effect) and two use nonlanguage spatial conflicts appropriate for children and nonhuman animals. In Experiment 1, 12 participants were studied with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing each of the three tasks. Reaction times for each of the three tasks were significantly longer in the incongruent condition compared with the congruent condition, demonstrating that each task elicits a conflict. By studying the same people in the same session, we test the hypothesis that conflict activates a similar brain network in the three tasks. Significant activations were found in the anterior cingulate and left prefrontal cortex for all three conflict tasks. Within these regions, the conflict component demonstrated evidence for significant common activation across the three tasks, although the peak activation point and spatial extent were not identical. Other areas demonstrated activation unique to each task. Experiments 2-4 provide behavioral evidence indicating considerable independence between conflict operations involved in the tasks. The behavioral and fMRI results taken together seem to argue against a single unified network for processing conflict, but instead support either distinct networks for each conflict task or a single network that monitors conflict with different sites used to resolve the conflict.
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Alcohol Sensitizes Cerebral Responses to the Odors of Alcoholic Drinks: An fMRI Study
Bragulat, Veronique; Dzemidzic, Mario; Talavage, Thomas; Davidson, Dena; O’Connor, Sean J.; Kareken, David A.
2010-01-01
Background Small, priming doses of alcohol enhance desire to drink, and thus play a role in the loss of control of alcohol consumption. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we previously showed that alcoholic drink odors (AO; subjects’ drinks of choice) induce greater nucleus accumbens (NAc) activity than non-appetitive odors (NApO; grass, leather) in subjects at risk for alcoholism. Here we hypothesized that priming exposure to alcohol would enhance responses to AO in the NAc and orbitofrontal cortex in comparison to NApO (grass, leather) and to the appetitive control odors (ApCO) of chocolate and grape. Methods Ten hazardous drinkers (mean age = 22.7; SD = 2.9, average drinks per drinking day = 5.9, SD = 2.3; drinking days/90 days = 50.4, SD = 13.7) were scanned on a 1.5T GE Signa MR scanner during intravenous infusion of lactated Ringer’s or 6% ethanol in lactated Ringer’s that was pharmacokinetically modeled to achieve a constant breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) of 50 mg% throughout imaging. During scanning, subjects sniffed AO, NApO, and ApCO. Results Alcohol infusion enhanced the contrast between AO and NApO in the NAc, and in orbitofrontal, medial frontal, and precuneus/posterior cingulate regions. The contrast between AO and appetitive control odors (ApCO; chocolate and grape) was similarly larger in the orbital, medial frontal, precuneus, and posterior cingulate/retrosplenial areas, with the most robust finding being a potentiated response in the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial area. The orbital region is similar to an area previously shown to manifest satiety-related decreases in activity induced by food cues. Conclusions The results suggest that priming exposure to alcohol renders a limbic network more responsive to alcohol cues, potentially enhancing desire to drink. PMID:18540915
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Kibleur, Astrid; Polosan, Mircea; Favre, Pauline; Rudrauf, David; Bougerol, Thierry; Chabardès, Stéphan; David, Olivier
2017-02-01
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subgenual cingulate gyrus (area CG25) is beneficial in treatment resistant depression. Though the mechanisms of action of Cg25 DBS remain largely unknown, it is commonly believed that Cg25 DBS modulates limbic activity of large networks to achieve thymic regulation of patients. To investigate how emotional attention is influenced by Cg25 DBS, we assessed behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to an emotional Stroop task in 5 patients during ON and OFF stimulation conditions. Using EEG source localization, we found that the main effect of DBS was a reduction of neuronal responses in limbic regions (temporal pole, medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) and in ventral visual areas involved in face processing. In the dynamic causal modeling (DCM) approach, the changes of the evoked response amplitudes are assumed to be due to changes of long range connectivity induced by Cg25 DBS. Here, using a simplified neural mass model that did not take explicitly into account the cytoarchitecture of the considered brain regions, we showed that the remote action of Cg25 DBS could be explained by a reduced top-down effective connectivity of the amygdalo-temporo-polar complex. Overall, our results thus indicate that Cg25 DBS during the emotional Stroop task causes a decrease of top-down limbic influence on the ventral visual stream itself, rather than a modulation of prefrontal cognitive processes only. Tuning down limbic excitability in relation to sensory processing might be one of the biological mechanisms through which Cg25 DBS produces positive clinical outcome in the treatment of resistant depression. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Executive attention impairment in adolescents with schizophrenia who have used cannabis.
Epstein, Katherine A; Kumra, Sanjiv
2014-08-01
Repeated exposure to cannabis in nonpsychotic adolescents is associated with impairments in executive control of attention, similar to those observed in young adults with first-episode schizophrenia. To assess the impact of recurrent exposure to cannabis on cognitive function, this study characterized attention performance in both nonpsychotic adolescents and adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS). The Attention Network Test, a standard procedure that estimates the functional state of neural networks controlling the efficiency of three different attentional behaviors (alerting, orienting, and executive attention), was administered to four groups of participants: (1) adolescents with EOS and comorbid cannabis use disorder (EOS+CUD; n=18), (2) "Pure" schizophrenia (EOS; n=34), (3) "Pure" cannabis use disorder (CUD; n=29), and (4) Healthy controls (HC; n=53). Task performance was examined with a 2×2 design (EOS+ versus EOS- and CUD+ versus CUD-) using multivariate analysis of covariance. Correlative analyses were conducted between executive attention performance and measures of surface area in the right anterior cingulate cortex. A significant EOS×CUD interaction was observed. In the executive attention network, adolescents with EOS+CUD showed reduced efficiency relative to adolescents with pure EOS, whereas no group differences were found between adolescents with pure CUD and HC. Less efficient executive attention was significantly associated with smaller surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex in EOS+CUD. These preliminary data suggest that the presence of CUD has a moderating effect on attentional performance in adolescents with schizophrenia compared to nonpsychotic adolescents. These deficits could have a role in difficulties with self-regulation and predisposition to substance misuse in this patient group. The anatomic substrate of this cognitive deficit may be related to surface area in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Brunzell, Darlene H; McIntosh, J Michael
2012-01-01
Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia have an exceptionally high risk for tobacco dependence. Postmortem studies show that these individuals have significant reductions in α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in several brain areas. Decreased α7-mediated function might not only be linked to schizophrenia but also to increased tobacco consumption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether pharmacological blockade of α7 nAChRs would increase motivation of rats to intravenously self-administer nicotine (NIC) during a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement (PR). Before PR, rats received local infusions of 0, 10, or 20 pmol of a selective α7 nAChR antagonist, α-conotoxin ArIB [V11L,V16D] (ArIB) into the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell or the anterior cingulate cortex, brain areas that contribute to motivation for drug reward. We additionally sought to determine whether local infusion of 0, 10, or 40 nmol of a selective α7 nAChR agonist, PNU 282987, into these brain areas would decrease motivation for NIC use. Infusion of ArIB into the NAc shell and anterior cingulate cortex resulted in a significant increase in active lever pressing, breakpoints, and NIC intake, suggesting that a decrease in α7 nAChR function increases motivation to work for NIC. In contrast, PNU 282987 infusion resulted in reductions in these measures when administered into the NAc shell, but had no effect after administration into the anterior cingulate cortex. These data identify reduction of α7 nAChR function as a potential mechanism for elevated tobacco use in schizophrenia and also identify activation of α7 nAChRs as a potential strategy for tobacco cessation therapy. PMID:22169946
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The Default Mode Network and EEG Regional Spectral Power: A Simultaneous fMRI-EEG Study
Werner, Cornelius J.; Hitz, Konrad; Boers, Frank; Kawohl, Wolfram; Shah, N. Jon
2014-01-01
Electroencephalography (EEG) frequencies have been linked to specific functions as an “electrophysiological signature” of a function. A combination of oscillatory rhythms has also been described for specific functions, with or without predominance of one specific frequency-band. In a simultaneous fMRI-EEG study at 3 T we studied the relationship between the default mode network (DMN) and the power of EEG frequency bands. As a methodological approach, we applied Multivariate Exploratory Linear Optimized Decomposition into Independent Components (MELODIC) and dual regression analysis for fMRI resting state data. EEG power for the alpha, beta, delta and theta-bands were extracted from the structures forming the DMN in a region-of-interest approach by applying Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA). A strong link between the spontaneous BOLD response of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the delta-band extracted from the anterior cingulate cortex was found. A positive correlation between the beta-1 frequency power extracted from the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the spontaneous BOLD response of the right supplementary motor cortex was also established. The beta-2 frequency power extracted from the PCC and the precuneus showed a positive correlation with the BOLD response of the right frontal cortex. Our results support the notion of beta-band activity governing the “status quo” in cognitive and motor setup. The highly significant correlation found between the delta power within the DMN and the parahippocampal gyrus is in line with the association of delta frequencies with memory processes. We assumed “ongoing activity” during “resting state” in bringing events from the past to the mind, in which the parahippocampal gyrus is a relevant structure. Our data demonstrate that spontaneous BOLD fluctuations within the DMN are associated with different EEG-bands and strengthen the conclusion that this network is characterized by a specific electrophysiological signature created by combination of different brain rhythms subserving different putative functions. PMID:24505434
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Tasting calories differentially affects brain activation during hunger and satiety.
van Rijn, Inge; de Graaf, Cees; Smeets, Paul A M
2015-02-15
An important function of eating is ingesting energy. Our objectives were to assess whether oral exposure to caloric and non-caloric stimuli elicits discriminable responses in the brain and to determine in how far these responses are modulated by hunger state and sweetness. Thirty women tasted three stimuli in two motivational states (hunger and satiety) while their brain responses were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a randomized crossover design. Stimuli were solutions of sucralose (sweet, no energy), maltodextrin (non-sweet, energy) and sucralose+maltodextrin (sweet, energy). We found no main effect of energy content and no interaction between energy content and sweetness. However, there was an interaction between hunger state and energy content in the median cingulate (bilaterally), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior insula and thalamus. This indicates that the anterior insula and thalamus, areas in which hunger state and taste of a stimulus are integrated, also integrate hunger state with caloric content of a taste stimulus. Furthermore, in the median cingulate and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, tasting energy resulted in more activation during satiety compared to hunger. This finding indicates that these areas, which are known to be involved in processes that require approach and avoidance, are also involved in guiding ingestive behavior. In conclusion, our results suggest that energy sensing is a hunger state dependent process, in which the median cingulate, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior insula and thalamus play a central role by integrating hunger state with stimulus relevance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Tiger, Mikael; Farde, Lars; Rück, Christian; Varrone, Andrea; Forsberg, Anton; Lindefors, Nils; Halldin, Christer; Lundberg, Johan
2016-07-30
The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) is not fully understood and the diagnosis is largely based on history and clinical examination. So far, several lines of preclinical data and a single imaging study implicate a role for the serotonin1B (5-HT1B) receptor subtype. We sought to study 5-HT1B receptor binding in brain regions of reported relevance in patients with MDD. Subjects were examined at the Karolinska Institutet PET centre using positron emission tomography (PET) and the 5-HT1B receptor selective radioligand [(11)C]AZ10419369. Ten drug-free patients with recurrent MDD and ten control subjects matched for age and sex were examined. The main outcome measure was [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding in brain regions of reported relevance in the pathophysiology of MDD. The [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding potential was significantly lower in the MDD group compared with the healthy control group in the anterior cingulate cortex (20% between-group difference), the subgenual prefrontal cortex (17% between-group difference), and in the hippocampus (32% between-group difference). The low anterior cingulate [(11)C]AZ10419369 binding potential in patients with recurrent MDD positions 5-HT1B receptor binding in this region as a putative biomarker for MDD and corroborate a role of the anterior cingulate cortex and associated areas in the pathophysiology of recurrent MDD. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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Neurophysiological mechanisms of emotion regulation for subtypes of externalizing children.
Stieben, Jim; Lewis, Marc D; Granic, Isabela; Zelazo, Philip David; Segalowitz, Sidney; Pepler, Debra
2007-01-01
Children referred for externalizing behavior problems may not represent a homogeneous population. Our objective was to assess neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that might distinguish subtypes of externalizing children from each other and from their normal age mates. Children with pure externalizing (EXT) problems were compared with children comorbid for externalizing and internalizing (MIXED) problems and with age-matched controls. Only boys were included in the analysis because so few girls were referred for treatment. We used a go/no-go task with a negative emotion induction, and we examined dense-array EEG data together with behavioral measures of performance. We investigated two event-related potential (ERP) components tapping inhibitory control or self-monitoring - the inhibitory N2 and error-related negativity (ERN) - and we constructed source models estimating their cortical generators. The MIXED children's N2s increased in response to the emotion induction, resulting in greater amplitudes than EXT children in the following trial block. ERN amplitudes were greatest for control children and smallest for EXT children with MIXED children in between, but only prior to the emotion induction. These results were paralleled by behavioral differences in response time and performance monitoring. ERP activity was localized to cortical sources suggestive of the dorsal anterior cingulate for control children, posterior cingulate areas for the EXT children, and both posterior cingulate and ventral cingulate/prefrontal regions for the MIXED children. These findings highlight different mechanisms of self-regulation underlying externalizing subtypes and point toward distinct developmental pathways and treatment strategies.
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Effects of distraction on magnetoencephalographic responses ascending through C-fibers in humans.
Qiu, Yunhai; Inui, Koji; Wang, Xiaohong; Nguyen, Binh Thi; Tran, Tuan Diep; Kakigi, Ryusuke
2004-03-01
Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we evaluated the cerebral regions relating to second pain perception ascending through C-fibers and investigated the effect of distraction on each region. Thirteen normal subjects participated in this study. CO2 laser pulses were delivered to the dorsum of the left hand to selectively activate C-fibers. The MEG responses were analyzed using a multi-dipole model. (1) primary somatosensory cortex (SI), and (2) secondary somatosensory cortex (SII)--insula were the main generators for the primary component, 1M, whose mean peak latency was 744 ms. In addition to (1) and (2), (3) cingulate cortex and (4) medial temporal area (MT) were also activated for the subsequent component, 2M, whose mean peak latency was 947 ms. During a mental calculation task (Distraction), all 6 sources were significantly reduced in amplitude, but the SII-insula (P < 0.01) and cingulate cortex (P < 0.001) were more sensitive than the SI (P < 0.05) and MT (P < 0.05). We confirmed that SI in the contralateral hemisphere and SII-insula, cingulate cortex and MT in bilateral hemispheres play a major role in second pain perception, and all sites were much affected by a change of attention, indicating that these regions are related to the cognitive aspect of second pain perception. The SI, SII, cingulate and MT were activated during the C-fiber-related MEG response, and responses in these regions were significantly diminished during mental distraction.
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Han, Doug Hyun; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Renshaw, Perry F.
2015-01-01
Patients with on-line game addiction (POGA) and professional video game players play video games for extended periods of time, but experience very different consequences for their on-line game play. Brain regions consisting of anterior cingulate, thalamus and occpito-temporal areas may increase the likelihood of becoming a pro-gamer or POGA. Twenty POGA, seventeen pro-gamers, and eighteen healthy comparison subjects (HC) were recruited. All magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on a 1.5 Tesla Espree MRI scanner (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany). Voxel-wise comparisons of gray matter volume were performed between the groups using the two-sample t-test with statistical parametric mapping (SPM5). Compared to HC, the POGA group showed increased impulsiveness and perseverative errors, and volume in left thalamus gray matter, but decreased gray matter volume in both inferior temporal gyri, right middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior occipital gyrus, compared with HC. Pro-gamers showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus, but decreased gray matter volume in left middle occipital gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus compared with HC. Additionally, the pro-gamer group showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus and decreased left thalamus gray matter volume compared with the POGA group. The current study suggests that increased gray matter volumes of the left cingulate gyrus in pro-gamers and of the left thalamus in POGA may contribute to the different clinical characteristics of pro-gamers and POGA. PMID:22277302
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Neural activity associated with self-reflection.
Herwig, Uwe; Kaffenberger, Tina; Schell, Caroline; Jäncke, Lutz; Brühl, Annette B
2012-05-24
Self-referential cognitions are important for self-monitoring and self-regulation. Previous studies have addressed the neural correlates of self-referential processes in response to or related to external stimuli. We here investigated brain activity associated with a short, exclusively mental process of self-reflection in the absence of external stimuli or behavioural requirements. Healthy subjects reflected either on themselves, a personally known or an unknown person during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The reflection period was initialized by a cue and followed by photographs of the respective persons (perception of pictures of oneself or the other person). Self-reflection, compared with reflecting on the other persons and to a major part also compared with perceiving photographs of one-self, was associated with more prominent dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal, insular, anterior and posterior cingulate activations. Whereas some of these areas showed activity in the "other"-conditions as well, self-selective characteristics were revealed in right dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex for self-reflection; in anterior cingulate cortex for self-perception and in the left inferior parietal lobe for self-reflection and -perception. Altogether, cingulate, medial and lateral prefrontal, insular and inferior parietal regions show relevance for self-related cognitions, with in part self-specificity in terms of comparison with the known-, unknown- and perception-conditions. Notably, the results are obtained here without behavioural response supporting the reliability of this methodological approach of applying a solely mental intervention. We suggest considering the reported structures when investigating psychopathologically affected self-related processing.
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Luttrell, Andrew; Stillman, Paul E; Hasinski, Adam E; Cunningham, William A
2016-04-01
People's behaviors are often guided by valenced responses to objects in the environment. Beyond positive and negative evaluations, attitudes research has documented the importance of attitude strength--qualities of an attitude that enhance or attenuate its impact and durability. Although neuroscience research has extensively investigated valence, little work exists on other related variables like metacognitive judgments about one's attitudes. It remains unclear, then, whether the various indicators of attitude strength represent a single underlying neural process or whether they reflect independent processes. To examine this, we used functional MRI (fMRI) to identify the neural correlates of attitude strength. Specifically, we focus on ambivalence and certainty, which represent metacognitive judgments that people can make about their evaluations. Although often correlated, prior neuroscience research suggests that these 2 attributes may have distinct neural underpinnings. We investigate this by having participants make evaluative judgments of visually presented words while undergoing fMRI. After scanning, participants rated the degree of ambivalence and certainty they felt regarding their attitudes toward each word. We found that these 2 judgments corresponded to distinct brain regions' activity during the process of evaluation. Ambivalence corresponded to activation in anterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. Certainty, however, corresponded to activation in unique areas of the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex. These results support a model treating ambivalence and certainty as distinct, though related, attitude strength variables, and we discuss implications for both attitudes and neuroscience research. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
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An uncommon case of random fire-setting behavior associated with Todd paralysis: a case report.
Kanehisa, Masayuki; Morinaga, Katsuhiko; Kohno, Hisae; Maruyama, Yoshihiro; Ninomiya, Taiga; Ishitobi, Yoshinobu; Tanaka, Yoshihiro; Tsuru, Jusen; Hanada, Hiroaki; Yoshikawa, Tomoya; Akiyoshi, Jotaro
2012-08-31
The association between fire-setting behavior and psychiatric or medical disorders remains poorly understood. Although a link between fire-setting behavior and various organic brain disorders has been established, associations between fire setting and focal brain lesions have not yet been reported. Here, we describe the case of a 24-year-old first time arsonist who suffered Todd's paralysis prior to the onset of a bizarre and random fire-setting behavior. A case of a 24-year-old man with a sudden onset of a bizarre and random fire-setting behavior is reported. The man, who had been arrested on felony arson charges, complained of difficulties concentrating and of recent memory disturbances with leg weakness. A video-EEG recording demonstrated a close relationship between the focal motor impairment and a clear-cut epileptic ictal discharge involving the bilateral motor cortical areas. The SPECT result was statistically analyzed by comparing with standard SPECT images obtained from our institute (easy Z-score imaging system; eZIS). eZIS revealed hypoperfusion in cingulate cortex, basal ganglia and hyperperfusion in frontal cortex,. A neuropsychological test battery revealed lower than normal scores for executive function, attention, and memory, consistent with frontal lobe dysfunction. The fire-setting behavior and Todd's paralysis, together with an unremarkable performance on tests measuring executive function fifteen months prior, suggested a causal relationship between this organic brain lesion and the fire-setting behavior. The case describes a rare and as yet unreported association between random, impulse-driven fire-setting behavior and damage to the brain and suggests a disconnection of frontal lobe structures as a possible pathogenic mechanism.
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Frontal networks associated with command following after hemorrhagic stroke.
Mikell, Charles B; Banks, Garrett P; Frey, Hans-Peter; Youngerman, Brett E; Nelp, Taylor B; Karas, Patrick J; Chan, Andrew K; Voss, Henning U; Connolly, E Sander; Claassen, Jan
2015-01-01
Level of consciousness is frequently assessed by command-following ability in the clinical setting. However, it is unclear what brain circuits are needed to follow commands. We sought to determine what networks differentiate command following from noncommand following patients after hemorrhagic stroke. Structural MRI, resting-state functional MRI, and electroencephalography were performed on 25 awake and unresponsive patients with acute intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Structural injury was assessed via volumetric T1-weighted MRI analysis. Functional connectivity differences were analyzed against a template of standard resting-state networks. The default mode network (DMN) and the task-positive network were investigated using seed-based functional connectivity. Networks were interrogated by pairwise coherence of electroencephalograph leads in regions of interest defined by functional MRI. Functional imaging of unresponsive patients identified significant differences in 6 of 16 standard resting-state networks. Significant voxels were found in premotor cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, and supplementary motor area. Direct interrogation of the DMN and task-positive network revealed loss of connectivity between the DMN and the orbitofrontal cortex and new connections between the task-positive network and DMN. Coherence between electrodes corresponding to right executive network and visual networks was also decreased in unresponsive patients. Resting-state functional MRI and electroencephalography coherence data support a model in which multiple, chiefly frontal networks are required for command following. Loss of DMN anticorrelation with task-positive network may reflect a loss of inhibitory control of the DMN by motor-executive regions. Frontal networks should thus be a target for future investigations into the mechanism of responsiveness in the intensive care unit environment. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.
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GABA and glutamate levels in occlusal splint-wearing males with possible bruxism.
Dharmadhikari, Shalmali; Romito, Laura M; Dzemidzic, Mario; Dydak, Ulrike; Xu, Jun; Bodkin, Cynthia L; Manchanda, Shalini; Byrd, Kenneth E
2015-07-01
The inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of anxiety behavioural disorders such as panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and is also implicated in the manifestation of tooth-grinding and clenching behaviours generally known as bruxism. In order to test whether the stress-related behaviours of tooth-grinding and clenching share similar underlying mechanisms involving GABA and other metabolites as do anxiety-related behavioural disorders, we performed a Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) study for accurate, in vivo metabolite quantification in anxiety-related brain regions. MRS was performed in the right hippocampus and right thalamus involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis system, together with a motor planning region (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/pre-supplementary motor area) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Eight occlusal splint-wearing men (OCS) with possible tooth-grinding and clenching behaviours and nine male controls (CON) with no such behaviour were studied. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed significant Group×Region interaction for GABA+ (p = 0.001) and glutamate (Glu) (p = 0.031). Between-group post hoc ANOVA showed significantly lower levels of GABA+ (p = 0.003) and higher levels of Glu (p = 0.002) in DLPFC of OCS subjects. These GABA+ and Glu group differences remained significant (GABA+, p = 0.049; Glu, p = 0.039) after the inclusion of anxiety as a covariate. Additionally, GABA and Glu levels in the DLPFC of all subjects were negatively related (Pearson's r = -0.75, p = 0.003). These findings indicate that the oral behaviours of tooth-grinding and clenching, generally known as bruxism, may be associated with disturbances in brain GABAergic and glutamatergic systems. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Alcohol Dose Effects on Brain Circuits During Simulated Driving: An fMRI Study
Meda, Shashwath A.; Calhoun, Vince D.; Astur, Robert S.; Turner, Beth M.; Ruopp, Kathryn; Pearlson, Godfrey D.
2009-01-01
Driving while intoxicated remains a major public health hazard. Driving is a complex task involving simultaneous recruitment of multiple cognitive functions. The investigators studied the neural substrates of driving and their response to different blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a virtual reality driving simulator. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to isolate spatially independent and temporally correlated driving-related brain circuits in 40 healthy, adult moderate social drinkers. Each subject received three individualized, separate single-blind doses of beverage alcohol to produce BACs of 0.05% (moderate), 0.10% (high), or 0% (placebo). 3 T fMRI scanning and continuous behavioral measurement occurred during simulated driving. Brain function was assessed and compared using both ICA and a conventional general linear model (GLM) analysis. ICA results replicated and significantly extended our previous 1.5T study (Calhoun et al. [2004a]: Neuropsychopharmacology 29:2097–2017). GLM analysis revealed significant dose-related functional differences, complementing ICA data. Driving behaviors including opposite white line crossings and mean speed independently demonstrated significant dose-dependent changes. Behavior-based factors also predicted a frontal-basal-temporal circuit to be functionally impaired with alcohol dosage across baseline scaled, good versus poorly performing drivers. We report neural correlates of driving behavior and found dose-related spatio-temporal disruptions in critical driving-associated regions including the superior, middle and orbito frontal gyri, anterior cingulate, primary/supplementary motor areas, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Overall, results suggest that alcohol (especially at high doses) causes significant impairment of both driving behavior and brain functionality related to motor planning and control, goal directedness, error monitoring, and memory. PMID:18571794
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Mapping Dopamine Function in Primates Using Pharmacologic Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Sanchez-Pernaute, Rosario; Brownell, Anna-Liisa; Chen, Yin-Ching Iris; Isacson, Ole
2008-01-01
Dopamine (DA) receptors play a central role in such diverse pathologies as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and drug abuse. We used an amphetamine challenge combined with pharmacologic magnetic resonance imaging (phMRI) to map DA-associated circuitry in nonhuman primates with high sensitivity and spatial resolution. Seven control cynomolgous monkeys and 10 MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine)-treated parkinsonian primates were studied longitudinally using both positron emission tomography (PET) and phMRI. Amphetamine challenge (2.5 mg/kg, i.v.) in control monkeys increased relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in a number of brain regions not described previously, such as parafascicular thalamus, precentral gyrus, and dentate nucleus of the cerebellum. With the high spatial resolution, we were also able to readily identify changes in rCBV in the anterior cingulate, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, caudate (tail and head), putamen, and nucleus accumbens. Amphetamine induced decreases in rCBV in occipital and posterior parietal cortices. Parkinsonian primates had a prominent loss of response to amphetamine, with relative sparing of the nucleus accumbens and parafascicular thalamus. There was a significant correlation between rCBV loss in the substantia nigra and both PET imaging of dopamine transporters and behavioral measures. Monkeys with partial lesions as defined by 2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl) tropane binding to dopamine transporters showed recruitment of premotor and motor cortex after amphetamine stimulus similar to what has been noted in Parkinson's patients during motor tasks. These data indicate that phMRI is a powerful tool for assessment of dynamic changes associated with normal and dysfunctional DA brain circuitry in primates. PMID:15509742
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Rosa, Andreia M; Miranda, Ângela C; Patrício, Miguel; McAlinden, Colm; Silva, Fátima L; Murta, Joaquim N; Castelo-Branco, Miguel
2017-09-01
To investigate the association between dysphotopsia and neural responses in visual and higher-level cortical regions in patients who recently received multifocal intraocular lens (IOL) implants. Cross-sectional study. Thirty patients 3 to 4 weeks after bilateral cataract surgery with diffractive IOL implantation and 15 age- and gender-matched control subjects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed when participants viewed low-contrast grating stimuli. A light source surrounded the stimuli in half of the runs to induce disability glare. Visual acuity, wavefront analysis, Quality of Vision (QoV) questionnaire, and psychophysical assessment were performed. Cortical activity (blood oxygen level dependent [BOLD] signal) in the primary visual cortex and in higher-level brain areas, including the attention network. When viewing low-contrast stimuli under glare, patients showed significant activation of the effort-related attention network in the early postoperative period, involving the frontal, middle frontal, parietal frontal, and postcentral gyrus (multisubject random-effects general linear model (GLM), P < 0.03). In contrast, controls showed only relative deactivation (due to lower visibility) of visual areas (occipital lobe and middle occipital gyrus, P < 0.03). Patients also had relatively stronger recruitment of cortical areas involved in learning (anterior cingulate gyrus), task planning, and solving (caudate body). Patients reporting greater symptoms induced by dysphotic symptoms showed significantly increased activity in several regions in frontoparietal circuits, as well as cingulate gyrus and caudate nucleus (q < 0.05). We found no correlation between QoV questionnaire scores and optical properties (total and higher order aberration, modulation transfer function, and Strehl ratio). This study shows the association between patient-reported subjective difficulties and fMRI outcomes, independent of optical parameters and psychophysical performance. The increased activity of cortical areas dedicated to attention (frontoparietal circuits), to learning and cognitive control (cingulate), and to task goals (caudate) likely represents the beginning of the neuroadaptation process to multifocal IOLs. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Wintermann, Gloria-Beatrice; Donix, Markus; Joraschky, Peter; Gerber, Johannes; Petrowski, Katja
2013-01-01
Patients with Panic Disorder (PD) direct their attention towards potential threat, followed by panic attacks, and increased sweat production. Onés own anxiety sweat odor influences the attentional focus, and discrimination of threat or non-threat. Since olfactory projection areas overlap with neuronal areas of a panic-specific fear network, the present study investigated the neuronal processing of odors in general and of stress-related sweat odors in particular in patients with PD. A sample of 13 patients with PD with/ without agoraphobia and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls underwent an fMRI investigation during olfactory stimulation with their stress-related sweat odors (TSST, ergometry) as well as artificial odors (peach, artificial sweat) as non-fearful non-body odors. The two groups did not differ with respect to their olfactory identification ability. Independent of the kind of odor, the patients with PD showed activations in fronto-cortical areas in contrast to the healthy controls who showed activations in olfaction-related areas such as the amygdalae and the hippocampus. For artificial odors, the patients with PD showed a decreased neuronal activation of the thalamus, the posterior cingulate cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Under the presentation of sweat odor caused by ergometric exercise, the patients with PD showed an increased activation in the superior temporal gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, and the cingulate cortex which was positively correlated with the severity of the psychopathology. For the sweat odor from the anxiety condition, the patients with PD showed an increased activation in the gyrus frontalis inferior, which was positively correlated with the severity of the psychopathology. The results suggest altered neuronal processing of olfactory stimuli in PD. Both artificial odors and stress-related body odors activate specific parts of a fear-network which is associated with an increased severity of the psychopathology.
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Intrinsic signature of essential tremor in the cerebello-frontal network
Popa, Traian; García-Lorenzo, Daniel; Valabregue, Romain; Legrand, André-Pierre; Marais, Lea; Degos, Bertrand; Hubsch, Cecile; Fernández-Vidal, Sara; Bardinet, Eric; Roze, Emmanuel; Lehéricy, Stéphane; Vidailhet, Marie; Meunier, Sabine
2015-01-01
See Raethjen and Muthuraman (doi:10.1093/brain/awv238) for a scientific commentary on this article. Essential tremor is a movement disorder characterized by tremor during voluntary movements, mainly affecting the upper limbs. The cerebellum and its connections to the cortex are known to be involved in essential tremor, but no task-free intrinsic signatures of tremor related to structural cerebellar defects have so far been found in the cortical motor network. Here we used voxel-based morphometry, tractography and resting-state functional MRI at 3 T to compare structural and functional features in 19 patients with essential tremor and homogeneous symptoms in the upper limbs, and 19 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Both structural and functional abnormalities were found in the patients' cerebellum and supplementary motor area. Relative to the healthy controls, the essential tremor patients' cerebellum exhibited less grey matter in lobule VIII and less effective connectivity between each cerebellar cortex and the ipsilateral dentate nucleus. The patient's supplementary motor area exhibited (i) more grey matter; (ii) a lower amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation of the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal; (iii) less effective connectivity between each supplementary motor area and the ipsilateral primary motor hand area, and (iv) a higher probability of connection between supplementary motor area fibres and the spinal cord. Structural and functional changes in the supplementary motor area, but not in the cerebellum, correlated with clinical severity. In addition, changes in the cerebellum and supplementary motor area were interrelated, as shown by a correlation between the lower amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation in the supplementary motor area and grey matter loss in the cerebellum. The structural and functional changes observed in the supplementary motor area might thus be a direct consequence of cerebellar defects: the supplementary motor area would attempt to reduce tremor in the motor output by reducing its communication with M1 hand areas and by directly modulating motor output via its corticospinal projections. PMID:26115677
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Motor cortex hand area and speech: implications for the development of language.
Meister, Ingo Gerrit; Boroojerdi, Babak; Foltys, Henrik; Sparing, Roland; Huber, Walter; Töpper, Rudolf
2003-01-01
Recently a growing body of evidence has suggested that a functional link exists between the hand motor area of the language dominant hemisphere and the regions subserving language processing. We examined the excitability of the hand motor area and the leg motor area during reading aloud and during non-verbal oral movements using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During reading aloud, but not before or afterwards, excitability was increased in the hand motor area of the dominant hemisphere. This reading effect was found to be independent of the duration of speech. No such effect could be found in the contralateral hemisphere. The excitability of the leg area of the motor cortex remained unchanged during reading aloud. The excitability during non-verbal oral movements was slightly increased in both hemispheres. Our results are consistent with previous findings and may indicate a specific functional connection between the hand motor area and the cortical language network.
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Neural Activation during Inhibition Predicts Initiation of Substance Use in Adolescence
Norman, Andria L.; Pulido, Carmen; Squeglia, Lindsay M.; Spadoni, Andrea D.; Paulus, Martin P.; Tapert, Susan F.
2011-01-01
Background Problems inhibiting non-adaptive behaviors have been linked to an increased risk for substance use and other risk taking behaviors in adolescence. This study examines the hypothesis that abnormalities in neural activation during inhibition in early adolescence may predict subsequent substance involvement. Methods Thirty eight adolescents from local area middle schools, ages 12–14, with very limited histories of substance use, underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they performed a go/no-go task of response inhibition and response selection. Adolescents and their parents were then followed annually with interviews covering substance use and other behaviors. Based on follow-up data, youth were classified as transitioning to heavy use of alcohol (TU; n=21), or as healthy controls (CON; n=17). Results At baseline, prior to the onset of use, youth who later transitioned into heavy use of alcohol showed significantly less activation than those who went on to remain non to minimal users throughout adolescence. Activation reductions in TU at baseline were seen on no-go trials in 12 brain regions, including right inferior frontal gyrus, left dorsal and medial frontal areas, bilateral motor cortex, cingulate gyrus, left putamen, bilateral middle temporal gyri, and bilateral inferior parietal lobules (corrected p < .01, each cluster ≥ 32 contiguous voxels). Conclusions These results support the hypothesis that less neural activity during response inhibition demands predicts future involvement with problem behaviors such as alcohol and other substance use. PMID:21782354
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Jin, Chenwang; Zhang, Ting; Cai, Chenxi; Bi, Yanzhi; Li, Yangding; Yu, Dahua; Zhang, Ming; Yuan, Kai
2016-09-01
Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among adolescents has become an important public concern and gained more and more attention internationally. Recent studies focused on IGD and revealed brain abnormalities in the IGD group, especially the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the role of PFC-striatal circuits in pathology of IGD remains unknown. Twenty-five adolescents with IGD and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited in our study. Voxel-based morphometric (VBM) and functional connectivity analysis were employed to investigate the abnormal structural and resting-state properties of several frontal regions in individuals with online gaming addiction. Relative to healthy comparison subjects, IGD subjects showed significant decreased gray matter volume in PFC regions including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the right supplementary motor area (SMA) after controlling for age and gender effects. We chose these regions as the seeding areas for the resting-state analysis and found that IGD subjects showed decreased functional connectivity between several cortical regions and our seeds, including the insula, and temporal and occipital cortices. Moreover, significant decreased functional connectivity between some important subcortical regions, i.e., dorsal striatum, pallidum, and thalamus, and our seeds were found in the IGD group and some of those changes were associated with the severity of IGD. Our results revealed the involvement of several PFC regions and related PFC-striatal circuits in the process of IGD and suggested IGD may share similar neural mechanisms with substance dependence at the circuit level.
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Harris, Alison; Lim, Seung-Lark
2016-07-06
Although physical effort can impose significant costs on decision-making, when and how effort cost information is incorporated into choice remains contested, reflecting a larger debate over the role of sensorimotor networks in specifying behavior. Serial information processing models, in which motor circuits simply implement the output of cognitive systems, hypothesize that effort cost factors into decisions relatively late, via integration with stimulus values into net (combined) value signals in dorsomedial frontal cortex (dmFC). In contrast, ethology-inspired approaches suggest a more active role for the dorsal sensorimotor stream, with effort cost signals emerging rapidly after stimulus onset. Here we investigated the time course of effort cost integration using event-related potentials in hungry human subjects while they made decisions about expending physical effort for appetitive foods. Consistent with the ethological perspective, we found that effort cost was represented from as early as 100-250 ms after stimulus onset, localized to dorsal sensorimotor regions including middle cingulate, somatosensory, and motor/premotor cortices. However, examining the same data time-locked to motor output revealed net value signals combining stimulus value and effort cost approximately -400 ms before response, originating from sensorimotor areas including dmFC, precuneus, and posterior parietal cortex. Granger causal connectivity analysis of the motor effector signal in the time leading to response showed interactions between these sensorimotor regions and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a structure associated with adjusting behavior-response mappings. These results suggest that rapid activation of sensorimotor regions interacts with cognitive valuation systems, producing a net value signal reflecting both physical effort and reward contingencies. Although physical effort imposes a cost on choice, when and how effort cost influences neural correlates of decision-making remains contested. This dispute reflects a larger disagreement between cognitive neuroscience and ethology over the role of sensorimotor systems in behavior: are sensorimotor circuits merely implementing the late-stage output of cognitive systems, or engaged rapidly and interactively from early in decision-making? We find that, although early representation of effort cost is associated with sensorimotor regions, these signals are also integrated with cognitive stimulus value representations in the time leading up to motor response. These data suggest that sensorimotor networks interact dynamically with cognitive systems to guide decision-making, providing a first step toward reconciling differing perspectives on sensorimotor roles in valuation and choice. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/367167-17$15.00/0.
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A network of amygdala connections predict individual differences in trait anxiety.
Greening, Steven G; Mitchell, Derek G V
2015-12-01
In this study we demonstrate that the pattern of an amygdala-centric network contributes to individual differences in trait anxiety. Individual differences in trait anxiety were predicted using maximum likelihood estimates of amygdala structural connectivity to multiple brain targets derived from diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography on 72 participants. The prediction was performed using a stratified sixfold cross validation procedure using a regularized least square regression model. The analysis revealed a reliable network of regions predicting individual differences in trait anxiety. Higher trait anxiety was associated with stronger connections between the amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area implicated in the generation of emotional reactions, and inferior temporal gyrus and paracentral lobule, areas associated with perceptual and sensory processing. In contrast, higher trait anxiety was associated with weaker connections between amygdala and regions implicated in extinction learning such as medial orbitofrontal cortex, and memory encoding and environmental context recognition, including posterior cingulate cortex and parahippocampal gyrus. Thus, trait anxiety is not only associated with reduced amygdala connectivity with prefrontal areas associated with emotion modulation, but also enhanced connectivity with sensory areas. This work provides novel anatomical insight into potential mechanisms behind information processing biases observed in disorders of emotion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Mikell, Charles B.; Youngerman, Brett E.; Liston, Conor; Sisti, Michael B.; Bruce, Jeffrey N.; Small, Scott A.; McKhann, Guy M.
2012-01-01
While a tumour in or abutting primary motor cortex leads to motor weakness, how tumours elsewhere in the frontal or parietal lobes affect functional connectivity in a weak patient is less clear. We hypothesized that diminished functional connectivity in a distributed network of motor centres would correlate with motor weakness in subjects with brain masses. Furthermore, we hypothesized that interhemispheric connections would be most vulnerable to subtle disruptions in functional connectivity. We used task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity to probe motor networks in control subjects and patients with brain tumours (n = 22). Using a control dataset, we developed a method for automated detection of key nodes in the motor network, including the primary motor cortex, supplementary motor area, premotor area and superior parietal lobule, based on the anatomic location of the hand-motor knob in the primary motor cortex. We then calculated functional connectivity between motor network nodes in control subjects, as well as patients with and without brain masses. We used this information to construct weighted, undirected graphs, which were then compared to variables of interest, including performance on a motor task, the grooved pegboard. Strong connectivity was observed within the identified motor networks between all nodes bilaterally, and especially between the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area. Reduced connectivity was observed in subjects with motor weakness versus subjects with normal strength (P < 0.001). This difference was driven mostly by decreases in interhemispheric connectivity between the primary motor cortices (P < 0.05) and between the left primary motor cortex and the right premotor area (P < 0.05), as well as other premotor area connections. In the subjects without motor weakness, however, performance on the grooved pegboard did not relate to interhemispheric connectivity, but rather was inversely correlated with connectivity between the left premotor area and left supplementary motor area, for both the left and the right hands (P < 0.01). Finally, two subjects who experienced severe weakness following surgery for their brain tumours were followed longitudinally, and the subject who recovered showed reconstitution of her motor network at follow-up. The subject who was persistently weak did not reconstitute his motor network. Motor weakness in subjects with brain tumours that do not involve primary motor structures is associated with decreased connectivity within motor functional networks, particularly interhemispheric connections. Motor networks become weaker as the subjects become weaker, and may become strong again during motor recovery. PMID:22408270
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Rosenberg, David R; Macmaster, Frank P; Mirza, Yousha; Smith, Janet M; Easter, Phillip C; Banerjee, S Preeya; Bhandari, Rashmi; Boyd, Courtney; Lynch, Michelle; Rose, Michelle; Ivey, Jennifer; Villafuerte, Rosemond A; Moore, Gregory J; Renshaw, Perry
2005-11-01
Anterior cingulate cortex has been implicated in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). With single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we reported reductions in anterior cingulate glutamatergic concentrations (grouped value of glutamate and glutamine) in 14 pediatric MDD patients versus 14 case-matched healthy control subjects. These changes might reflect a change in glutamate, glutamine, or their combination. Fitting to individually quantify anterior cingulate glutamate and glutamine was performed in these subjects with a new basis set created from data acquired on a 1.5 Tesla General Electric Signa (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wisconsin) magnetic resonance imaging scanner with LCModel (Version 6.1-0; Max-Planck-Institute, Gottingen, Germany). Reduced anterior cingulate glutamate was observed in MDD patients versus control subjects (8.79 +/- 1.68 vs. 11.46 +/- 1.55, respectively, p = .0002; 23% decrease). Anterior cingulate glutamine did not differ significantly between patients with MDD and control subjects. These findings provide confirmatory evidence of anterior cingulate glutamate alterations in pediatric MDD.
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Fregosi, Michela; Rouiller, Eric M.
2018-01-01
The corticotectal projection from cortical motor areas is one of several descending pathways involved in the indirect control of spinal motoneurons. In non-human primates, previous studies reported that cortical projections to the superior colliculus originated from the premotor cortex and the primary motor cortex, whereas no projection originated from the supplementary motor area. The aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the properties of corticotectal projections originating from these three cortical motor areas in intact adult macaques (n=9). The anterograde tracer BDA was injected into one of these cortical areas in each animal. Individual axonal boutons, both en passant and terminaux, were charted and counted in the different layers of the ipsilateral superior colliculus. The data confirmed the presence of strong corticotectal projections from the premotor cortex. A new observation was that strong corticotectal projections were also found to originate from the supplementary motor area (its proper division). The corticotectal projection from the primary motor cortex was quantitatively less strong than that from either the premotor or supplementary motor areas. The corticotectal projection from each motor area was directed mainly to the deep layer of the superior colliculus, although its intermediate layer was also a consistent target of fairly dense terminations. The strong corticotectal projections from non-primary motor areas are in position to influence the preparation and planning of voluntary movements. PMID:28921678
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Intrinsic connections and architectonics of posterior parietal cortex in the rhesus monkey
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Pandya, D.N.; Seltzer, B.
1982-01-10
By means of autoradiographic and ablation-degeneration techniques, the intrinsic cortical connections of the posterior parietal cortex in the rhesus monkey were traced and correlated with a reappraisal of cerebral architectonics. Two major rostral-to-caudal connectional sequences exist. One begins in the dorsal postcentral gyrus (area 2) and proceeds, through architectonic divisions of the superior parietal lobule (areas PE and PEc), to a cortical region on the medial surface of the parietal lobe (area PGm). This area has architectonic features similar to those of the caudal inferior parietal lobule (area PG). The second sequence begins in the ventral post/central gyrus (area 2)more » and passes through the rostral inferior parietal lobule (areas PG and PFG) to reach the caudal inferior parietal lobule (area PG). Both the superior parietal lobule and the rostral inferior parietal lobule also send projections to various other zones located in the parietal opercular region, the intraparietal sulcus, and the caudalmost portion of the cingulate sulcus. Areas PGm and PG, on the other hand, project to each other, to the cingulate region, to the caudalmost portion of the superior temporal gyrus, and to the upper bank of the superior temporal sulcus. Finally, a reciprocal sequence of connections, directed from caudal to rostral, links together many of the above-mentioned parietal zones. With regard to the laminar pattern of termination, the rostral-to-caudal connections are primarily distributed in the form of cortical ''columns'' while the caudal-to-rostral connections are found mainly over the first cortical cell layer.« less
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Mensebach, Christoph; Beblo, Thomas; Driessen, Martin; Wingenfeld, Katja; Mertens, Markus; Rullkoetter, Nina; Lange, Wolfgang; Markowitsch, Hans J; Ollech, Isabella; Saveedra, Anamaria Silva; Rau, Harald; Woermann, Friedrich G
2009-02-28
Verbal memory impairment in borderline personality disorder (BPD) is still a matter of debate. In this study we combine investigations of both, memory retrieval as well as underlying neural circuits in BPD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study regional brain activation in 18 right-handed female patients with BPD and 18 matched controls during the retrieval of an episodic memory retrieval (EMR) task (free recall of a word list) and a semantic memory retrieval (SMR) task (verbal fluency). Despite unaffected performance in EMR and SMR, patients with BPD showed task-specific increased activation compared with controls. During EMR, the increased activation encompassed the posterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, the left middle and superior temporal gyrus, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the right angular gyrus. SMR was associated with increased activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, of the right fusiform gyrus, of the left anterior cingulate cortex, and of the left postcentral gyrus. Our findings suggest that BPD patients may need to engage larger brain areas to reach a level of performance in episodic and semantic retrieval tasks that is comparable to that of healthy controls.
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Oxytocin receptor gene and racial ingroup bias in empathy-related brain activity.
Luo, Siyang; Li, Bingfeng; Ma, Yina; Zhang, Wenxia; Rao, Yi; Han, Shihui
2015-04-15
The human brain responds more strongly to racial ingroup than outgroup individuals' pain. This racial ingroup bias varies across individuals and has been attributed to social experiences. What remains unknown is whether the racial ingroup bias in brain activity is associated with a genetic polymorphism. We investigated genetic associations of racial ingroup bias in the brain activity to racial ingroup and outgroup faces that received painful or non-painful stimulations by scanning A/A and G/G homozygous of the oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism (OXTR rs53576) using functional MRI. We found that G/G compared to A/A individuals showed stronger activity in the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area (ACC/SMA) in response to racial ingroup members' pain, whereas A/A relative to G/G individuals exhibited greater activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in response to racial outgroup members' pain. Moreover, the racial ingroup bias in ACC/SMA activity positively predicted participants' racial ingroup bias in implicit attitudes and NAcc activity to racial outgroup individuals' pain negatively predicted participants' motivations to reduce racial outgroup members' pain. Our results suggest that the two variants of OXTR rs53576 are associated with racial ingroup bias in brain activities that are linked to implicit attitude and altruistic motivation, respectively. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Evoked itch perception is associated with changes in functional brain connectivity.
Desbordes, Gaëlle; Li, Ang; Loggia, Marco L; Kim, Jieun; Schalock, Peter C; Lerner, Ethan; Tran, Thanh N; Ring, Johannes; Rosen, Bruce R; Kaptchuk, Ted J; Pfab, Florian; Napadow, Vitaly
2015-01-01
Chronic itch, a highly debilitating condition, has received relatively little attention in the neuroimaging literature. Recent studies suggest that brain regions supporting itch in chronic itch patients encompass sensorimotor and salience networks, and corticostriatal circuits involved in motor preparation for scratching. However, how these different brain areas interact with one another in the context of itch is still unknown. We acquired BOLD fMRI scans in 14 atopic dermatitis patients to investigate resting-state functional connectivity before and after allergen-induced itch exacerbated the clinical itch perception in these patients. A seed-based analysis revealed decreased functional connectivity from baseline resting state to the evoked-itch state between several itch-related brain regions, particularly the insular and cingulate cortices and basal ganglia, where decreased connectivity was significantly correlated with increased levels of perceived itch. In contrast, evoked itch increased connectivity between key nodes of the frontoparietal control network (superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), where higher increase in connectivity was correlated with a lesser increase in perceived itch, suggesting that greater interaction between nodes of this executive attention network serves to limit itch sensation via enhanced top-down regulation. Overall, our results provide the first evidence of itch-dependent changes in functional connectivity across multiple brain regions.
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Aging, self-referencing, and medial prefrontal cortex.
Gutchess, Angela H; Kensinger, Elizabeth A; Schacter, Daniel L
2007-01-01
The lateral prefrontal cortex undergoes both structural and functional changes with healthy aging. In contrast, there is little structural change in the medial prefrontal cortex, but relatively little is known about the functional changes to this region with age. Using an event-related fMRI design, we investigated the response of medial prefrontal cortex during self-referencing in order to compare age groups on a task that young and elderly perform similarly and that is known to actively engage the region in young adults. Nineteen young (M age = 23) and seventeen elderly (M age = 72) judged whether adjectives described themselves, another person, or were presented in upper case. We assessed the overlap in activations between young and elderly for the self-reference effect (self vs. other person), and found that both groups engage medial prefrontal cortex and mid-cingulate during self-referencing. The only cerebral differences between the groups in self versus other personality assessment were found in somatosensory and motor-related areas. In contrast, age-related modulations were found in the cerebral network recruited for emotional valence processing. Elderly (but not young) showed increased activity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex for positive relative to negative items, which could reflect an increase in controlled processing of positive information for elderly adults.
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Neural correlates of impaired emotion processing in manifest Huntington's disease.
Dogan, Imis; Saß, Christian; Mirzazade, Shahram; Kleiman, Alexandra; Werner, Cornelius J; Pohl, Anna; Schiefer, Johannes; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Schulz, Jörg B; Shah, N Jon; Reetz, Kathrin
2014-05-01
The complex phenotype of Huntington's disease (HD) encompasses motor, psychiatric and cognitive dysfunctions, including early impairments in emotion recognition. In this first functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated emotion-processing deficits in 14 manifest HD patients and matched controls. An emotion recognition task comprised short video clips displaying one of six basic facial expressions (sadness, happiness, disgust, fear, anger and neutral). Structural changes between patients and controls were assessed by means of voxel-based morphometry. Along with deficient recognition of negative emotions, patients exhibited predominantly lower neural response to stimuli of negative valences in the amygdala, hippocampus, striatum, insula, cingulate and prefrontal cortices, as well as in sensorimotor, temporal and visual areas. Most of the observed reduced activity patterns could not be explained merely by regional volume loss. Reduced activity in the thalamus during fear correlated with lower thalamic volumes. During the processing of sadness, patients exhibited enhanced amygdala and hippocampal activity along with reduced recruitment of the medial prefrontal cortex. Higher amygdala activity was related to more pronounced amygdala atrophy and disease burden. Overall, the observed emotion-related dysfunctions in the context of structural neurodegeneration suggest both disruptions of striatal-thalamo-cortical loops and potential compensation mechanism with greater disease severity in manifest HD.
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Attention Bias of Avoidant Individuals to Attachment Emotion Pictures.
Liu, Ying; Ding, Yi; Lu, Luluzi; Chen, Xu
2017-01-27
How attachment style affects emotion processing is tightly connected with individuals' attention bias. This experiment explored avoidant individuals' attentional engagement and attentional disengagement using a cue-target paradigm in fMRI. The experimental group consisted of 17 avoidant participants, while the control group consisted of 16 secure participants; these were identified by the Experiences in Close Relationships inventory and the Relationship Questionnaire. Each reacted to pictures of positive parent-child attachment, negative parent-child attachment, positive romantic attachment, negative romantic attachment, and neutral non-attachment. Behaviorally, avoidant individuals were slower than secure individuals in responding to emotions and their attentional disengagement effect for negative parent-child emotions was stronger than positive ones. fMRI results showed that avoidant compared to secure individuals activated more strongly in the right superior temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and the left medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, supplementary motor area, and cingulate gyrus. They also showed stronger activation in disengaging from positive than negative emotions in the bilateral fusiform and middle occipital gyri. In conclusion, avoidant individuals could detect emotions as effective as secure individuals in attentioal engaging stages. They can disengage from positive emotions with effective cognitive resources and were harder to get rid of negative emotions with insufficient resource.
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Schiepek, Günter; Tominschek, Igor; Heinzel, Stephan; Aigner, Martin; Dold, Markus; Unger, Annemarie; Lenz, Gerhard; Windischberger, Christian; Moser, Ewald; Plöderl, Martin; Lutz, Jürgen; Meindl, Thomas; Zaudig, Michael; Pogarell, Oliver; Karch, Susanne
2013-01-01
This study investigates neuronal activation patterns during the psychotherapeutic process, assuming that change dynamics undergo critical instabilities and discontinuous transitions. An internet-based system was used to collect daily self-assessments during inpatient therapies. A dynamic complexity measure was applied to the resulting time series. Critical phases of the change process were indicated by the maxima of the varying complexity. Repeated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements were conducted over the course of the therapy. The study was realized with 9 patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (subtype: washing/contamination fear) and 9 matched healthy controls. For symptom-provocative stimulation individualized pictures from patients’ personal environments were used. The neuronal responses to these disease-specific pictures were compared to the responses during standardized disgust-provoking and neutral pictures. Considerably larger neuronal changes in therapy-relevant brain areas (cingulate cortex/supplementary motor cortex, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral insula, bilateral parietal cortex, cuneus) were observed during critical phases (order transitions), as compared to non-critical phases, and also compared to healthy controls. The data indicate that non-stationary changes play a crucial role in the psychotherapeutic process supporting self-organization and complexity models of therapeutic change. PMID:23977168
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Manza, Peter; Hu, Sien; Ide, Jaime S; Farr, Olivia M; Zhang, Sheng; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Li, Chiang-shan R
2016-03-01
To adapt flexibly to a rapidly changing environment, humans must anticipate conflict and respond to surprising, unexpected events. To this end, the brain estimates upcoming conflict on the basis of prior experience and computes unsigned prediction error (UPE). Although much work implicates catecholamines in cognitive control, little is known about how pharmacological manipulation of catecholamines affects the neural processes underlying conflict anticipation and UPE computation. We addressed this issue by imaging 24 healthy young adults who received a 45 mg oral dose of methylphenidate (MPH) and 62 matched controls who did not receive MPH prior to performing the stop-signal task. We used a Bayesian Dynamic Belief Model to make trial-by-trial estimates of conflict and UPE during task performance. Replicating previous research, the control group showed anticipation-related activation in the presupplementary motor area and deactivation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, as well as UPE-related activations in the dorsal anterior cingulate, insula, and inferior parietal lobule. In group comparison, MPH increased anticipation activity in the bilateral caudate head and decreased UPE activity in each of the aforementioned regions. These findings highlight distinct effects of catecholamines on the neural mechanisms underlying conflict anticipation and UPE, signals critical to learning and adaptive behavior. © The Author(s) 2016.
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Manza, Peter; Hu, Sien; Ide, Jaime S; Farr, Olivia M; Zhang, Sheng; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Li, Chiang-shan R
2016-01-01
To adapt flexibly to a rapidly changing environment, humans must anticipate conflict and respond to surprising, unexpected events. To this end, the brain estimates upcoming conflict on the basis of prior experience and computes unsigned prediction error (UPE). Although much work implicates catecholamines in cognitive control, little is known about how pharmacological manipulation of catecholamines affects the neural processes underlying conflict anticipation and UPE computation. We addressed this issue by imaging 24 healthy young adults who received a 45 mg oral dose of methylphenidate (MPH) and 62 matched controls who did not receive MPH prior to performing the stop-signal task. We used a Bayesian Dynamic Belief Model to make trial-by-trial estimates of conflict and UPE during task performance. Replicating previous research, the control group showed anticipation-related activation in the presupplementary motor area and deactivation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, as well as UPE-related activations in the dorsal anterior cingulate, insula, and inferior parietal lobule. In group comparison, MPH increased anticipation activity in the bilateral caudate head and decreased UPE activity in each of the aforementioned regions. These findings highlight distinct effects of catecholamines on the neural mechanisms underlying conflict anticipation and UPE, signals critical to learning and adaptive behavior. PMID:26755547
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Jenabi, Mehrnaz; Peck, Kyung K; Young, Robert J; Brennan, Nicole; Holodny, Andrei I
2014-12-01
Accurate localization of anatomically and functionally separate SMA tracts is important to improve planning prior to neurosurgery. Using fMRI and probabilistic DTI techniques, we assessed the connectivity between the frontal language area (Broca's area) and the rostral pre-SMA (language SMA) and caudal SMA proper (motor SMA). Twenty brain tumor patients completed motor and language fMRI paradigms and DTI. Peaks of functional activity in the language SMA, motor SMA and Broca's area were used to define seed regions for probabilistic tractography. fMRI and probabilistic tractography identified separate and unique pathways connecting the SMA to Broca's area - the language SMA pathway and the motor SMA pathway. For all subjects, the language SMA pathway had a larger number of voxels (P<0.0001) and higher connectivity (P<0.0001) to Broca's area than did the motor SMA pathway. In each patient, the number of voxels was greater in the language and motor SMA pathways than in background pathways (P<0.0001). No differences were found between patients with ipsilateral and those with contralateral tumors for either the language SMA pathway (degree of connectivity: P<0.36; number of voxels: 0.35) or the motor SMA pathway (degree of connectivity, P<0.28; number of voxels, P<0.74). Probabilistic tractography can identify unique white matter tracts that connect language SMA and motor SMA to Broca's area. The language SMA is more significantly connected to Broca's area than is the motor subdivision of the SMA proper. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
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The development of regional functional connectivity in preterm infants into early childhood.
Lee, Wayne; Morgan, Benjamin R; Shroff, Manohar M; Sled, John G; Taylor, Margot J
2013-09-01
Resting state networks are proposed to reflect the neuronal connectivity that underlies cognitive processes. Consequently, abnormal behaviour of these networks due to disease or altered development may predict poor cognitive outcome. To understand how very preterm birth may affect the development of resting state connectivity, we followed a cohort of very preterm-born infants from birth through to 4 years of age using resting state functional MRI. From a larger longitudinal cohort of infants born very preterm (<32 weeks gestational age), 36 at birth, 30 at term, 21 two-year and 22 four-year resting state fMRI datasets were acquired. Using seed-based connectivity analyses with seeds in the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, left and right motor-hand regions and left and right temporal lobes, we investigated local and inter-region connectivity as a function of group and age. We found strong local connectivity during the preterm period, which matured into inter-hemispheric and preliminary default-mode network correlations by 4 years of age. This development is comparable to the resting state networks found in term-born infants of equivalent age. The results of this study suggest that differences in developmental trajectory between preterm-born and term-born infants are small and, if present, would require a large sample from both populations to be detected.
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Schreiner, Melinda Westlund; Klimes-Dougan, Bonnie; Cullen, Kathryn R
2018-05-13
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors ("suicidality"). Of the three components of Joiner's interpersonal theory of suicide, two involve negatively valenced, self-related beliefs: perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. However, the neurocircuitry underlying self-processing and suicidality has not been fully explored. This study examined the association between suicidality and the neurocircuitry of regions relevant to self-referential processing in adolescents with depression. Fifty-eight adolescents underwent assessment and a resting-state fMRI scan. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses included two brain regions implicated in self-referential processing: precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Suicidality was measured using the Index of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms. While controlling for depression severity, we conducted whole-brain correlation analyses between suicidality and left and right precuneus and PCC connectivity maps. Suicidality was positively associated with RSFC between left precuneus and left primary motor and somatosensory cortices, and middle and superior frontal gyri. Suicidality was negatively associated with RSFC between left PCC and left cerebellum, lateral occipital cortex, and temporal-occipital fusiform gyrus. Findings of hyperconnectivity stemming from the precuneus and hypoconnectivity from the PCC may reflect maladaptive self-reflection and mentalization. However, additional investigation is warranted to further clarify these relationships. © 2018 The American Association of Suicidology.
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Tu, Ye; Wei, Yongxu; Sun, Kun; Zhao, Weiguo; Yu, Buwei
2015-01-01
Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to detect the alterations of spontaneous neuronal activity in various neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, but rarely in hemifacial spasm (HFS), a nervous system disorder. We used resting-state fMRI with regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis to investigate changes in spontaneous brain activity of patients with HFS and to determine the relationship of these functional changes with clinical features. Thirty patients with HFS and 33 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Compared with controls, HFS patients had significantly decreased ReHo values in left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), left medial cingulate cortex (MCC), left lingual gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right precuneus; and increased ReHo values in left precentral gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right brainstem, and right cerebellum. Furthermore, the mean ReHo value in brainstem showed a positive correlation with the spasm severity (r = 0.404, p = 0.027), and the mean ReHo value in MFG was inversely related with spasm severity in HFS group (r = -0.398, p = 0.028). This study reveals that HFS is associated with abnormal spontaneous brain activity in brain regions most involved in motor control and blinking movement. The disturbances of spontaneous brain activity reflected by ReHo measurements may provide insights into the neurological pathophysiology of HFS.
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Kubera, Katharina M; Hirjak, Dusan; Wolf, Nadine D; Sambataro, Fabio; Thomann, Philipp A; Wolf, R Christian
2018-05-01
Impulsiveness is a central human personality trait and of high relevance for the development of several mental disorders. Impulsiveness is a multidimensional construct, yet little is known about dimension-specific neural correlates. Here, we address the question whether motor, attentional and non-planning components, as measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), are associated with distinct or overlapping neural network activity. In this study, we investigated brain activity at rest and its relationship to distinct dimensions of impulsiveness in 30 healthy young adults (m/f = 13/17; age mean/SD = 26.4/2.6 years) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at 3T. A spatial independent component analysis and a multivariate model selection strategy were used to identify systems loading on distinct impulsivity domains. We first identified eight networks for which we had a-priori hypotheses. These networks included basal ganglia, cortical motor, cingulate and lateral prefrontal systems. From the eight networks, three were associated with impulsiveness measures (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). There were significant relationships between right frontoparietal network function and all three BIS domains. Striatal and midcingulate network activity was associated with motor impulsiveness only. Within the networks regionally confined effects of age and gender were found. These data suggest distinct and overlapping patterns of neural activity underlying specific dimensions of impulsiveness. Motor impulsiveness appears to be specifically related to striatal and midcingulate network activity, in contrast to a domain-unspecific right frontoparietal system. Effects of age and gender have to be considered in young healthy samples.
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Unsupervised classification of major depression using functional connectivity MRI.
Zeng, Ling-Li; Shen, Hui; Liu, Li; Hu, Dewen
2014-04-01
The current diagnosis of psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder based largely on self-reported symptoms and clinical signs may be prone to patients' behaviors and psychiatrists' bias. This study aims at developing an unsupervised machine learning approach for the accurate identification of major depression based on single resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans in the absence of clinical information. Twenty-four medication-naive patients with major depression and 29 demographically similar healthy individuals underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We first clustered the voxels within the perigenual cingulate cortex into two subregions, a subgenual region and a pregenual region, according to their distinct resting-state functional connectivity patterns and showed that a maximum margin clustering-based unsupervised machine learning approach extracted sufficient information from the subgenual cingulate functional connectivity map to differentiate depressed patients from healthy controls with a group-level clustering consistency of 92.5% and an individual-level classification consistency of 92.5%. It was also revealed that the subgenual cingulate functional connectivity network with the highest discriminative power primarily included the ventrolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyri and limbic areas, indicating that these connections may play critical roles in the pathophysiology of major depression. The current study suggests that subgenual cingulate functional connectivity network signatures may provide promising objective biomarkers for the diagnosis of major depression and that maximum margin clustering-based unsupervised machine learning approaches may have the potential to inform clinical practice and aid in research on psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Neural activity associated with self-reflection
2012-01-01
Background Self-referential cognitions are important for self-monitoring and self-regulation. Previous studies have addressed the neural correlates of self-referential processes in response to or related to external stimuli. We here investigated brain activity associated with a short, exclusively mental process of self-reflection in the absence of external stimuli or behavioural requirements. Healthy subjects reflected either on themselves, a personally known or an unknown person during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The reflection period was initialized by a cue and followed by photographs of the respective persons (perception of pictures of oneself or the other person). Results Self-reflection, compared with reflecting on the other persons and to a major part also compared with perceiving photographs of one-self, was associated with more prominent dorsomedial and lateral prefrontal, insular, anterior and posterior cingulate activations. Whereas some of these areas showed activity in the “other”-conditions as well, self-selective characteristics were revealed in right dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex for self-reflection; in anterior cingulate cortex for self-perception and in the left inferior parietal lobe for self-reflection and -perception. Conclusions Altogether, cingulate, medial and lateral prefrontal, insular and inferior parietal regions show relevance for self-related cognitions, with in part self-specificity in terms of comparison with the known-, unknown- and perception-conditions. Notably, the results are obtained here without behavioural response supporting the reliability of this methodological approach of applying a solely mental intervention. We suggest considering the reported structures when investigating psychopathologically affected self-related processing. PMID:22624857
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Han, Doug Hyun; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Renshaw, Perry F
2012-04-01
Patients with on-line game addiction (POGA) and professional video game players play video games for extended periods of time, but experience very different consequences for their on-line game play. Brain regions consisting of anterior cingulate, thalamus and occpito-temporal areas may increase the likelihood of becoming a pro-gamer or POGA. Twenty POGA, seventeen pro-gamers, and eighteen healthy comparison subjects (HC) were recruited. All magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on a 1.5 Tesla Espree MRI scanner (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany). Voxel-wise comparisons of gray matter volume were performed between the groups using the two-sample t-test with statistical parametric mapping (SPM5). Compared to HC, the POGA group showed increased impulsiveness and perseverative errors, and volume in left thalamus gray matter, but decreased gray matter volume in both inferior temporal gyri, right middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior occipital gyrus, compared with HC. Pro-gamers showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus, but decreased gray matter volume in left middle occipital gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus compared with HC. Additionally, the pro-gamer group showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus and decreased left thalamus gray matter volume compared with the POGA group. The current study suggests that increased gray matter volumes of the left cingulate gyrus in pro-gamers and of the left thalamus in POGA may contribute to the different clinical characteristics of pro-gamers and POGA. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR
2010-07-01
... motor vehicle use on designated roads and trails and in designated areas. 212.57 Section 212.57 Parks... Roads, Trails, and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use § 212.57 Monitoring of effects of motor vehicle use on designated roads and trails and in designated areas. For each administrative unit of the National Forest...
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Activation of Neural Pathways Associated with Sexual Arousal in Non-Human Primates
Ferris, Craig F.; Snowdon, Charles T.; King, Jean A.; Sullivan, John M.; Ziegler, Toni E.; Olson, David P.; Schultz-Darken, Nancy J.; Tannenbaum, Pamela L.; Ludwig, Reinhold; Wu, Ziji; Einspanier, Almuth; Vaughan, J. Thomas; Duong, Timothy Q.
2006-01-01
Purpose To evaluate brain activity associated with sexual arousal, fully conscious male marmoset monkeys were imaged during presentation of odors that naturally elicit high levels of sexual activity and sexual motivation. Material and Methods Male monkeys were lightly anesthetized, secured in a head and body restrainer with a built-in birdcage resonator and positioned in a 9.4-Tesla spectrometer. When fully conscious, monkeys were presented with the odors of a novel receptive female or an ovariectomized monkey. Both odors were presented during an imaging trial and the presentation of odors was counterbalanced. Significant changes in both positive and negative BOLD signal were mapped and averaged. Results Periovulatory odors significantly increased positive BOLD signal in several cortical areas: the striatum, hippocampus, septum, periaqueductal gray, and cerebellum, in comparison with odors from ovariectomized monkeys. Conversely, negative BOLD signal was significantly increased in the temporal cortex, cingulate cortex, putamen, hippocampus, substantia nigra, medial preoptic area, and cerebellum with presentation of odors from ovariectomized marmosets as compared to periovulatory odors. A common neural circuit comprising the temporal and cingulate cortices, putamen, hippocampus, medial preoptic area, and cerebellum shared both the positive BOLD response to periovulatory odors and the negative BOLD response to odors of ovariectomized females. Conclusion These data suggest the odor-driven enhancement and suppression of sexual arousal affect neuronal activity in many of the same general brain areas. These areas included not only those associated with sexual activity, but also areas involved in emotional processing and reward. PMID:14745749
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Moon, Hyeong Cheol; Park, Chan-A; Jeon, Yeong-Jae; You, Soon Tae; Baek, Hyun Man; Lee, Youn Joo; Cho, Chul Beom; Cheong, Chae Joon; Park, Young Seok
2018-05-16
The cingulate cortex (CC) is a brain region that plays a key role in pain processing, but CC abnormalities are not unclear in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN). The purpose of this study was to determine the central causal mechanisms of TN and the surrounding brain structure in healthy controls and patients with TN using 7 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Whole-brain parcellation in gray matter volume and thickness was assessed in 15 patients with TN and 16 healthy controls matched for sex, age, and regional variability using T1-weighted imaging. Regions of interest (ROIs) were measured in rostral anterior CC (rACC), caudal anterior CC (cACC) and posterior CC (PCC). We also investigated associations between gray matter volume or thickness and clinical symptoms, such as pain duration, Barrow Neurologic Institute (BNI) scores, offender vessel, and medications, in patients with TN. The cACC and PCC exhibited gray matter atrophy and reduced thickness between the TN and control groups. However, the rACC did not. Cortical volumes were negatively correlated with pain duration in transverse and inferior temporal areas, and thickness was also negatively correlated with pain duration in superior frontal and parietal areas. The cACC and PCC gray matter atrophy occurred in the patients with TN, and pain duration was associated with frontal, parietal, and temporal cortical regions. These results suggest that the cACC, PCC but not the rACC are associated with central pain mechanisms in TN. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Li, Yun; Wang, Shengpei; Pan, Chuxiong; Xue, Fushan; Xian, Junfang; Huang, Yaqi; Wang, Xiaoyi; Li, Tianzuo; He, Huiguang
2018-01-01
The mechanism of general anesthesia (GA) has been explored for hundreds of years, but unclear. Previous studies indicated a possible correlation between NREM sleep and GA. The purpose of this study is to compare them by in vivo human brain function to probe the neuromechanism of consciousness, so as to find out a clue to GA mechanism. 24 healthy participants were equally assigned to sleep or propofol sedation group by sleeping ability. EEG and Ramsay Sedation Scale were applied to determine sleep stage and sedation depth respectively. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) was acquired at each status. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and seed-based whole brain functional connectivity maps (WB-FC maps) were compared. During sleep, ReHo primarily weakened on frontal lobe (especially preoptic area), but strengthened on brainstem. While during sedation, ReHo changed in various brain areas, including cingulate, precuneus, thalamus and cerebellum. Cingulate, fusiform and insula were concomitance of sleep and sedation. Comparing to sleep, FCs between the cortex and subcortical centers (centralized in cerebellum) were significantly attenuated under sedation. As sedation deepening, cerebellum-based FC maps were diminished, while thalamus- and brainstem-based FC maps were increased. There're huge distinctions in human brain function between sleep and GA. Sleep mainly rely on brainstem and frontal lobe function, while sedation is prone to affect widespread functional network. The most significant differences exist in the precuneus and cingulate, which may play important roles in mechanisms of inducing unconciousness by anesthetics. Institutional Review Board (IRB) ChiCTR-IOC-15007454.
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Schmaal, L; Hibar, D P; Sämann, P G; Hall, G B; Baune, B T; Jahanshad, N; Cheung, J W; van Erp, T G M; Bos, D; Ikram, M A; Vernooij, M W; Niessen, W J; Tiemeier, H; Hofman, A; Wittfeld, K; Grabe, H J; Janowitz, D; Bülow, R; Selonke, M; Völzke, H; Grotegerd, D; Dannlowski, U; Arolt, V; Opel, N; Heindel, W; Kugel, H; Hoehn, D; Czisch, M; Couvy-Duchesne, B; Rentería, M E; Strike, L T; Wright, M J; Mills, N T; de Zubicaray, G I; McMahon, K L; Medland, S E; Martin, N G; Gillespie, N A; Goya-Maldonado, R; Gruber, O; Krämer, B; Hatton, S N; Lagopoulos, J; Hickie, I B; Frodl, T; Carballedo, A; Frey, E M; van Velzen, L S; Penninx, B W J H; van Tol, M-J; van der Wee, N J; Davey, C G; Harrison, B J; Mwangi, B; Cao, B; Soares, J C; Veer, I M; Walter, H; Schoepf, D; Zurowski, B; Konrad, C; Schramm, E; Normann, C; Schnell, K; Sacchet, M D; Gotlib, I H; MacQueen, G M; Godlewska, B R; Nickson, T; McIntosh, A M; Papmeyer, M; Whalley, H C; Hall, J; Sussmann, J E; Li, M; Walter, M; Aftanas, L; Brack, I; Bokhan, N A; Thompson, P M; Veltman, D J
2017-01-01
The neuro-anatomical substrates of major depressive disorder (MDD) are still not well understood, despite many neuroimaging studies over the past few decades. Here we present the largest ever worldwide study by the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Major Depressive Disorder Working Group on cortical structural alterations in MDD. Structural T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 2148 MDD patients and 7957 healthy controls were analysed with harmonized protocols at 20 sites around the world. To detect consistent effects of MDD and its modulators on cortical thickness and surface area estimates derived from MRI, statistical effects from sites were meta-analysed separately for adults and adolescents. Adults with MDD had thinner cortical gray matter than controls in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior and posterior cingulate, insula and temporal lobes (Cohen's d effect sizes: −0.10 to −0.14). These effects were most pronounced in first episode and adult-onset patients (>21 years). Compared to matched controls, adolescents with MDD had lower total surface area (but no differences in cortical thickness) and regional reductions in frontal regions (medial OFC and superior frontal gyrus) and primary and higher-order visual, somatosensory and motor areas (d: −0.26 to −0.57). The strongest effects were found in recurrent adolescent patients. This highly powered global effort to identify consistent brain abnormalities showed widespread cortical alterations in MDD patients as compared to controls and suggests that MDD may impact brain structure in a highly dynamic way, with different patterns of alterations at different stages of life. PMID:27137745
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Human Fear Conditioning and Extinction in Neuroimaging: A Systematic Review
Sehlmeyer, Christina; Schöning, Sonja; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Pfleiderer, Bettina; Kircher, Tilo; Arolt, Volker; Konrad, Carsten
2009-01-01
Fear conditioning and extinction are basic forms of associative learning that have gained considerable clinical relevance in enhancing our understanding of anxiety disorders and facilitating their treatment. Modern neuroimaging techniques have significantly aided the identification of anatomical structures and networks involved in fear conditioning. On closer inspection, there is considerable variation in methodology and results between studies. This systematic review provides an overview of the current neuroimaging literature on fear conditioning and extinction on healthy subjects, taking into account methodological issues such as the conditioning paradigm. A Pubmed search, as of December 2008, was performed and supplemented by manual searches of bibliographies of key articles. Two independent reviewers made the final study selection and data extraction. A total of 46 studies on cued fear conditioning and/or extinction on healthy volunteers using positron emission tomography or functional magnetic resonance imaging were reviewed. The influence of specific experimental factors, such as contingency and timing parameters, assessment of conditioned responses, and characteristics of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, on cerebral activation patterns was examined. Results were summarized descriptively. A network consisting of fear-related brain areas, such as amygdala, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, is activated independently of design parameters. However, some neuroimaging studies do not report these findings in the presence of methodological heterogeneities. Furthermore, other brain areas are differentially activated, depending on specific design parameters. These include stronger hippocampal activation in trace conditioning and tactile stimulation. Furthermore, tactile unconditioned stimuli enhance activation of pain related, motor, and somatosensory areas. Differences concerning experimental factors may partly explain the variance between neuroimaging investigations on human fear conditioning and extinction and should, therefore, be taken into serious consideration in the planning and the interpretation of research projects. PMID:19517024
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Bralten, Janita; Greven, Corina U; Franke, Barbara; Mennes, Maarten; Zwiers, Marcel P; Rommelse, Nanda N J; Hartman, Catharina; van der Meer, Dennis; O'Dwyer, Laurence; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Heslenfeld, Dirk; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Buitelaar, Jan K
2016-06-01
Data on structural brain alterations in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been inconsistent. Both ADHD and brain volumes have a strong genetic loading, but whether brain alterations in patients with ADHD are familial has been underexplored. We aimed to detect structural brain alterations in adolescents and young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls. We examined whether these alterations were also found in their unaffected siblings, using a uniquely large sample. We performed voxel-based morphometry analyses on MRI scans of patients with ADHD, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls. We identified brain areas that differed between participants with ADHD and controls and investigated whether these areas were different in unaffected siblings. Influences of medication use, age, sex and IQ were considered. Our sample included 307 patients with ADHD, 169 unaffected siblings and 196 typically developing controls (mean age 17.2 [range 8-30] yr). Compared with controls, participants with ADHD had significantly smaller grey matter volume in 5 clusters located in the precentral gyrus, medial and orbitofrontal cortex, and (para)cingulate cortices. Unaffected siblings showed intermediate volumes significantly different from controls in 4 of these clusters (all except the precentral gyrus). Medication use, age, sex and IQ did not have an undue influence on the results. Our sample was heterogeneous, most participants with ADHD were taking medication, and the comparison was cross-sectional. Brain areas involved in decision making, motivation, cognitive control and motor functioning were smaller in participants with ADHD than in controls. Investigation of unaffected siblings indicated familiality of 4 of the structural brain differences, supporting their potential in molecular genetic analyses in ADHD research.
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Khavari, Rose; Karmonik, Christof; Shy, Michael; Fletcher, Sophie; Boone, Timothy
2017-02-01
Neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction, which is common in patients with multiple sclerosis, has a significant impact on quality of life. In this study we sought to determine brain activity processes during the micturition cycle in female patients with multiple sclerosis and neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction. We report brain activity on functional magnetic resonance imaging and simultaneous urodynamic testing in 23 ambulatory female patients with multiple sclerosis. Individual functional magnetic resonance imaging activation maps at strong desire to void and at initiation of voiding were calculated and averaged at Montreal Neuroimaging Institute. Areas of significant activation were identified in these average maps. Subgroup analysis was performed in patients with elicitable neurogenic detrusor overactivity or detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia. Group analysis of all patients at strong desire to void yielded areas of activation in regions associated with executive function (frontal gyrus), emotional regulation (cingulate gyrus) and motor control (putamen, cerebellum and precuneus). Comparison of the average change in activation between previously reported healthy controls and patients with multiple sclerosis showed predominantly stronger, more focal activation in the former and lower, more diffused activation in the latter. Patients with multiple sclerosis who had demonstrable neurogenic detrusor overactivity and detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia showed a trend toward distinct brain activation at full urge and at initiation of voiding respectively. We successfully studied brain activation during the entire micturition cycle in female patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction and multiple sclerosis using a concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging/urodynamic testing platform. Understanding the central neural processes involved in specific parts of micturition in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction may identify areas of interest for future intervention. Copyright © 2017 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Schmaal, L; Hibar, D P; Sämann, P G; Hall, G B; Baune, B T; Jahanshad, N; Cheung, J W; van Erp, T G M; Bos, D; Ikram, M A; Vernooij, M W; Niessen, W J; Tiemeier, H; Hofman, A; Wittfeld, K; Grabe, H J; Janowitz, D; Bülow, R; Selonke, M; Völzke, H; Grotegerd, D; Dannlowski, U; Arolt, V; Opel, N; Heindel, W; Kugel, H; Hoehn, D; Czisch, M; Couvy-Duchesne, B; Rentería, M E; Strike, L T; Wright, M J; Mills, N T; de Zubicaray, G I; McMahon, K L; Medland, S E; Martin, N G; Gillespie, N A; Goya-Maldonado, R; Gruber, O; Krämer, B; Hatton, S N; Lagopoulos, J; Hickie, I B; Frodl, T; Carballedo, A; Frey, E M; van Velzen, L S; Penninx, B W J H; van Tol, M-J; van der Wee, N J; Davey, C G; Harrison, B J; Mwangi, B; Cao, B; Soares, J C; Veer, I M; Walter, H; Schoepf, D; Zurowski, B; Konrad, C; Schramm, E; Normann, C; Schnell, K; Sacchet, M D; Gotlib, I H; MacQueen, G M; Godlewska, B R; Nickson, T; McIntosh, A M; Papmeyer, M; Whalley, H C; Hall, J; Sussmann, J E; Li, M; Walter, M; Aftanas, L; Brack, I; Bokhan, N A; Thompson, P M; Veltman, D J
2017-06-01
The neuro-anatomical substrates of major depressive disorder (MDD) are still not well understood, despite many neuroimaging studies over the past few decades. Here we present the largest ever worldwide study by the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Major Depressive Disorder Working Group on cortical structural alterations in MDD. Structural T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 2148 MDD patients and 7957 healthy controls were analysed with harmonized protocols at 20 sites around the world. To detect consistent effects of MDD and its modulators on cortical thickness and surface area estimates derived from MRI, statistical effects from sites were meta-analysed separately for adults and adolescents. Adults with MDD had thinner cortical gray matter than controls in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior and posterior cingulate, insula and temporal lobes (Cohen's d effect sizes: -0.10 to -0.14). These effects were most pronounced in first episode and adult-onset patients (>21 years). Compared to matched controls, adolescents with MDD had lower total surface area (but no differences in cortical thickness) and regional reductions in frontal regions (medial OFC and superior frontal gyrus) and primary and higher-order visual, somatosensory and motor areas (d: -0.26 to -0.57). The strongest effects were found in recurrent adolescent patients. This highly powered global effort to identify consistent brain abnormalities showed widespread cortical alterations in MDD patients as compared to controls and suggests that MDD may impact brain structure in a highly dynamic way, with different patterns of alterations at different stages of life.
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Bralten, Janita; Greven, Corina U.; Franke, Barbara; Mennes, Maarten; Zwiers, Marcel P.; Rommelse, Nanda N.J.; Hartman, Catharina; van der Meer, Dennis; O’Dwyer, Laurence; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Hoekstra, Pieter J.; Heslenfeld, Dirk; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Buitelaar, Jan K.
2016-01-01
Background Data on structural brain alterations in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been inconsistent. Both ADHD and brain volumes have a strong genetic loading, but whether brain alterations in patients with ADHD are familial has been underexplored. We aimed to detect structural brain alterations in adolescents and young adults with ADHD compared with healthy controls. We examined whether these alterations were also found in their unaffected siblings, using a uniquely large sample. Methods We performed voxel-based morphometry analyses on MRI scans of patients with ADHD, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls. We identified brain areas that differed between participants with ADHD and controls and investigated whether these areas were different in unaffected siblings. Influences of medication use, age, sex and IQ were considered. Results Our sample included 307 patients with ADHD, 169 unaffected siblings and 196 typically developing controls (mean age 17.2 [range 8–30] yr). Compared with controls, participants with ADHD had significantly smaller grey matter volume in 5 clusters located in the precentral gyrus, medial and orbitofrontal cortex, and (para)cingulate cortices. Unaffected siblings showed intermediate volumes significantly different from controls in 4 of these clusters (all except the precentral gyrus). Medication use, age, sex and IQ did not have an undue influence on the results. Limitations Our sample was heterogeneous, most participants with ADHD were taking medication, and the comparison was cross-sectional. Conclusion Brain areas involved in decision making, motivation, cognitive control and motor functioning were smaller in participants with ADHD than in controls. Investigation of unaffected siblings indicated familiality of 4 of the structural brain differences, supporting their potential in molecular genetic analyses in ADHD research. PMID:26679925
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Dickstein, D L; Pullman, M Y; Fernandez, C; Short, J A; Kostakoglu, L; Knesaurek, K; Soleimani, L; Jordan, B D; Gordon, W A; Dams-O'Connor, K; Delman, B N; Wong, E; Tang, C Y; DeKosky, S T; Stone, J R; Cantu, R C; Sano, M; Hof, P R; Gandy, S
2016-01-01
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disorder most commonly associated with repetitive traumatic brain injury (TBI) and characterized by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein, known as a tauopathy. Currently, the diagnosis of CTE can only be definitively established postmortem. However, a new positron emission tomography (PET) ligand, [18F]T807/AV1451, may provide the antemortem detection of tau aggregates, and thus various tauopathies, including CTE. Our goal was to examine [18F]T807/AV1451 retention in athletes with neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with a history of multiple concussions. Here we report a 39-year-old retired National Football League player who suffered 22 concussions and manifested progressive neuropsychiatric symptoms. Emotional lability and irritability were the chief complaints. Serial neuropsychological exams revealed a decline in executive functioning, processing speed and fine motor skills. Naming was below average but other cognitive functions were preserved. Structural analysis of longitudinally acquired magenetic resonance imaging scans revealed cortical thinning in the left frontal and lateral temporal areas, as well as volume loss in the basal ganglia. PET with [18F]florbetapir was negative for amyloidosis. The [18F]T807/AV1451 PET showed multifocal areas of retention at the cortical gray matter–white matter junction, a distribution considered pathognomonic for CTE. [18F]T807/AV1451 standard uptake value (SUV) analysis showed increased uptake (SUVr⩾1.1) in bilateral cingulate, occipital, and orbitofrontal cortices, and several temporal areas. Although definitive identification of the neuropathological underpinnings basis for [18F]T807/AV1451 retention requires postmortem correlation, our data suggest that [18F]T807/AV1451 tauopathy imaging may be a promising tool to detect and diagnose CTE-related tauopathy in living subjects. PMID:27676441
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Morecraft, RJ; Stilwell-Morecraft, KS; Ge, J; Cipolloni, PB; Pandya, DN
2015-01-01
The cytoarchitecture and cortical connections of the ventral motor region are investigated using Nissl, and NeuN staining methods and the fluorescent retrograde tract tracing technique in the rhesus monkey. On the basis of gradual laminar differentiation, it is shown that the ventral motor region stems from the ventral proisocortical area (anterior insula and dorsal Sylvian opercular region). The cytoarchitecture of the ventral motor region is shown to progress in three lines, as we have recently shown for the dorsal motor region. Namely, root (anterior insular and dorsal Sylvian opercular area ProM), belt (ventral premotor cortex) and core (precentral motor cortex) lines. This stepwise architectonic organization is supported by the overall patterns of corticocortical connections. Areas in each line are sequentially interconnected (intralineal connections) and all lines are interconnected (interlinear connections). Moreover, root areas, as well as some of the belt areas of the ventral and dorsal trend are interconnected. The ventral motor region is also connected with the ventral somatosensory areas in a topographic manner. The root and belt areas of ventral motor region are connected with paralimbic, multimodal and prefrontal (outer belt) areas. In contrast, the core area has a comparatively more restricted pattern of corticocortical connections. This architectonic and connectional organization is consistent in part, with the functional organization of the ventral motor region as reported in behavioral and neuroimaging studies which include the mediation of facial expression and emotion, communication, phonic articulation, and language in human. PMID:26496798
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Darling, Warren G.; Pizzimenti, Marc A.; Morecraft, Robert J.
2013-01-01
This review discusses selected classical works and contemporary research on recovery of contralesional fine hand motor function following lesions to motor areas of the cerebral cortex in non-human primates. Findings from both the classical literature and contemporary studies show that lesions of cortical motor areas induce paresis initially, but are followed by remarkable recovery of fine hand/digit motor function that depends on lesion size and post-lesion training. Indeed, in recent work where considerable quantification of fine digit function associated with grasping and manipulating small objects has been observed, very favorable recovery is possible with minimal forced use of the contralesional limb. Studies of the mechanisms underlying recovery have shown that following small lesions of the digit areas of primary motor cortex (M1), there is expansion of the digit motor representations into areas of M1 that did not produce digit movements prior to the lesion. However, after larger lesions involving the elbow, wrist and digit areas of M1, no such expansion of the motor representation was observed, suggesting that recovery was due to other cortical or subcortical areas taking over control of hand/digit movements. Recently, we showed that one possible mechanism of recovery after lesion to the arm areas of M1 and lateral premotor cortex is enhancement of corticospinal projections from the medially located supplementary motor area (M2) to spinal cord laminae containing neurons which have lost substantial input from the lateral motor areas and play a critical role in reaching and digit movements. Because human stroke and brain injury patients show variable, and usually poorer, recovery of hand motor function than that of nonhuman primates after motor cortex damage, we conclude with a discussion of implications of this work for further experimentation to improve recovery of hand function in human stroke patients. PMID:21960307
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Särkämö, Teppo; Ripollés, Pablo; Vepsäläinen, Henna; Autti, Taina; Silvennoinen, Heli M.; Salli, Eero; Laitinen, Sari; Forsblom, Anita; Soinila, Seppo; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni
2014-01-01
Music is a highly complex and versatile stimulus for the brain that engages many temporal, frontal, parietal, cerebellar, and subcortical areas involved in auditory, cognitive, emotional, and motor processing. Regular musical activities have been shown to effectively enhance the structure and function of many brain areas, making music a potential tool also in neurological rehabilitation. In our previous randomized controlled study, we found that listening to music on a daily basis can improve cognitive recovery and improve mood after an acute middle cerebral artery stroke. Extending this study, a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis utilizing cost function masking was performed on the acute and 6-month post-stroke stage structural magnetic resonance imaging data of the patients (n = 49) who either listened to their favorite music [music group (MG), n = 16] or verbal material [audio book group (ABG), n = 18] or did not receive any listening material [control group (CG), n = 15] during the 6-month recovery period. Although all groups showed significant gray matter volume (GMV) increases from the acute to the 6-month stage, there was a specific network of frontal areas [left and right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right medial SFG] and limbic areas [left ventral/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (SACC) and right ventral striatum (VS)] in patients with left hemisphere damage in which the GMV increases were larger in the MG than in the ABG and in the CG. Moreover, the GM reorganization in the frontal areas correlated with enhanced recovery of verbal memory, focused attention, and language skills, whereas the GM reorganization in the SACC correlated with reduced negative mood. This study adds on previous results, showing that music listening after stroke not only enhances behavioral recovery, but also induces fine-grained neuroanatomical changes in the recovering brain. PMID:24860466
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Särkämö, Teppo; Ripollés, Pablo; Vepsäläinen, Henna; Autti, Taina; Silvennoinen, Heli M; Salli, Eero; Laitinen, Sari; Forsblom, Anita; Soinila, Seppo; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni
2014-01-01
Music is a highly complex and versatile stimulus for the brain that engages many temporal, frontal, parietal, cerebellar, and subcortical areas involved in auditory, cognitive, emotional, and motor processing. Regular musical activities have been shown to effectively enhance the structure and function of many brain areas, making music a potential tool also in neurological rehabilitation. In our previous randomized controlled study, we found that listening to music on a daily basis can improve cognitive recovery and improve mood after an acute middle cerebral artery stroke. Extending this study, a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis utilizing cost function masking was performed on the acute and 6-month post-stroke stage structural magnetic resonance imaging data of the patients (n = 49) who either listened to their favorite music [music group (MG), n = 16] or verbal material [audio book group (ABG), n = 18] or did not receive any listening material [control group (CG), n = 15] during the 6-month recovery period. Although all groups showed significant gray matter volume (GMV) increases from the acute to the 6-month stage, there was a specific network of frontal areas [left and right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right medial SFG] and limbic areas [left ventral/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (SACC) and right ventral striatum (VS)] in patients with left hemisphere damage in which the GMV increases were larger in the MG than in the ABG and in the CG. Moreover, the GM reorganization in the frontal areas correlated with enhanced recovery of verbal memory, focused attention, and language skills, whereas the GM reorganization in the SACC correlated with reduced negative mood. This study adds on previous results, showing that music listening after stroke not only enhances behavioral recovery, but also induces fine-grained neuroanatomical changes in the recovering brain.
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Control Networks and Neuromodulators of Early Development
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Posner, Michael I.; Rothbart, Mary K.; Sheese, Brad E.; Voelker, Pascale
2012-01-01
In adults, most cognitive and emotional self-regulation is carried out by a network of brain regions, including the anterior cingulate, insula, and areas of the basal ganglia, related to executive attention. We propose that during infancy, control systems depend primarily upon a brain network involved in orienting to sensory events that includes…
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Gray matter alteration in isolated congenital anosmia patient: a voxel-based morphometry study.
Yao, Linyin; Yi, Xiaoli; Wei, Yongxiang
2013-09-01
Decreased volume of gray matter (GM) was observed in olfactory loss in patients with neurodegenerative disorder. However, GM volume has not yet been investigated in isolated congenital anosmia (ICA) people. We herewith investigated the volume change of gray matter of an ICA boy by morphometric analysis of magnetic resonance images (voxel-based morphometry), and compared with that of 20 age-matched healthy controls. ICA boy presented a significant decrease in GM volume in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, middle cingulate cortex, thalamus, insular cortex, cerebellum, precuneus, gyrus rectus, subcallosal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus and piriform cortex. No significant GM volume increase was detected in other brain areas. The pattern of GM atrophy was similar as previous literature reported. Our results identified similar GM volume alterations regardless of the causes of olfactory impairment. Decreased GM volume was not only shown in olfactory bulbs, olfactory tracts and olfactory sulcus, also in primary olfactory cortex and the secondary cerebral olfactory areas in ICA people. This is the first study to evaluate GM volume alterations in ICA people.
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Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Nouchi, Rui; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nakagawa, Seishu; Makoto Miyauchi, Carlos; Sassa, Yuko; Kawashima, Ryuta
2017-05-03
Working memory training (WMT) induces changes in cognitive function and various neurological systems. Here, we investigated changes in recently developed resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging measures of global information processing [degree of the cortical hub, which may have a central role in information integration in the brain, degree centrality (DC)], the magnitude of intrinsic brain activity [fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF)], and local connectivity (regional homogeneity) in young adults, who either underwent WMT or received no intervention for 4 weeks. Compared with no intervention, WMT increased DC in the anatomical cluster, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Furthermore, WMT increased fALFF in the anatomical cluster including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), frontopolar area and mPFC. WMT increased regional homogeneity in the anatomical cluster that spread from the precuneus to posterior cingulate cortex and posterior parietal cortex. These results suggest WMT-induced plasticity in spontaneous brain activity and global and local information processing in areas of the major networks of the brain during rest.
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Tuning the Brake While Raising the Stake: Network Dynamics during Sequential Decision-Making.
Meder, David; Haagensen, Brian Numelin; Hulme, Oliver; Morville, Tobias; Gelskov, Sofie; Herz, Damian Marc; Diomsina, Beata; Christensen, Mark Schram; Madsen, Kristoffer Hougaard; Siebner, Hartwig Roman
2016-05-11
When gathering valued goods, risk and reward are often coupled and escalate over time, for instance, during foraging, trading, or gambling. This escalating frame requires agents to continuously balance expectations of reward against those of risk. To address how the human brain dynamically computes these tradeoffs, we performed whole-brain fMRI while healthy young individuals engaged in a sequential gambling task. Participants were repeatedly confronted with the option to continue with throwing a die to accumulate monetary reward under escalating risk, or the alternative option to stop to bank the current balance. Within each gambling round, the accumulation of gains gradually increased reaction times for "continue" choices, indicating growing uncertainty in the decision to continue. Neural activity evoked by "continue" choices was associated with growing activity and connectivity of a cortico-subcortical "braking" network that positively scaled with the accumulated gains, including pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), inferior frontal gyrus, caudate, and subthalamic nucleus (STN). The influence of the STN on continue-evoked activity in the pre-SMA was predicted by interindividual differences in risk-aversion attitudes expressed during the gambling task. Furthermore, activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) reflected individual choice tendencies by showing increased activation when subjects made nondefault "continue" choices despite an increasing tendency to stop, but ACC activity did not change in proportion with subjective choice uncertainty. Together, the results implicate a key role of dorsal ACC, pre-SMA, inferior frontal gyrus, and STN in computing the trade-off between escalating reward and risk in sequential decision-making. Using a paradigm where subjects experienced increasing potential rewards coupled with increasing risk, this study addressed two unresolved questions in the field of decision-making: First, we investigated an "inhibitory" network of regions that has so far been investigated with externally cued action inhibition. In this study, we show that the dynamics in this network under increasingly risky decisions are predictive of subjects' risk attitudes. Second, we contribute to a currently ongoing debate about the anterior cingulate cortex's role in sequential foraging decisions by showing that its activity is related to making nondefault choices rather than to choice uncertainty. Copyright © 2016 Meder, Haagensen, et al.
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Motor system evolution and the emergence of high cognitive functions.
Mendoza, Germán; Merchant, Hugo
2014-11-01
In human and nonhuman primates, the cortical motor system comprises a collection of brain areas primarily related to motor control. Existing evidence suggests that no other mammalian group has the number, extension, and complexity of motor-related areas observed in the frontal lobe of primates. Such diversity is probably related to the wide behavioral flexibility that primates display. Indeed, recent comparative anatomical, psychophysical, and neurophysiological studies suggest that the evolution of the motor cortical areas closely correlates with the emergence of high cognitive abilities. Advances in understanding the cortical motor system have shown that these areas are also related to functions previously linked to higher-order associative areas. In addition, experimental observations have shown that the classical distinction between perceptual and motor functions is not strictly followed across cortical areas. In this paper, we review evidence suggesting that evolution of the motor system had a role in the shaping of different cognitive functions in primates. We argue that the increase in the complexity of the motor system has contributed to the emergence of new abilities observed in human and nonhuman primates, including the recognition and imitation of the actions of others, speech perception and production, and the execution and appreciation of the rhythmic structure of music. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Brain fMRI study of crave induced by cue pictures in online game addicts (male adolescents).
Sun, Yueji; Ying, Huang; Seetohul, Ravi M; Xuemei, Wang; Ya, Zheng; Qian, Li; Guoqing, Xu; Ye, Sun
2012-08-01
To study crave-related cerebral regions induced by game figure cues in online game addicts. fMRI brain imaging was done when the subjects were shown picture cues of the WoW (World of Warcraft, Version: 4.1.014250) game. 10 male addicts of WoW were selected as addicts' group, and 10 other healthy male non-addicts who were matched by age, were used as non-game addicts' group. All volunteers participated in fMRI paradigms. WoW associated cue pictures and neutral pictures were shown. We examined functional cerebral regions activated by the pictures with 3.0 T Philips MRI. The imaging signals' database was analyzed by SPM5. The correlation between game craving scores and different image results were assessed. When the game addicts watch the pictures, some brain areas show increased signal activity namely: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporal cortex, cerebellum, right inferior parietal lobule, right cuneus, right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, left caudate nucleus. But in these same brain regions we did not observe remarkable activities in the control group. Differential image signal densities of the addict group were subtracted from the health control group, results of which were expressed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobe and inferior temporal gyrus, cerebellum, right insular and the right angular gyrus. The increased imaging signal densities were significant and positively correlated with the craving scale scores in the bilateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and right inferior parietal lobe. Craving of online game addicts was successfully induced by game cue pictures. Crave related brain areas are: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and right inferior parietal lobe. The brain regions are overlapped with cognitive and emotion related processing brain areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Mindfulness meditation and consciousness: An integrative neuroscientific perspective.
Manuello, Jordi; Vercelli, Ugo; Nani, Andrea; Costa, Tommaso; Cauda, Franco
2016-02-01
Although mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, Western scientific research and healthcare programs have only recently drawn their attention to it. Basically, the concept of mindfulness hinges on focusing on one's own awareness at the present moment. In this review we analyze different hypotheses about the functioning and the cerebral correlates of mindfulness meditation. Since mindfulness is strictly associated with a particular state of consciousness, we also examine some of the most relevant theories that have been proposed as accounts of consciousness. Finally, we suggest that consciousness and mindfulness meditation can be integrated within a neuroscientific perspective, by identifying the brain areas which seem to play an essential role in both, namely the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, insula and thalamus. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Schöberl, Florian; Feil, Katharina; Xiong, Guoming; Bartenstein, Peter; la Fougére, Christian; Jahn, Klaus; Brandt, Thomas; Strupp, Michael; Dieterich, Marianne; Zwergal, Andreas
2017-01-01
Primary orthostatic tremor is a rare neurological disease characterized mainly by a high frequency tremor of the legs while standing. The aim of this study was to identify the common core structures of the oscillatory circuit in orthostatic tremor and how it is modulated by changes of body position. Ten patients with orthostatic tremor and 10 healthy age-matched control subjects underwent a standardized neurological and neuro-ophthalmological examination including electromyographic and posturographic recordings. Task-dependent changes of cerebral glucose metabolism during lying and standing were measured in all subjects by sequential 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography on separate days. Results were compared between groups and conditions. All the orthostatic tremor patients, but no control subject, showed the characteristic 13-18 Hz tremor in coherent muscles during standing, which ceased in the supine position. While lying, patients had a significantly increased regional cerebral glucose metabolism in the pontine tegmentum, the posterior cerebellum (including the dentate nuclei), the ventral intermediate and ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus, and the primary motor cortex bilaterally compared to controls. Similar glucose metabolism changes occurred with clinical manifestation of the tremor during standing. The glucose metabolism was relatively decreased in mesiofrontal cortical areas (i.e. the medial prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex) and the bilateral anterior insula in orthostatic tremor patients while lying and standing. The mesiofrontal hypometabolism correlated with increased body sway in posturography. This study confirms and further elucidates ponto-cerebello-thalamo-primary motor cortical activations underlying primary orthostatic tremor, which presented consistently in a group of patients. Compared to other tremor disorders one characteristic feature in orthostatic tremor seems to be the involvement of the pontine tegmentum in the pathophysiology of tremor generation. High frequency oscillatory properties of pontine tegmental neurons have been reported in pathological oscillatory eye movements. It is remarkable that the characteristic activation and deactivation pattern in orthostatic tremor is already present in the supine position without tremor presentation. Multilevel changes of neuronal excitability during upright stance may trigger activation of the orthostatic tremor network. Based on the functional imaging data described in this study, it is hypothesized that a mesiofrontal deactivation is another characteristic feature of orthostatic tremor and plays a pivotal role in development of postural unsteadiness during prolonged standing. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Stevens, Jennifer S; Kim, Ye Ji; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Reddy, Renuka; Ely, Timothy D; Nemeroff, Charles B; Hudak, Lauren A; Jovanovic, Tanja; Rothbaum, Barbara O; Ressler, Kerry J
2017-06-15
Studies suggest that exaggerated amygdala reactivity is a vulnerability factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, our understanding is limited by a paucity of prospective, longitudinal studies. Recent studies in healthy samples indicate that, relative to reactivity, habituation is a more reliable biomarker of individual differences in amygdala function. We investigated reactivity of the amygdala and cortical areas to repeated threat presentations in a prospective study of PTSD. Participants were recruited from the emergency department of a large level I trauma center within 24 hours of trauma. PTSD symptoms were assessed at baseline and approximately 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after trauma. Growth curve modeling was used to estimate symptom recovery trajectories. Thirty-one individuals participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging around the 1-month assessment, passively viewing fearful and neutral face stimuli. Reactivity (fearful > neutral) and habituation to fearful faces was examined. Amygdala reactivity, but not habituation, 5 to 12 weeks after trauma was positively associated with the PTSD symptom intercept and predicted symptoms at 12 months after trauma. Habituation in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex was positively associated with the slope of PTSD symptoms, such that decreases in ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation over repeated presentations of fearful stimuli predicted increasing symptoms. Findings point to neural signatures of risk for maintaining PTSD symptoms after trauma exposure. Specifically, chronic symptoms were predicted by amygdala hyperreactivity, and poor recovery was predicted by a failure to maintain ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation in response to fearful stimuli. The importance of identifying patients at risk after trauma exposure is discussed. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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An Anterior-to-Posterior Shift in Midline Cortical Activity in Schizophrenia During Self-Reflection
Holt, Daphne J.; Cassidy, Brittany S.; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica R.; Lee, Su Mei; Coombs, Garth; Goff, Donald C.; Gabrieli, John D.; Moran, Joseph M.
2013-01-01
Background Deficits in social cognition, including impairments in self-awareness, contribute to the overall functional disability associated with schizophrenia. Studies in healthy subjects have shown that social cognitive functions, including self-reflection, rely on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate gyrus, and these regions exhibit highly correlated activity during “resting” states. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia show dysfunction of this network during self-reflection and that this abnormal activity is associated with changes in the strength of resting-state correlations between these regions. Methods Activation during self-reflection and control tasks was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 19 patients with schizophrenia and 20 demographically matched control subjects. In addition, the resting-state functional connectivity of midline cortical areas showing abnormal self-reflection-related activation in schizophrenia was measured. Results Compared with control subjects, the schizophrenia patients demonstrated lower activation of the right ventral mPFC and greater activation of the mid/posterior cingulate gyri bilaterally during self-reflection, relative to a control task. A similar pattern was seen during overall social reflection. In addition, functional connectivity between the portion of the left mid/posterior cingulate gyrus showing abnormally elevated activity during self-reflection in schizophrenia, and the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus was lower in the schizophrenia patients compared with control subjects. Conclusions Schizophrenia is associated with an anterior-to-posterior shift in introspection-related activation, as well as changes in functional connectivity, of the midline cortex. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that aberrant midline cortical function contributes to social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. PMID:21144498
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An anterior-to-posterior shift in midline cortical activity in schizophrenia during self-reflection.
Holt, Daphne J; Cassidy, Brittany S; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica R; Lee, Su Mei; Coombs, Garth; Goff, Donald C; Gabrieli, John D; Moran, Joseph M
2011-03-01
Deficits in social cognition, including impairments in self-awareness, contribute to the overall functional disability associated with schizophrenia. Studies in healthy subjects have shown that social cognitive functions, including self-reflection, rely on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate gyrus, and these regions exhibit highly correlated activity during "resting" states. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia show dysfunction of this network during self-reflection and that this abnormal activity is associated with changes in the strength of resting-state correlations between these regions. Activation during self-reflection and control tasks was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 19 patients with schizophrenia and 20 demographically matched control subjects. In addition, the resting-state functional connectivity of midline cortical areas showing abnormal self-reflection-related activation in schizophrenia was measured. Compared with control subjects, the schizophrenia patients demonstrated lower activation of the right ventral mPFC and greater activation of the mid/posterior cingulate gyri bilaterally during self-reflection, relative to a control task. A similar pattern was seen during overall social reflection. In addition, functional connectivity between the portion of the left mid/posterior cingulate gyrus showing abnormally elevated activity during self-reflection in schizophrenia, and the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus was lower in the schizophrenia patients compared with control subjects. Schizophrenia is associated with an anterior-to-posterior shift in introspection-related activation, as well as changes in functional connectivity, of the midline cortex. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that aberrant midline cortical function contributes to social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Wang, Hai-Yang; Zhang, Xiao-Xia; Si, Cui-Ping; Xu, Yang; Liu, Qian; Bian, He-Tao; Zhang, Bing-Wei; Li, Xue-Lin; Yan, Zhong-Rui
2018-01-01
Impairments in emotion regulation, and more specifically in cognitive reappraisal, are thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. However, the available evidence on such deficits is inconsistent. To further illustrate the neurobiological underpinnings of anxiety disorder, the present meta-analysis summarizes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings for cognitive reappraisal tasks and investigates related brain areas. We performed a comprehensive series of meta-analyses of cognitive reappraisal fMRI studies contrasting patients with anxiety disorder with healthy control (HC) subjects, employing an anisotropic effect-size signed differential mapping approach. We also conducted a subgroup analysis of medication status, anxiety disorder subtype, data-processing software, and MRI field strengths. Meta-regression was used to explore the effects of demographics and clinical characteristics. Eight studies, with 11 datasets including 219 patients with anxiety disorder and 227 HC, were identified. Compared with HC, patients with anxiety disorder showed relatively decreased activation of the bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), bilateral parietal cortex, and left fusiform gyrus during cognitive reappraisal. The subgroup analysis, jackknife sensitivity analysis, heterogeneity analysis, and Egger's tests further confirmed these findings. Impaired cognitive reappraisal in anxiety disorder may be the consequence of hypo-activation of the prefrontoparietal network, consistent with insufficient top-down control. Our findings provide robust evidence that functional impairment in prefrontoparietal neuronal circuits may have a significant role in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorder.
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Identifying enhanced cortico-basal ganglia loops associated with prolonged dance training
Li, Gujing; He, Hui; Huang, Mengting; Zhang, Xingxing; Lu, Jing; Lai, Yongxiu; Luo, Cheng; Yao, Dezhong
2015-01-01
Studies have revealed that prolonged, specialized training combined with higher cognitive conditioning induces enhanced brain alternation. In particular, dancers with long-term dance experience exhibit superior motor control and integration with their sensorimotor networks. However, little is known about the functional connectivity patterns of spontaneous intrinsic activities in the sensorimotor network of dancers. Our study examined the functional connectivity density (FCD) of dancers with a mean period of over 10 years of dance training in contrast with a matched non-dancer group without formal dance training using resting-state fMRI scans. FCD was mapped and analyzed, and the functional connectivity (FC) analyses were then performed based on the difference of FCD. Compared to the non-dancers, the dancers exhibited significantly increased FCD in the precentral gyri, postcentral gyri and bilateral putamen. Furthermore, the results of the FC analysis revealed enhanced connections between the middle cingulate cortex and the bilateral putamen and between the precentral and the postcentral gyri. All findings indicated an enhanced functional integration in the cortico-basal ganglia loops that govern motor control and integration in dancers. These findings might reflect improved sensorimotor function for the dancers consequent to long-term dance training. PMID:26035693
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Toward a more precise, clinically--informed pathophysiology of pathological laughing and crying.
Lauterbach, Edward C; Cummings, Jeffrey L; Kuppuswamy, Preetha Sharone
2013-09-01
Involuntary emotional expression disorder (IEED) includes the syndromes of pathological laughing and crying (PLC) and emotional lability (EL). Review of the lesion, epilepsy, and brain stimulation literature leads to an updated pathophysiology of IEED. A volitional system involving frontoparietal (primary motor, premotor, supplementary motor, posterior insular, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), primary sensory and related parietal) corticopontine projections inhibits an emotionally-controlled system involving frontotemporal (orbitofrontal, ventral ACG, anterior insular, inferior temporal, and parahippocampal) projections targeting the amygdala-hypothalamus-periaqueductal gray (PAG)-dorsal tegmentum (dTg) complex that regulates emotional displays. PAG activity is regulated by glutamatergic NMDA, muscarinic M1-3, GABA-A, dopamine D2, norepinephrine alpha-1,2, serotonin 5HT1a, 5HT1b/d, and sigma-1 receptors, with an acetylcholine/GABA balance mediating volitional inhibition of the PAG. Lesions of the volitional corticopontine projections (or of their feedback or processing circuits) can produce PLC. Direct activation of the emotional pathway can result in EL and the laughing or crying of gelastic and dacrystic epilepsy. A criterion-based nosology of PLC and EL subtypes is offered. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The Action Imitation network and motor imitation in children and adolescents with autism.
Wadsworth, Heather M; Maximo, Jose O; Lemelman, Amy R; Clayton, Kacy; Sivaraman, Soumya; Deshpande, Hrishikesh D; Ver Hoef, Lawrence; Kana, Rajesh K
2017-02-20
While deficits in imitation had been reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), its exact nature remains unclear. A dysfunction in mirroring mechanisms (through action imitation) has been proposed by some studies to explain this, although some recent evidence points against this hypothesis. The current study used behavior and functional MRI to examine the integrated functioning of the regions that are considered part of the Action Imitation network (AIN) in children and adolescents with ASD during a motor imitation task. Fourteen ASD and 15 age-and-IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children were asked to imitate a series of hand gestures in the MRI scanner. Intact performance on imitation (accurate imitation of hand gestures outside the scanner) in both ASD and TD groups was accompanied by significantly lower activity in ASD participants, relative to TD, in right angular gyrus, precentral gyrus, and left middle cingulate. In addition, autism traits were found to be significantly correlated with activation in the right angular gyrus. Overall, the findings of this study support the role of AIN in imitation and a potential difference in the recruitment of this network in ASD children. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Santos-Sacchi, Joseph; Song, Lei
2014-04-11
The outer hair cell is electromotile, its membrane motor identified as the protein SLC26a5 (prestin). An area motor model, based on two-state Boltzmann statistics, was developed about two decades ago and derives from the observation that outer hair cell surface area is voltage-dependent. Indeed, aside from the nonlinear capacitance imparted by the voltage sensor charge movement of prestin, linear capacitance (Clin) also displays voltage dependence as motors move between expanded and compact states. Naturally, motor surface area changes alter membrane capacitance. Unit linear motor capacitance fluctuation (δCsa) is on the order of 140 zeptofarads. A recent three-state model of prestin provides an alternative view, suggesting that voltage-dependent linear capacitance changes are not real but only apparent because the two component Boltzmann functions shift their midpoint voltages (Vh) in opposite directions during treatment with salicylate, a known competitor of required chloride binding. We show here using manipulations of nonlinear capacitance with both salicylate and chloride that an enhanced area motor model, including augmented δCsa by salicylate, can accurately account for our novel findings. We also show that although the three-state model implicitly avoids measuring voltage-dependent motor capacitance, it registers δCsa effects as a byproduct of its assessment of Clin, which increases during salicylate treatment as motors are locked in the expanded state. The area motor model, in contrast, captures the characteristics of the voltage dependence of δCsa, leading to a better understanding of prestin.
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De Ridder, Dirk; Vanneste, Sven; Kovacs, Silvia; Sunaert, Stefan; Dom, Geert
2011-05-27
It has recently become clear that alcohol addiction might be related to a brain dysfunction, in which a genetic background and environmental factors shape brain mechanisms involved with alcohol consumption. Craving, a major component determining relapses in alcohol abuse has been linked to abnormal activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulated cortex (dACC) and amygdala. We report the results of a patient who underwent rTMS targeting the dACC using a double cone coil in an attempt to suppress very severe intractable alcohol craving. Functional imaging studies consisting of fMRI and resting state EEG were performed before rTMS, after successful rTMS and after unsuccessful rTMS with relapse. Craving was associated with EEG beta activity and connectivity between the dACC and PCC in the patient in comparison to a healthy population, which disappeared after successful rTMS. Cue induced worsening of craving pre-rTMS activated the ACC-vmPFC and PCC on fMRI, as well as the nucleus accumbens area, and lateral frontoparietal areas. The nucleus accumbens, ACC-vmPFC and PCC activation disappeared on fMRI following successful rTMS. Relapse was associated with recurrence of ACC and PCC EEG activity, but in gamma band, in comparison to a healthy population. On fMRI nucleus accumbens, ACC and PCC activation returned to the initial activation pattern. A pathophysiological approach is described to suppress alcohol craving temporarily by rTMS directed at the anterior cingulate. Linking functional imaging changes to craving intensity suggests this approach warrants further exploration. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Pan, Chuxiong; Xue, Fushan; Xian, Junfang; Huang, Yaqi; Wang, Xiaoyi; He, Huiguang
2018-01-01
Background The mechanism of general anesthesia (GA) has been explored for hundreds of years, but unclear. Previous studies indicated a possible correlation between NREM sleep and GA. The purpose of this study is to compare them by in vivo human brain function to probe the neuromechanism of consciousness, so as to find out a clue to GA mechanism. Methods 24 healthy participants were equally assigned to sleep or propofol sedation group by sleeping ability. EEG and Ramsay Sedation Scale were applied to determine sleep stage and sedation depth respectively. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) was acquired at each status. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and seed-based whole brain functional connectivity maps (WB-FC maps) were compared. Results During sleep, ReHo primarily weakened on frontal lobe (especially preoptic area), but strengthened on brainstem. While during sedation, ReHo changed in various brain areas, including cingulate, precuneus, thalamus and cerebellum. Cingulate, fusiform and insula were concomitance of sleep and sedation. Comparing to sleep, FCs between the cortex and subcortical centers (centralized in cerebellum) were significantly attenuated under sedation. As sedation deepening, cerebellum-based FC maps were diminished, while thalamus- and brainstem-based FC maps were increased. Conclusion There’re huge distinctions in human brain function between sleep and GA. Sleep mainly rely on brainstem and frontal lobe function, while sedation is prone to affect widespread functional network. The most significant differences exist in the precuneus and cingulate, which may play important roles in mechanisms of inducing unconciousness by anesthetics. Trial registration Institutional Review Board (IRB) ChiCTR-IOC-15007454. PMID:29486001
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Ju, Gawon; Yoon, In-Young; Lee, Sang Don; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Yoon, Eunjin; Kim, Jeong-Whun
2012-01-01
Decreased cerebral glucose metabolism has been reported in patients with sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), but it has yet to be decided whether cerebral glucose metabolism in SAS can be altered by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate cerebral glucose metabolism changes in patients with SAS after CPAP treatment. Thirteen middle-aged male patients with severe SAS [mean age 49.3 ± 7.2 years, mean apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) 60.4 ± 21.2] and 13 male controls (mean age 46.0 ± 9.4 years, mean AHI 4.1 ± 3.7) participated in the study. All 26 study subjects underwent fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), but SAS patients underwent FDG-PET twice, namely before and 3 months after acceptable CPAP usage. Significant hypometabolism was observed in the bilateral prefrontal areas, left cuneus and left cingulate cortex of SAS patients before CPAP, and after CPAP, significant increases in cortical glucose metabolism were observed in the bilateral precentral gyri and left anterior cingulate cortex. However, these improvements in hypometabolism in both areas were insufficient to reach control levels, and hypometabolism in other regions persisted after CPAP treatment. Reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in the precentral gyrus and the cingulate cortex in patients with SAS was modestly improved by acceptable CPAP treatment. The findings of this study suggest that acceptable CPAP usage cannot completely reverse reduced cerebral glucose metabolism in SAS patients. Further studies are required to evaluate the long-term effects of CPAP treatment with total compliance. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.
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Regional neuronal network failure and cognition in late-onset sporadic Alzheimer disease.
Carter, S F; Embleton, K V; Anton-Rodriguez, J M; Burns, A; Ralph, M A L; Herholz, K
2014-06-01
The severe cognitive deficits in Alzheimer disease are associated with structural lesions in gray and white matter in addition to changes in synaptic function. The current investigation studied the breakdown of the structure and function in regional networks involving the Papez circuit and extended neocortical association areas. Cortical volumetric and diffusion tensor imaging (3T MR imaging), positron-emission tomography with (18)F fluorodeoxyglucose on a high-resolution research tomograph, and comprehensive neuropsychological assessments were performed in patients with late-onset sporadic Alzheimer disease, those with mild cognitive impairment, and elderly healthy controls. Atrophy of the medial temporal lobes was the strongest and most consistent abnormality in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease. Atrophy in the temporal, frontal, and parietal regions was most strongly related to episodic memory deficits, while deficits in semantic cognition were also strongly related to reductions of glucose metabolism in the posterior cingulate cortex and temporoparietal regions. Changes in fractional anisotropy within white matter tracts, particularly in the left cingulum bundle, uncinate fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, were significantly associated with the cognitive deficits in multiple regression analyses. Posterior cingulate and orbitofrontal metabolic deficits appeared to be related to microstructural changes in projecting white matter tracts. Many lesioned network components within the Papez circuit and extended neocortical association areas were significantly associated with cognitive dysfunction in both mild cognitive impairment and late-onset sporadic Alzheimer disease. Hippocampal atrophy was the most prominent lesion, with associated impairment of the uncinate and cingulum white matter microstructures and hippocampal and posterior cingulate metabolic impairment. © 2014 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.
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Pihlajamäki, Maija; Tanila, Heikki; Könönen, Mervi; Hänninen, Tuomo; Aronen, Hannu J; Soininen, Hilkka
2005-10-01
The ventral visual stream processes information about the identity of objects ('what'), whereas the dorsal stream processes the spatial locations of objects ('where'). There is a corresponding, although disputed, distinction for the ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal areas. Furthermore, there seems to be a distinction between the anterior and posterior medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures in the processing of novel items and new spatial arrangements, respectively. Functional differentiation of the intermediary mid-line cortical and temporal neocortical structures that communicate with the occipitotemporal, occipitoparietal, prefrontal, and MTL structures, however, is unclear. Therefore, in the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined whether the distinction among the MTL structures extends to these closely connected cortical areas. The most striking difference in the fMRI responses during visual presentation of changes in either items or their locations was the bilateral activation of the temporal lobe and ventrolateral prefrontal cortical areas for novel object identification in contrast to wide parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal activation for the novel locations of objects. An anterior-posterior distinction of fMRI responses similar to the MTL was observed in the cingulate/retrosplenial, and superior and middle temporal cortices. In addition to the distinct areas of activation, certain frontal, parietal, and temporo-occipital areas responded to both object and spatial novelty, suggesting a common attentional network for both types of changes in the visual environment. These findings offer new insights to the functional roles and intrinsic specialization of the cingulate/retrosplenial, and lateral temporal cortical areas in visuospatial cognition.
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Neural Bases of Language Switching in High and Early Proficient Bilinguals
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Garbin, G.; Costa, A.; Sanjuan, A.; Forn, C.; Rodriguez-Pujadas, A.; Ventura, N.; Belloch, V.; Hernandez, M.; Avila, C.
2011-01-01
The left inferior frontal cortex, the caudate and the anterior cingulate have been proposed as the neural origin of language switching, but most of the studies were conducted in low proficient bilinguals. In the present study, we investigated brain areas involved in language switching in a sample of 19 early, high-proficient Spanish-Catalan…
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Widespread heterogeneous neuronal loss across the cerebral cortex in Huntington's disease.
Nana, Alissa L; Kim, Eric H; Thu, Doris C V; Oorschot, Dorothy E; Tippett, Lynette J; Hogg, Virginia M; Synek, Beth J; Roxburgh, Richard; Waldvogel, Henry J; Faull, Richard L M
2014-01-01
Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by neuronal degeneration in the basal ganglia and cerebral cortex, and a variable symptom profile. Although progressive striatal degeneration is known to occur and is related to symptom profile, little is known about the cellular basis of symptom heterogeneity across the entire cerebral cortex. To investigate this, we have undertaken a double blind study using unbiased stereological cell counting techniques to determine the pattern of cell loss in six representative cortical regions from the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes in the brains of 14 Huntington's disease cases and 15 controls. The results clearly demonstrate a widespread loss of total neurons and pyramidal cells across all cortical regions studied, except for the primary visual cortex. Importantly, the results show that cell loss is remarkably variable both within and between Huntington's disease cases. The results also show that neuronal loss in the primary sensory and secondary visual cortices relate to Huntington's disease motor symptom profiles, and neuronal loss across the associational cortices in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes is related to both Huntington's disease motor and to mood symptom profiles. This finding considerably extends a previous study (Thu et al., Brain, 2010; 133:1094-1110) which showed that neuronal loss in the primary motor cortex was related specifically to the motor symptom profiles while neuronal loss in the anterior cingulate cortex was related specifically to mood symptom profiles. The extent of cortical cell loss in the current study was generally related to the striatal neuropathological grade, but not to CAG repeat length on the HTT gene. Overall our findings show that Huntington's disease is characterized by a heterogeneous pattern of neuronal cell loss across the entire cerebrum which varies with symptom profile.
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Schadl, Kornél; Vassar, Rachel; Cahill-Rowley, Katelyn; Yeom, Kristin W; Stevenson, David K; Rose, Jessica
2018-01-01
Advanced neuroimaging and computational methods offer opportunities for more accurate prognosis. We hypothesized that near-term regional white matter (WM) microstructure, assessed on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), using exhaustive feature selection with cross-validation would predict neurodevelopment in preterm children. Near-term MRI and DTI obtained at 36.6 ± 1.8 weeks postmenstrual age in 66 very-low-birth-weight preterm neonates were assessed. 60/66 had follow-up neurodevelopmental evaluation with Bayley Scales of Infant-Toddler Development, 3rd-edition (BSID-III) at 18-22 months. Linear models with exhaustive feature selection and leave-one-out cross-validation computed based on DTI identified sets of three brain regions most predictive of cognitive and motor function; logistic regression models were computed to classify high-risk infants scoring one standard deviation below mean. Cognitive impairment was predicted (100% sensitivity, 100% specificity; AUC = 1) by near-term right middle-temporal gyrus MD, right cingulate-cingulum MD, left caudate MD. Motor impairment was predicted (90% sensitivity, 86% specificity; AUC = 0.912) by left precuneus FA, right superior occipital gyrus MD, right hippocampus FA. Cognitive score variance was explained (29.6%, cross-validated Rˆ2 = 0.296) by left posterior-limb-of-internal-capsule MD, Genu RD, right fusiform gyrus AD. Motor score variance was explained (31.7%, cross-validated Rˆ2 = 0.317) by left posterior-limb-of-internal-capsule MD, right parahippocampal gyrus AD, right middle-temporal gyrus AD. Search in large DTI feature space more accurately identified neonatal neuroimaging correlates of neurodevelopment.