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Sample records for evoked brain potentials

  1. Brain state-dependence of electrically evoked potentials monitored with head-mounted electronics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Andrew G; Fetz, Eberhard E

    2012-11-01

    Inferring changes in brain connectivity is critical to studies of learning-related plasticity and stimulus-induced conditioning of neural circuits. In addition, monitoring spontaneous fluctuations in connectivity can provide insight into information processing during different brain states. Here, we quantified state-dependent connectivity changes throughout the 24-h sleep-wake cycle in freely behaving monkeys. A novel, head-mounted electronic device was used to electrically stimulate at one site and record evoked potentials at other sites. Electrically evoked potentials (EEPs) revealed the connectivity pattern between several cortical sites and the basal forebrain. We quantified state-dependent changes in the EEPs. Cortico-cortical EEP amplitude increased during slow-wave sleep, compared to wakefulness, while basal-cortical EEP amplitude decreased. The results demonstrate the utility of using portable electronics to document state-dependent connectivity changes in freely behaving primates.

  2. [Forensic application of brainstem auditory evoked potential in patients with brain concussion].

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    Zheng, Xing-Bin; Li, Sheng-Yan; Huang, Si-Xing; Ma, Ke-Xin

    2008-12-01

    To investigate changes of brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) in patients with brain concussion. Nineteen patients with brain concussion were studied with BAEP examination. The data was compared to the healthy persons reported in literatures. The abnormal rate of BAEP for patients with brain concussion was 89.5%. There was a statistically significant difference between the abnormal rate of patients and that of healthy persons (Pconcussion was 73.7%, indicating dysfunction of the brainstem in those patients. BAEP might be helpful in forensic diagnosis of brain concussion.

  3. Use of the Stockwell Transform in the Detection of P300 Evoked Potentials with Low-Cost Brain Sensors

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    Alan F. Pérez-Vidal

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The evoked potential is a neuronal activity that originates when a stimulus is presented. To achieve its detection, various techniques of brain signal processing can be used. One of the most studied evoked potentials is the P300 brain wave, which usually appears between 300 and 500 ms after the stimulus. Currently, the detection of P300 evoked potentials is of great importance due to its unique properties that allow the development of applications such as spellers, lie detectors, and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. The present study was developed to demonstrate the usefulness of the Stockwell transform in the process of identifying P300 evoked potentials using a low-cost electroencephalography (EEG device with only two brain sensors. The acquisition of signals was carried out using the Emotiv EPOC® device—a wireless EEG headset. In the feature extraction, the Stockwell transform was used to obtain time-frequency information. The algorithms of linear discriminant analysis and a support vector machine were used in the classification process. The experiments were carried out with 10 participants; men with an average age of 25.3 years in good health. In general, a good performance (75–92% was obtained in identifying P300 evoked potentials.

  4. Broad-Band Visually Evoked Potentials: Re(convolution in Brain-Computer Interfacing.

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    Jordy Thielen

    Full Text Available Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs allow users to control devices and communicate by using brain activity only. BCIs based on broad-band visual stimulation can outperform BCIs using other stimulation paradigms. Visual stimulation with pseudo-random bit-sequences evokes specific Broad-Band Visually Evoked Potentials (BBVEPs that can be reliably used in BCI for high-speed communication in speller applications. In this study, we report a novel paradigm for a BBVEP-based BCI that utilizes a generative framework to predict responses to broad-band stimulation sequences. In this study we designed a BBVEP-based BCI using modulated Gold codes to mark cells in a visual speller BCI. We defined a linear generative model that decomposes full responses into overlapping single-flash responses. These single-flash responses are used to predict responses to novel stimulation sequences, which in turn serve as templates for classification. The linear generative model explains on average 50% and up to 66% of the variance of responses to both seen and unseen sequences. In an online experiment, 12 participants tested a 6 × 6 matrix speller BCI. On average, an online accuracy of 86% was reached with trial lengths of 3.21 seconds. This corresponds to an Information Transfer Rate of 48 bits per minute (approximately 9 symbols per minute. This study indicates the potential to model and predict responses to broad-band stimulation. These predicted responses are proven to be well-suited as templates for a BBVEP-based BCI, thereby enabling communication and control by brain activity only.

  5. Addition of visual noise boosts evoked potential-based brain-computer interface.

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    Xie, Jun; Xu, Guanghua; Wang, Jing; Zhang, Sicong; Zhang, Feng; Li, Yeping; Han, Chengcheng; Li, Lili

    2014-05-14

    Although noise has a proven beneficial role in brain functions, there have not been any attempts on the dedication of stochastic resonance effect in neural engineering applications, especially in researches of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). In our study, a steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP)-based BCI with periodic visual stimulation plus moderate spatiotemporal noise can achieve better offline and online performance due to enhancement of periodic components in brain responses, which was accompanied by suppression of high harmonics. Offline results behaved with a bell-shaped resonance-like functionality and 7-36% online performance improvements can be achieved when identical visual noise was adopted for different stimulation frequencies. Using neural encoding modeling, these phenomena can be explained as noise-induced input-output synchronization in human sensory systems which commonly possess a low-pass property. Our work demonstrated that noise could boost BCIs in addressing human needs.

  6. Mapping human brain networks with cortico-cortical evoked potentials

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    Keller, Corey J.; Honey, Christopher J.; Mégevand, Pierre; Entz, Laszlo; Ulbert, Istvan; Mehta, Ashesh D.

    2014-01-01

    The cerebral cortex forms a sheet of neurons organized into a network of interconnected modules that is highly expanded in humans and presumably enables our most refined sensory and cognitive abilities. The links of this network form a fundamental aspect of its organization, and a great deal of research is focusing on understanding how information flows within and between different regions. However, an often-overlooked element of this connectivity regards a causal, hierarchical structure of regions, whereby certain nodes of the cortical network may exert greater influence over the others. While this is difficult to ascertain non-invasively, patients undergoing invasive electrode monitoring for epilepsy provide a unique window into this aspect of cortical organization. In this review, we highlight the potential for cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) mapping to directly measure neuronal propagation across large-scale brain networks with spatio-temporal resolution that is superior to traditional neuroimaging methods. We first introduce effective connectivity and discuss the mechanisms underlying CCEP generation. Next, we highlight how CCEP mapping has begun to provide insight into the neural basis of non-invasive imaging signals. Finally, we present a novel approach to perturbing and measuring brain network function during cognitive processing. The direct measurement of CCEPs in response to electrical stimulation represents a potentially powerful clinical and basic science tool for probing the large-scale networks of the human cerebral cortex. PMID:25180306

  7. Brain-stem evoked potentials and noise effects in seagulls.

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    Counter, S A

    1985-01-01

    Brain-stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) recorded from the seagull were large-amplitude, short-latency, vertex-positive deflections which originate in the eighth nerve and several brain-stem nuclei. BAEP waveforms were similar in latency and configurations to that reported for certain other lower vertebrates and some mammals. BAEP recorded at several pure tone frequencies throughout the seagull's auditory spectrum showed an area of heightened auditory sensitivity between 1 and 3 kHz. This range was also found to be the primary bandwidth of the vocalization output of young seagulls. Masking by white noise and pure tones had remarkable effects on several parameters of the BAEP. In general, the tone- and click-induced BAEP were either reduced or obliterated by both pure tone and white noise maskers of specific signal to noise ratios and high intensity levels. The masking effects observed in this study may be related to the manner in which seagulls respond to intense environmental noise. One possible conclusion is that intense environmental noise, such as aircraft engine noise, may severely alter the seagull's localization apparatus and induce sonogenic stress, both of which could cause collisions with low-flying aircraft.

  8. Simultaneous detection of P300 and steady-state visually evoked potentials for hybrid brain-computer interface.

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    Combaz, Adrien; Van Hulle, Marc M

    2015-01-01

    We study the feasibility of a hybrid Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) combining simultaneous visual oddball and Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) paradigms, where both types of stimuli are superimposed on a computer screen. Potentially, such a combination could result in a system being able to operate faster than a purely P300-based BCI and encode more targets than a purely SSVEP-based BCI. We analyse the interactions between the brain responses of the two paradigms, and assess the possibility to detect simultaneously the brain activity evoked by both paradigms, in a series of 3 experiments where EEG data are analysed offline. Despite differences in the shape of the P300 response between pure oddball and hybrid condition, we observe that the classification accuracy of this P300 response is not affected by the SSVEP stimulation. We do not observe either any effect of the oddball stimulation on the power of the SSVEP response in the frequency of stimulation. Finally results from the last experiment show the possibility of detecting both types of brain responses simultaneously and suggest not only the feasibility of such hybrid BCI but also a gain over pure oddball- and pure SSVEP-based BCIs in terms of communication rate.

  9. A Brain Computer Interface for Robust Wheelchair Control Application Based on Pseudorandom Code Modulated Visual Evoked Potential

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mohebbi, Ali; Engelsholm, Signe K.D.; Puthusserypady, Sadasivan

    2015-01-01

    In this pilot study, a novel and minimalistic Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based wheelchair control application was developed. The system was based on pseudorandom code modulated Visual Evoked Potentials (c-VEPs). The visual stimuli in the scheme were generated based on the Gold code...

  10. Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions.

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    Koelsch, Stefan

    2014-03-01

    Music is a universal feature of human societies, partly owing to its power to evoke strong emotions and influence moods. During the past decade, the investigation of the neural correlates of music-evoked emotions has been invaluable for the understanding of human emotion. Functional neuroimaging studies on music and emotion show that music can modulate activity in brain structures that are known to be crucially involved in emotion, such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, hippocampus, insula, cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. The potential of music to modulate activity in these structures has important implications for the use of music in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

  11. A combined brain-computer interface based on P300 potentials and motion-onset visual evoked potentials.

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    Jin, Jing; Allison, Brendan Z; Wang, Xingyu; Neuper, Christa

    2012-04-15

    Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow users to communicate via brain activity alone. Many BCIs rely on the P300 and other event-related potentials (ERPs) that are elicited when target stimuli flash. Although there have been considerable research exploring ways to improve P300 BCIs, surprisingly little work has focused on new ways to change visual stimuli to elicit more recognizable ERPs. In this paper, we introduce a "combined" BCI based on P300 potentials and motion-onset visual evoked potentials (M-VEPs) and compare it with BCIs based on each simple approach (P300 and M-VEP). Offline data suggested that performance would be best in the combined paradigm. Online tests with adaptive BCIs confirmed that our combined approach is practical in an online BCI, and yielded better performance than the other two approaches (P<0.05) without annoying or overburdening the subject. The highest mean classification accuracy (96%) and practical bit rate (26.7bit/s) were obtained from the combined condition. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Four weeks' inhalation exposure of Long Evans rats to 4-tert-butyltoluene: Effect on evoked potentials, behaviour and brain neurochemistry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lam, Henrik Rye; Ladefoged, Ole; Østergaard, Grete

    2000-01-01

    Long-lasting central nervous system (CNS) neurotoxicity of 4-tert-butyltoluene (TBT) has been investigated using electrophysiology, behaviour, and neurochemistry in Long Evans rats exposed by inhalation to 0, 20, or 40 p.p.m. TBT 6 hr/day, 7 days/week for 4 weeks. Flash evoked potentials...... and somatosensory evoked potentials were not affected by TBT In Auditory Brain Stem Response there was no shift in hearing threshold, but the amplitude of the first wave was increased in both exposed groups at high stimulus levels. Three to four months after the end of exposure, behavioural studies in Morris water...... maze and eight-arm maze failed to demonstrate any TBT induced effects. Exposure was followed by a 5 months exposure-free period prior to gross regional and subcellular (synaptosomal) neurochemical investigations of the brain. TBT reduced the NA concentration in whole brain minus cerebellum...

  13. An approach for brain-controlled prostheses based on Scene Graph Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials.

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    Li, Rui; Zhang, Xiaodong; Li, Hanzhe; Zhang, Liming; Lu, Zhufeng; Chen, Jiangcheng

    2018-08-01

    Brain control technology can restore communication between the brain and a prosthesis, and choosing a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) paradigm to evoke electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is an essential step for developing this technology. In this paper, the Scene Graph paradigm used for controlling prostheses was proposed; this paradigm is based on Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) regarding the Scene Graph of a subject's intention. A mathematic model was built to predict SSVEPs evoked by the proposed paradigm and a sinusoidal stimulation method was used to present the Scene Graph stimulus to elicit SSVEPs from subjects. Then, a 2-degree of freedom (2-DOF) brain-controlled prosthesis system was constructed to validate the performance of the Scene Graph-SSVEP (SG-SSVEP)-based BCI. The classification of SG-SSVEPs was detected via the Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) approach. To assess the efficiency of proposed BCI system, the performances of traditional SSVEP-BCI system were compared. Experimental results from six subjects suggested that the proposed system effectively enhanced the SSVEP responses, decreased the degradation of SSVEP strength and reduced the visual fatigue in comparison with the traditional SSVEP-BCI system. The average signal to noise ratio (SNR) of SG-SSVEP was 6.31 ± 2.64 dB, versus 3.38 ± 0.78 dB of traditional-SSVEP. In addition, the proposed system achieved good performances in prosthesis control. The average accuracy was 94.58% ± 7.05%, and the corresponding high information transfer rate (IRT) was 19.55 ± 3.07 bit/min. The experimental results revealed that the SG-SSVEP based BCI system achieves the good performance and improved the stability relative to the conventional approach. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Functional MRI brain imaging studies using the Contact Heat Evoked Potential Stimulator (CHEPS in a human volunteer topical capsaicin pain model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenoy R

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Ravikiran Shenoy1, Katherine Roberts1, Anastasia Papadaki2, Donald McRobbie2, Maarten Timmers3, Theo Meert3, Praveen Anand11Peripheral Neuropathy Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London; 2Imaging Sciences Department, Charing Cross Hospital, London, United Kingdom; 3Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Beerse, BelgiumAbstract: Acute application of topical capsaicin produces spontaneous burning and stinging pain similar to that seen in some neuropathic states, with local hyperalgesia. Use of capsaicin applied topically or injected intradermally has been described as a model for neuropathic pain, with patterns of activation in brain regions assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and positron emission tomography. The Contact Heat Evoked Potential Stimulator (CHEPS is a noninvasive clinically practical method of stimulating cutaneous A-delta nociceptors. In this study, topical capsaicin (1% was applied to the left volar forearm for 15 minutes of twelve adult healthy human volunteers. fMRI scans and a visual analog pain score were recorded during CHEPS stimulation precapsaicin and postcapsaicin application. Following capsaicin application there was a significant increase in visual analog scale (mean ± standard error of the mean; precapsaicin 26.4 ± 5.3; postcapsaicin 48.9 ± 6.0; P < 0.0001. fMRI demonstrated an overall increase in areas of activation, with a significant increase in the contralateral insular signal (mean ± standard error of the mean; precapsaicin 0.434 ± 0.03; postcapsaicin 0.561 ± 0.07; P = 0.047. The authors of this paper recently published a study in which CHEPS-evoked A-delta cerebral potential amplitudes were found to be decreased postcapsaicin application. In patients with neuropathic pain, evoked pain and fMRI brain responses are typically increased, while A-delta evoked potential amplitudes are decreased. The protocol of recording fMRI following CHEPS stimulation

  15. Evoked potentials in pediatric cerebral malaria

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    Minal Bhanushali

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Cortical evoked potentials (EP provide localized data regarding brain function and may offer prognostic information and insights into the pathologic mechanisms of malariamediated cerebral injury. As part of a prospective cohort study, we obtained somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs and brainstem auditory EPs (AEPs within 24 hours of admission on 27 consecutive children admitted with cerebral malaria (CM. Children underwent follow-up for 12 months to determine if they had any long term neurologic sequelae. EPs were obtained in 27 pediatric CM admissions. Two children died. Among survivors followed an average of 514 days, 7/25 (28.0% had at least one adverse neurologic outcome. Only a single subject had absent cortical EPs on admission and this child had a good neurologic outcome. Among pediatric CM survivors, cortical EPs are generally intact and do not predict adverse neurologic outcomes. Further study is needed to determine if alterations in cortical EPs can be used to predict a fatal outcome in CM.

  16. Objective correlate of subjective pain perception by contact heat-evoked potentials.

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    Granovsky, Yelena; Granot, Michal; Nir, Rony-Reuven; Yarnitsky, David

    2008-01-01

    The method of pain-evoked potentials has gained considerable acceptance over the last 3 decades regarding its objectivity, repeatability, and quantifiability. The present study explored whether the relationship between pain-evoked potentials and pain psychophysics obtained by contact heat stimuli is similar to those observed for the conventionally used laser stimulation. Evoked potentials (EPs) were recorded in response to contact heat stimuli at different body sites in 24 healthy volunteers. Stimuli at various temperatures were applied to the forearm (43 degrees C, 46 degrees C, 49 degrees C, and 52 degrees C) and leg (46 degrees C and 49 degrees C). The amplitudes of both components (N2 and P2) were strongly associated with the intensity of the applied stimuli and with subjective pain perception. Yet, regression analysis revealed pain perception and not stimulus intensity as the major contributing factor. A significant correlation was found between the forearm and the leg for both psychophysics and EPs amplitude. Contact heat can generate readily distinguishable evoked potentials on the scalp, consistent between upper and lower limbs. Although these potentials bear positive correlation with both stimulus intensity and pain magnitude, the latter is the main contributor to the evoked brain response.

  17. Cortical evoked potentials to an auditory illusion: binaural beats.

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    Pratt, Hillel; Starr, Arnold; Michalewski, Henry J; Dimitrijevic, Andrew; Bleich, Naomi; Mittelman, Nomi

    2009-08-01

    To define brain activity corresponding to an auditory illusion of 3 and 6Hz binaural beats in 250Hz or 1000Hz base frequencies, and compare it to the sound onset response. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to unmodulated tones of 250 or 1000Hz to one ear and 3 or 6Hz higher to the other, creating an illusion of amplitude modulations (beats) of 3Hz and 6Hz, in base frequencies of 250Hz and 1000Hz. Tones were 2000ms in duration and presented with approximately 1s intervals. Latency, amplitude and source current density estimates of ERP components to tone onset and subsequent beats-evoked oscillations were determined and compared across beat frequencies with both base frequencies. All stimuli evoked tone-onset P(50), N(100) and P(200) components followed by oscillations corresponding to the beat frequency, and a subsequent tone-offset complex. Beats-evoked oscillations were higher in amplitude with the low base frequency and to the low beat frequency. Sources of the beats-evoked oscillations across all stimulus conditions located mostly to left lateral and inferior temporal lobe areas in all stimulus conditions. Onset-evoked components were not different across stimulus conditions; P(50) had significantly different sources than the beats-evoked oscillations; and N(100) and P(200) sources located to the same temporal lobe regions as beats-evoked oscillations, but were bilateral and also included frontal and parietal contributions. Neural activity with slightly different volley frequencies from left and right ear converges and interacts in the central auditory brainstem pathways to generate beats of neural activity to modulate activities in the left temporal lobe, giving rise to the illusion of binaural beats. Cortical potentials recorded to binaural beats are distinct from onset responses. Brain activity corresponding to an auditory illusion of low frequency beats can be recorded from the scalp.

  18. Associative learning in humans--conditioning of sensory-evoked brain activity.

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    Skrandies, W; Jedynak, A

    2000-01-01

    A classical conditioning paradigm was employed in two experiments performed on 35 human volunteers. In nine subjects, the presentation of Landolt rings (conditioned stimuli, CS + ) was paired with an electric stimulus (unconditioned stimuli, UCS) applied to the left median nerve. Neutral visual control stimuli were full circles (CS -) that were not paired with the UCS. The skin conductance response (SCR) was determined in a time interval of 5 s after onset of the visual stimuli, and it was measured in the acquisition and test phase. Associative learning was reflected by a SCR occurring selectively with CS +. The same experiment was repeated with another group of 26 adults while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from 30 electrodes. For each subject, mean evoked potentials were computed. In 13 of the subjects, a conditioning paradigm was followed while the other subjects served as the control group (non-contingent stimulation). There were somatosensory and visual brain activity evoked by the stimuli. Conditioned components were identified by computing cross-correlation between evoked somatosensory components and the averaged EEG. In the visual evoked brain activity, three components with mean latencies of 105.4, 183.2, and 360.3 ms were analyzed. Somatosensory stimuli were followed by major components that occurred at mean latencies of 48.8, 132.5, 219.7, 294.8, and 374.2 ms latency after the shock. All components were analyzed in terms of latency, field strength, and topographic characteristics, and were compared between groups and experimental conditions. Both visual and somatosensory brain activity was significantly affected by classical conditioning. Our data illustrate how associative learning affects the topography of brain electrical activity elicited by presentation of conditioned visual stimuli.

  19. Stimulus specificity of a steady-state visual-evoked potential-based brain-computer interface

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    Ng, Kian B.; Bradley, Andrew P.; Cunnington, Ross

    2012-06-01

    The mechanisms of neural excitation and inhibition when given a visual stimulus are well studied. It has been established that changing stimulus specificity such as luminance contrast or spatial frequency can alter the neuronal activity and thus modulate the visual-evoked response. In this paper, we study the effect that stimulus specificity has on the classification performance of a steady-state visual-evoked potential-based brain-computer interface (SSVEP-BCI). For example, we investigate how closely two visual stimuli can be placed before they compete for neural representation in the cortex and thus influence BCI classification accuracy. We characterize stimulus specificity using the four stimulus parameters commonly encountered in SSVEP-BCI design: temporal frequency, spatial size, number of simultaneously displayed stimuli and their spatial proximity. By varying these quantities and measuring the SSVEP-BCI classification accuracy, we are able to determine the parameters that provide optimal performance. Our results show that superior SSVEP-BCI accuracy is attained when stimuli are placed spatially more than 5° apart, with size that subtends at least 2° of visual angle, when using a tagging frequency of between high alpha and beta band. These findings may assist in deciding the stimulus parameters for optimal SSVEP-BCI design.

  20. Steady State Visual Evoked Potential Based Brain-Computer Interface for Cognitive Assessment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Westergren, Nicolai; Bendtsen, Rasmus L.; Kjær, Troels W.

    2016-01-01

    decline is important. Cognitive decline may be detected using fullyautomated computerized assessment. Such systems will provide inexpensive and widely available screenings of cognitive ability. The aim of this pilot study is to develop a real time steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) based brain-computer...... interface (BCI) for neurological cognitive assessment. It is intended for use by patients who suffer from diseases impairing their motor skills, but are still able to control their gaze. Results are based on 11 healthy test subjects. The system performance have an average accuracy of 100% ± 0%. The test...... subjects achieved an information transfer rate (ITR) of 14:64 bits/min ± 7:63 bits=min and a subject test performance of 47:22% ± 34:10%. This study suggests that BCI may be applicable in practice as a computerized cognitive assessment tool. However, many improvements are required for the system...

  1. High-frequency combination coding-based steady-state visual evoked potential for brain computer interface

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Feng; Zhang, Xin; Xie, Jun; Li, Yeping; Han, Chengcheng; Lili, Li; Wang, Jing [School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Xu, Guang-Hua [School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710054 (China)

    2015-03-10

    This study presents a new steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm for brain computer interface (BCI) systems. The goal of this study is to increase the number of targets using fewer stimulation high frequencies, with diminishing subject’s fatigue and reducing the risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures. The new paradigm is High-Frequency Combination Coding-Based High-Frequency Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (HFCC-SSVEP).Firstly, we studied SSVEP high frequency(beyond 25 Hz)response of SSVEP, whose paradigm is presented on the LED. The SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of high frequency(beyond 40 Hz) response is very low, which is been unable to be distinguished through the traditional analysis method; Secondly we investigated the HFCC-SSVEP response (beyond 25 Hz) for 3 frequencies (25Hz, 33.33Hz, and 40Hz), HFCC-SSVEP produces n{sup n} with n high stimulation frequencies through Frequence Combination Code. Further, Animproved Hilbert-huang transform (IHHT)-based variable frequency EEG feature extraction method and a local spectrum extreme target identification algorithmare adopted to extract time-frequency feature of the proposed HFCC-SSVEP response.Linear predictions and fixed sifting (iterating) 10 time is used to overcome the shortage of end effect and stopping criterion,generalized zero-crossing (GZC) is used to compute the instantaneous frequency of the proposed SSVEP respondent signals, the improved HHT-based feature extraction method for the proposed SSVEP paradigm in this study increases recognition efficiency, so as to improve ITR and to increase the stability of the BCI system. what is more, SSVEPs evoked by high-frequency stimuli (beyond 25Hz) minimally diminish subject’s fatigue and prevent safety hazards linked to photo-induced epileptic seizures, So as to ensure the system efficiency and undamaging.This study tests three subjects in order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

  2. High-frequency combination coding-based steady-state visual evoked potential for brain computer interface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Feng; Zhang, Xin; Xie, Jun; Li, Yeping; Han, Chengcheng; Lili, Li; Wang, Jing; Xu, Guang-Hua

    2015-01-01

    This study presents a new steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm for brain computer interface (BCI) systems. The goal of this study is to increase the number of targets using fewer stimulation high frequencies, with diminishing subject’s fatigue and reducing the risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures. The new paradigm is High-Frequency Combination Coding-Based High-Frequency Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (HFCC-SSVEP).Firstly, we studied SSVEP high frequency(beyond 25 Hz)response of SSVEP, whose paradigm is presented on the LED. The SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of high frequency(beyond 40 Hz) response is very low, which is been unable to be distinguished through the traditional analysis method; Secondly we investigated the HFCC-SSVEP response (beyond 25 Hz) for 3 frequencies (25Hz, 33.33Hz, and 40Hz), HFCC-SSVEP produces n n with n high stimulation frequencies through Frequence Combination Code. Further, Animproved Hilbert-huang transform (IHHT)-based variable frequency EEG feature extraction method and a local spectrum extreme target identification algorithmare adopted to extract time-frequency feature of the proposed HFCC-SSVEP response.Linear predictions and fixed sifting (iterating) 10 time is used to overcome the shortage of end effect and stopping criterion,generalized zero-crossing (GZC) is used to compute the instantaneous frequency of the proposed SSVEP respondent signals, the improved HHT-based feature extraction method for the proposed SSVEP paradigm in this study increases recognition efficiency, so as to improve ITR and to increase the stability of the BCI system. what is more, SSVEPs evoked by high-frequency stimuli (beyond 25Hz) minimally diminish subject’s fatigue and prevent safety hazards linked to photo-induced epileptic seizures, So as to ensure the system efficiency and undamaging.This study tests three subjects in order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method

  3. Serial recording of median nerve stimulated subcortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in developing brain death.

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    Buchner, H; Ferbert, A; Hacke, W

    1988-01-01

    Subcortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were recorded serially in 35 patients during the evolution towards brain death and in brain death. Neuropathological alterations of the central nervous system down to the C1/C2 spinal cord segment in brain death are well known. SEP components supposed to be generated above this level should be lost in brain death, while components generated below should not be altered. Erb's point, scalp and neck potentials were recorded at C3/4, or over the spinous process C7, using an Fz reference. In 10 patients additional montages, including spinous process C2-Fz, a non-cephalic reference (Fz-contralateral shoulder) and a posterior to anterior neck montage (spinous process C7-jugulum) were used. The cephalic referenced N9 and N11 peaks remained unchanged until brain death. N9 and N11 decreased in parallel in amplitude and increased in latency after systemic effects like hypoxia or hypothermia occurred. The cephalic referenced 'N14' decreased in amplitude and increased in latency after the clinical brain death syndrome was observed, while N13 in the posterior to anterior neck montage remained unchanged. The alteration of 'N14' went parallel to the decrease of the P14 amplitude. The subcortical SEPs in the cephalic referenced lead are supposed to be a peak composed by a horizontally orientated dorsal horn generated N13 and a rostrally orientated P14 arising at the level of the foramen magnum. The deterioration of the non-cephalic referenced P14 and of its cephalic referenced reflection 'N14' seems to provide an additional objective criterion for the diagnosis of brain death.

  4. A new method for registration of kinesthetic evoked potentials for studies of proprioceptive sensitivity in normal subjects and patients with organic lesions in the brain.

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    Gordeev, S A; Voronin, S G

    2015-01-01

    The proprioceptive sensitivity of healthy volunteers and convalescents after acute cerebrovascular episodes was studied by a new neurophysiological method for registration of kinesthetic evoked potentials emerging in response to passive 50(o) bending of the hand in the wrist joint with the angular acceleration of 350 rad/sec(2). Kinesthetic evoked potentials were recorded above the somatosensory cortex projection areas in the hemispheres contra- and ipsilateral to the stimulated limb. The patients exhibited significantly longer latencies and lesser amplitudes of the early components of response in the involved hemisphere in comparison with normal subjects. The method for registration of the kinesthetic evoked potentials allows a more detailed study of the mechanisms of kinesthetic sensitivity in health and in organic involvement of the brain.

  5. Recovery function of the human brain stem auditory-evoked potential.

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    Kevanishvili, Z; Lagidze, Z

    1979-01-01

    Amplitude reduction and peak latency prolongation were observed in the human brain stem auditory-evoked potential (BEP) with preceding (conditioning) stimulation. At a conditioning interval (CI) of 5 ms the alteration of BEP was greater than at a CI of 10 ms. At a CI of 10 ms the amplitudes of some BEP components (e.g. waves I and II) were more decreased than those of others (e.g. wave V), while the peak latency prolongation did not show any obvious component selectivity. At a CI of 5 ms, the extent of the amplitude decrement of individual BEP components differed less, while the increase in the peak latencies of the later components was greater than that of the earlier components. The alterations of the parameters of the test BEPs at both CIs are ascribed to the desynchronization of intrinsic neural events. The differential amplitude reduction at a CI of 10 ms is explained by the different durations of neural firings determining various effects of desynchronization upon the amplitudes of individual BEP components. The decrease in the extent of the component selectivity and the preferential increase in the peak latencies of the later BEP components observed at a CI of 5 ms are explained by the intensification of the mechanism of the relative refractory period.

  6. DEPRESSION OF THE PHOTIC AFTER DISCHARGE OF FLASH EVOKED POTENTIALS BY PHYSOSTIGMINE, CARBARYL AND PROPOXUR AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO INHIBITION OF BRAIN CHOLINESTERASE

    Science.gov (United States)

    The effects of N-methyl carbamate pesticides on the photic after discharge (PhAD) of flash evoked potentials (FEPs) and the relationship between inhibition of brain cholinesterase (ChE) activity and the PhAD were evaluated. FEPs were recorded in Long Evans rats treated with physo...

  7. Effect of mechanical tactile noise on amplitude of visual evoked potentials: multisensory stochastic resonance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Méndez-Balbuena, Ignacio; Huidobro, Nayeli; Silva, Mayte; Flores, Amira; Trenado, Carlos; Quintanar, Luis; Arias-Carrión, Oscar; Kristeva, Rumyana; Manjarrez, Elias

    2015-10-01

    The present investigation documents the electrophysiological occurrence of multisensory stochastic resonance in the human visual pathway elicited by tactile noise. We define multisensory stochastic resonance of brain evoked potentials as the phenomenon in which an intermediate level of input noise of one sensory modality enhances the brain evoked response of another sensory modality. Here we examined this phenomenon in visual evoked potentials (VEPs) modulated by the addition of tactile noise. Specifically, we examined whether a particular level of mechanical Gaussian noise applied to the index finger can improve the amplitude of the VEP. We compared the amplitude of the positive P100 VEP component between zero noise (ZN), optimal noise (ON), and high mechanical noise (HN). The data disclosed an inverted U-like graph for all the subjects, thus demonstrating the occurrence of a multisensory stochastic resonance in the P100 VEP. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  8. Phantom somatosensory evoked potentials following selective intraneural electrical stimulation in two amputees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granata, Giuseppe; Di Iorio, Riccardo; Romanello, Roberto; Iodice, Francesco; Raspopovic, Stanisa; Petrini, Francesco; Strauss, Ivo; Valle, Giacomo; Stieglitz, Thomas; Čvančara, Paul; Andreu, David; Divoux, Jean-Louis; Guiraud, David; Wauters, Loic; Hiairrassary, Arthur; Jensen, Winnie; Micera, Silvestro; Rossini, Paolo Maria

    2018-06-01

    The aim of the paper is to objectively demonstrate that amputees implanted with intraneural interfaces are truly able to feel a sensation in the phantom hand by recording "phantom" somatosensory evoked potentials from the corresponding brain areas. We implanted four transverse intrafascicular multichannel electrodes, available with percutaneous connections to a multichannel electrical stimulator, in the median and ulnar nerves of two left trans-radial amputees. Two channels of the implants that were able to elicit sensations during intraneural nerve stimulation were chosen, in both patients, for recording somatosensory evoked potentials. We recorded reproducible evoked responses by stimulating the median and the ulnar nerves in both cases. Latencies were in accordance with the arrival of somatosensory information to the primary somatosensory cortex. Our results provide evidence that sensations generated by intraneural stimulation are truly perceived by amputees and located in the phantom hand. Moreover, our results strongly suggest that sensations perceived in different parts of the phantom hand result in different evoked responses. Somatosensory evoked potentials obtained by selective intraneural electrical stimulation in amputee patients are a useful tool to provide an objective demonstration of somatosensory feedback in new generation bidirectional prostheses. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Deep brain stimulation of the ventral hippocampus restores deficits in processing of auditory evoked potentials in a rodent developmental disruption model of schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewing, Samuel G; Grace, Anthony A

    2013-02-01

    Existing antipsychotic drugs are most effective at treating the positive symptoms of schizophrenia but their relative efficacy is low and they are associated with considerable side effects. In this study deep brain stimulation of the ventral hippocampus was performed in a rodent model of schizophrenia (MAM-E17) in an attempt to alleviate one set of neurophysiological alterations observed in this disorder. Bipolar stimulating electrodes were fabricated and implanted, bilaterally, into the ventral hippocampus of rats. High frequency stimulation was delivered bilaterally via a custom-made stimulation device and both spectral analysis (power and coherence) of resting state local field potentials and amplitude of auditory evoked potential components during a standard inhibitory gating paradigm were examined. MAM rats exhibited alterations in specific components of the auditory evoked potential in the infralimbic cortex, the core of the nucleus accumbens, mediodorsal thalamic nucleus, and ventral hippocampus in the left hemisphere only. DBS was effective in reversing these evoked deficits in the infralimbic cortex and the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus of MAM-treated rats to levels similar to those observed in control animals. In contrast stimulation did not alter evoked potentials in control rats. No deficits or stimulation-induced alterations were observed in the prelimbic and orbitofrontal cortices, the shell of the nucleus accumbens or ventral tegmental area. These data indicate a normalization of deficits in generating auditory evoked potentials induced by a developmental disruption by acute high frequency, electrical stimulation of the ventral hippocampus. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Examining sensory ability, feature matching and assessment-based adaptation for a brain-computer interface using the steady-state visually evoked potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brumberg, Jonathan S; Nguyen, Anh; Pitt, Kevin M; Lorenz, Sean D

    2018-01-31

    We investigated how overt visual attention and oculomotor control influence successful use of a visual feedback brain-computer interface (BCI) for accessing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices in a heterogeneous population of individuals with profound neuromotor impairments. BCIs are often tested within a single patient population limiting generalization of results. This study focuses on examining individual sensory abilities with an eye toward possible interface adaptations to improve device performance. Five individuals with a range of neuromotor disorders participated in four-choice BCI control task involving the steady state visually evoked potential. The BCI graphical interface was designed to simulate a commercial AAC device to examine whether an integrated device could be used successfully by individuals with neuromotor impairment. All participants were able to interact with the BCI and highest performance was found for participants able to employ an overt visual attention strategy. For participants with visual deficits to due to impaired oculomotor control, effective performance increased after accounting for mismatches between the graphical layout and participant visual capabilities. As BCIs are translated from research environments to clinical applications, the assessment of BCI-related skills will help facilitate proper device selection and provide individuals who use BCI the greatest likelihood of immediate and long term communicative success. Overall, our results indicate that adaptations can be an effective strategy to reduce barriers and increase access to BCI technology. These efforts should be directed by comprehensive assessments for matching individuals to the most appropriate device to support their complex communication needs. Implications for Rehabilitation Brain computer interfaces using the steady state visually evoked potential can be integrated with an augmentative and alternative communication device to provide access

  11. Premature infants display increased noxious-evoked neuronal activity in the brain compared to healthy age-matched term-born infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, Rebeccah; Fabrizi, Lorenzo; Worley, Alan; Meek, Judith; Boyd, Stewart; Fitzgerald, Maria

    2010-08-15

    This study demonstrates that infants who are born prematurely and who have experienced at least 40days of intensive or special care have increased brain neuronal responses to noxious stimuli compared to healthy newborns at the same postmenstrual age. We have measured evoked potentials generated by noxious clinically-essential heel lances in infants born at term (8 infants; born 37-40weeks) and in infants born prematurely (7 infants; born 24-32weeks) who had reached the same postmenstrual age (mean age at time of heel lance 39.2+/-1.2weeks). These noxious-evoked potentials are clearly distinguishable from shorter latency potentials evoked by non-noxious tactile sensory stimulation. While the shorter latency touch potentials are not dependent on the age of the infant at birth, the noxious-evoked potentials are significantly larger in prematurely-born infants. This enhancement is not associated with specific brain lesions but reflects a functional change in pain processing in the brain that is likely to underlie previously reported changes in pain sensitivity in older ex-preterm children. Our ability to quantify and measure experience-dependent changes in infant cortical pain processing will allow us to develop a more rational approach to pain management in neonatal intensive care. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Evoked bioelectrical brain activity following exposure to ionizing radiation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loganovsky, K; Kuts, K

    2017-12-01

    The article provides an overview of modern physiological evidence to support the hypothesis on cortico limbic sys tem dysfunction due to the hippocampal neurogenesis impairment as a basis of the brain interhemispheric asym metry and neurocognitive deficit after radiation exposure. The importance of the research of both evoked poten tials and fields as a highly sensitive and informative method is emphasized.Particular attention is paid to cerebral sensor systems dysfunction as a typical effect of ionizing radiation. Changes in functioning of the central parts of sensory analyzers of different modalities as well as the violation of brain integrative information processes under the influence of small doses of ionizing radiation can be critical when determining the radiation risks of space flight. The possible long term prospects for manned flights into space, including to Mars, given the effects identified are discussed. Potential risks to the central nervous system during space travel comprise cognitive functions impairment, including the volume of short term memory short ening, impaired motor functions, behavioral changes that could affect human performance and health. The remote risks for CNS are considered to be the following possible neuropsychiatric disorders: accelerated brain aging, Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. The new radiocerebral dose dependent effect, when applied cog nitive auditory evoked potentials P300 technique with a possible threshold dose of 0.05 Gy, manifesting in a form of disruption of information processing in the Wernicke's area is under discussion. In order to identify neurophys iological biological markers of ionizing radiation further international researches with adequate dosimetry support are necessary. K. Loganovsky, K. Kuts.

  13. Orientation-modulated attention effect on visual evoked potential: Application for PIN system using brain-computer interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilaiprasitporn, Theerawit; Yagi, Tohru

    2015-01-01

    This research demonstrates the orientation-modulated attention effect on visual evoked potential. We combined this finding with our previous findings about the motion-modulated attention effect and used the result to develop novel visual stimuli for a personal identification number (PIN) application based on a brain-computer interface (BCI) framework. An electroencephalography amplifier with a single electrode channel was sufficient for our application. A computationally inexpensive algorithm and small datasets were used in processing. Seven healthy volunteers participated in experiments to measure offline performance. Mean accuracy was 83.3% at 13.9 bits/min. Encouraged by these results, we plan to continue developing the BCI-based personal identification application toward real-time systems.

  14. Steady-state evoked potentials possibilities for mental-state estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Junker, Andrew M.; Schnurer, John H.; Ingle, David F.; Downey, Craig W.

    1988-01-01

    The use of the human steady-state evoked potential (SSEP) as a possible measure of mental-state estimation is explored. A method for evoking a visual response to a sum-of-ten sine waves is presented. This approach provides simultaneous multiple frequency measurements of the human EEG to the evoking stimulus in terms of describing functions (gain and phase) and remnant spectra. Ways in which these quantities vary with the addition of performance tasks (manual tracking, grammatical reasoning, and decision making) are presented. Models of the describing function measures can be formulated using systems engineering technology. Relationships between model parameters and performance scores during manual tracking are discussed. Problems of unresponsiveness and lack of repeatability of subject responses are addressed in terms of a need for loop closure of the SSEP. A technique to achieve loop closure using a lock-in amplifier approach is presented. Results of a study designed to test the effectiveness of using feedback to consciously connect humans to their evoked response are presented. Findings indicate that conscious control of EEG is possible. Implications of these results in terms of secondary tasks for mental-state estimation and brain actuated control are addressed.

  15. Skin denervation does not alter cortical potentials to surface concentric electrode stimulation: A comparison with laser evoked potentials and contact heat evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Cesa, S; Di Stefano, G; Leone, C; Pepe, A; Galosi, E; Alu, F; Fasolino, A; Cruccu, G; Valeriani, M; Truini, A

    2018-01-01

    In the neurophysiological assessment of patients with neuropathic pain, laser evoked potentials (LEPs), contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and the evoked potentials by the intraepidermal electrical stimulation via concentric needle electrode are widely agreed as nociceptive specific responses; conversely, the nociceptive specificity of evoked potentials by surface concentric electrode (SE-PREPs) is still debated. In this neurophysiological study we aimed at verifying the nociceptive specificity of SE-PREPs. We recorded LEPs, CHEPs and SE-PREPs in eleven healthy participants, before and after epidermal denervation produced by prolonged capsaicin application. We also used skin biopsy to verify the capsaicin-induced nociceptive nerve fibre loss in the epidermis. We found that whereas LEPs and CHEPs were suppressed after capsaicin-induced epidermal denervation, the surface concentric electrode stimulation of the same denervated skin area yielded unchanged SE-PREPs. The suppression of LEPs and CHEPs after nociceptive nerve fibre loss in the epidermis indicates that these techniques are selectively mediated by nociceptive system. Conversely, the lack of SE-PREP changes suggests that SE-PREPs do not provide selective information on nociceptive system function. Capsaicin-induced epidermal denervation abolishes laser evoked potentials (LEPs) and contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs), but leaves unaffected pain-related evoked potentials by surface concentric electrode (SE-PREPs). These findings suggest that unlike LEPs and CHEPs, SE-PREPs are not selectively mediated by nociceptive system. © 2017 European Pain Federation - EFIC®.

  16. Normalization of auditory evoked potential and visual evoked potential in patients with idiot savant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, X; Zhang, M; Wang, J; Lou, F; Liang, J

    1999-03-01

    To investigate the variations of auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and visual evoked potentials (VEP) of patients with idiot savant (IS) syndrome. Both AEP and VEP were recorded from 7 patients with IS syndrome, 21 mentally retarded (MR) children without the syndrome and 21 normally age-matched controls, using a Dantec concerto SEEG-16 BEAM instrument. Both AEP and VEP of MR group showed significantly longer latencies (P1 and P2 latencies of AEP, P savant syndrome presented normalized AEP and VEP.

  17. A comparison of auditory evoked potentials to acoustic beats and to binaural beats

    OpenAIRE

    Pratt, H; Starr, A; Michalewski, HJ; Dimitrijevic, A; Bleich, N; Mittelman, N

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare cortical brain responses evoked by amplitude modulated acoustic beats of 3 and 6 Hz in tones of 250 and 1000 Hz with those evoked by their binaural beats counterparts in unmodulated tones to indicate whether the cortical processes involved differ. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to 3- and 6-Hz acoustic and binaural beats in 2000 ms duration 250 and 1000 Hz tones presented with approximately 1 s intervals. Latency, amplitude and source cur...

  18. Brain evoked potentials to noxious sural nerve stimulation in sciatalgic patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willer, J C; De Broucker, T; Barranquero, A; Kahn, M F

    1987-07-01

    In sciatalgic patients and before any treatment, the goal of this work was to compare the amplitude of the late component (N150-P220) of the brain evoked potential (BEP) between resting pain-free conditions and a neurological induced pain produced by the Lasègue manoeuvre. The study was carried out with 8 inpatients affected with a unilateral sciatica resulting from an X-ray identified dorsal root compression from discal origin. The sural nerve was electrically stimulated at the ankle level while BEPs were recorded monopolarly from the vertex. The stimulus intensity eliciting a liminal nociceptive reflex response in a knee-flexor muscle associated with a liminal pain was selected for this study. Both normal and affected side were alternatively stimulated during several conditions of controls and of Lasègue's manoeuvres performed on the normal and on the affected side. Results show that the Lasègue manoeuvre performed on the affected side induced a significant increase in the amplitude of N150-P220; performed on the normal side, this same manoeuvre resulted in a significant decrease of the N150-P220 amplitude. These variations were observed whatever was the side (normal or affected) under sural nerve stimulation. The possible neural mechanisms of these changes and clinical implications of these data are then discussed.

  19. Single-trial detection of visual evoked potentials by common spatial patterns and wavelet filtering for brain-computer interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Yiheng; Huang, Gan; Hung, Yeung Sam; Hu, Li; Hu, Yong; Zhang, Zhiguo

    2013-01-01

    Event-related potentials (ERPs) are widely used in brain-computer interface (BCI) systems as input signals conveying a subject's intention. A fast and reliable single-trial ERP detection method can be used to develop a BCI system with both high speed and high accuracy. However, most of single-trial ERP detection methods are developed for offline EEG analysis and thus have a high computational complexity and need manual operations. Therefore, they are not applicable to practical BCI systems, which require a low-complexity and automatic ERP detection method. This work presents a joint spatial-time-frequency filter that combines common spatial patterns (CSP) and wavelet filtering (WF) for improving the signal-to-noise (SNR) of visual evoked potentials (VEP), which can lead to a single-trial ERP-based BCI.

  20. [Recommendations for the clinical use of motor evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández, V; Valls-Sole, J; Relova, J L; Raguer, N; Miralles, F; Dinca, L; Taramundi, S; Costa-Frossard, L; Ferrandiz, M; Ramió-Torrentà, Ll; Villoslada, P; Saiz, A; Calles, C; Antigüedad, A; Alvarez-Cermeño, J C; Prieto, J M; Izquierdo, G; Montalbán, X; Fernández, O

    2013-09-01

    To establish clinical guidelines for the clinical use and interpretation of motor evoked potentials (MEP) in diagnosing and monitoring patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Recommendations for MEP use and interpretation will help us rationalise and optimise resources used in MS patient diagnosis and follow up. We completed an extensive literature review and pooled our own data to produce a consensus statement with recommendations for the clinical use of MEPs in the study of MS. MEPs, in addition to spinal and cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), help us diagnose and assess MS patients whose disease initially presents as spinal cord syndrome and those with non-specific brain MRI findings, or a normal brain MRI and clinical signs of MS. Whenever possible, a multimodal evoked potential study should be performed on patients with suspected MS in order to demonstrate involvement of the motor pathway which supports a diagnosis of dissemination in space. Copyright © 2012 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  1. An automated and fast approach to detect single-trial visual evoked potentials with application to brain-computer interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tu, Yiheng; Hung, Yeung Sam; Hu, Li; Huang, Gan; Hu, Yong; Zhang, Zhiguo

    2014-12-01

    This study aims (1) to develop an automated and fast approach for detecting visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in single trials and (2) to apply the single-trial VEP detection approach in designing a real-time and high-performance brain-computer interface (BCI) system. The single-trial VEP detection approach uses common spatial pattern (CSP) as a spatial filter and wavelet filtering (WF) a temporal-spectral filter to jointly enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of single-trial VEPs. The performance of the joint spatial-temporal-spectral filtering approach was assessed in a four-command VEP-based BCI system. The offline classification accuracy of the BCI system was significantly improved from 67.6±12.5% (raw data) to 97.3±2.1% (data filtered by CSP and WF). The proposed approach was successfully implemented in an online BCI system, where subjects could make 20 decisions in one minute with classification accuracy of 90%. The proposed single-trial detection approach is able to obtain robust and reliable VEP waveform in an automatic and fast way and it is applicable in VEP based online BCI systems. This approach provides a real-time and automated solution for single-trial detection of evoked potentials or event-related potentials (EPs/ERPs) in various paradigms, which could benefit many applications such as BCI and intraoperative monitoring. Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. A comparison of auditory evoked potentials to acoustic beats and to binaural beats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratt, Hillel; Starr, Arnold; Michalewski, Henry J; Dimitrijevic, Andrew; Bleich, Naomi; Mittelman, Nomi

    2010-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare cortical brain responses evoked by amplitude modulated acoustic beats of 3 and 6 Hz in tones of 250 and 1000 Hz with those evoked by their binaural beats counterparts in unmodulated tones to indicate whether the cortical processes involved differ. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to 3- and 6-Hz acoustic and binaural beats in 2000 ms duration 250 and 1000 Hz tones presented with approximately 1 s intervals. Latency, amplitude and source current density estimates of ERP components to beats-evoked oscillations were determined and compared across beat types, beat frequencies and base (carrier) frequencies. All stimuli evoked tone-onset components followed by oscillations corresponding to the beat frequency, and a subsequent tone-offset complex. Beats-evoked oscillations were higher in amplitude in response to acoustic than to binaural beats, to 250 than to 1000 Hz base frequency and to 3 Hz than to 6 Hz beat frequency. Sources of the beats-evoked oscillations across all stimulus conditions located mostly to left temporal lobe areas. Differences between estimated sources of potentials to acoustic and binaural beats were not significant. The perceptions of binaural beats involve cortical activity that is not different than acoustic beats in distribution and in the effects of beat- and base frequency, indicating similar cortical processing. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Brain potentials evoked by intraepidermal electrical stimuli reflect the central sensitization of nociceptive pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, M; Lee, M C; O'Neill, J; Dickenson, A H; Iannetti, G D

    2016-08-01

    Central sensitization (CS), the increased sensitivity of the central nervous system to somatosensory inputs, accounts for secondary hyperalgesia, a typical sign of several painful clinical conditions. Brain potentials elicited by mechanical punctate stimulation using flat-tip probes can provide neural correlates of CS, but their signal-to-noise ratio is limited by poor synchronization of the afferent nociceptive input. Additionally, mechanical punctate stimulation does not activate nociceptors exclusively. In contrast, low-intensity intraepidermal electrical stimulation (IES) allows selective activation of type II Aδ-mechano-heat nociceptors (II-AMHs) and elicits reproducible brain potentials. However, it is unclear whether hyperalgesia from IES occurs and coexists with secondary mechanical punctate hyperalgesia, and whether the magnitude of the electroencephalographic (EEG) responses evoked by IES within the hyperalgesic area is increased. To address these questions, we explored the modulation of the psychophysical and EEG responses to IES by intraepidermal injection of capsaicin in healthy human subjects. We obtained three main results. First, the intensity of the sensation elicited by IES was significantly increased in participants who developed robust mechanical punctate hyperalgesia after capsaicin injection (i.e., responders), indicating that hyperalgesia from IES coexists with punctate mechanical hyperalgesia. Second, the N2 peak magnitude of the EEG responses elicited by IES was significantly increased after the intraepidermal injection of capsaicin in responders only. Third, a receiver-operator characteristics analysis showed that the N2 peak amplitude is clearly predictive of the presence of CS. These findings suggest that the EEG responses elicited by IES reflect secondary hyperalgesia and therefore represent an objective correlate of CS. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  4. Perceptual learning of acoustic noise generates memory-evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrillon, Thomas; Kouider, Sid; Agus, Trevor; Pressnitzer, Daniel

    2015-11-02

    Experience continuously imprints on the brain at all stages of life. The traces it leaves behind can produce perceptual learning [1], which drives adaptive behavior to previously encountered stimuli. Recently, it has been shown that even random noise, a type of sound devoid of acoustic structure, can trigger fast and robust perceptual learning after repeated exposure [2]. Here, by combining psychophysics, electroencephalography (EEG), and modeling, we show that the perceptual learning of noise is associated with evoked potentials, without any salient physical discontinuity or obvious acoustic landmark in the sound. Rather, the potentials appeared whenever a memory trace was observed behaviorally. Such memory-evoked potentials were characterized by early latencies and auditory topographies, consistent with a sensory origin. Furthermore, they were generated even on conditions of diverted attention. The EEG waveforms could be modeled as standard evoked responses to auditory events (N1-P2) [3], triggered by idiosyncratic perceptual features acquired through learning. Thus, we argue that the learning of noise is accompanied by the rapid formation of sharp neural selectivity to arbitrary and complex acoustic patterns, within sensory regions. Such a mechanism bridges the gap between the short-term and longer-term plasticity observed in the learning of noise [2, 4-6]. It could also be key to the processing of natural sounds within auditory cortices [7], suggesting that the neural code for sound source identification will be shaped by experience as well as by acoustics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. A Comparison of Visual Evoked Potential (VEP)-Based Methods for the Low-Cost Emotiv EPOC Neuroheadset

    OpenAIRE

    Hvaring, Fredrik Tron; Ulltveit-Moe, Andreas H

    2014-01-01

    Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) enable interaction with computers through electrical brain signals recorded from the scalp through an electroencephalogram (EEG). These BCIs are characterized by expensive equipment and long setup times, which limits their commercial use. In this thesis, a BCI was implemented that uses the low-cost EEG acquisition device Emotiv EPOC and visual evoked potentials (VEPs), which are potentials in the EEG elicited by visual stimulus. A structured literature review ...

  6. Cortical modulation of short-latency TMS-evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domenica eVeniero

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Transcranial magnetic stimulation - electroencephalogram (TMS-EEG co-registration offers the opportunity to test reactivity of brain areas across distinct conditions through TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs. Several TEPs have been described, their functional meaning being largely unknown. In particular, short-latency potentials peaking at 5 (P5 and 8 (N8 ms after the TMS pulse have been recently described, but because of their huge amplitude, the problem of whether their origin is cortical or not has been opened. To gain information about these components, we employed a protocol that modulates primary motor cortex excitability (MI through an exclusively cortical phenomena: low frequency stimulation of premotor area (PMC. TMS was applied simultaneously with EEG recording from 70 electrodes. Amplitude of TEPs evoked by 200 single-pulses TMS delivered over MI at 110% of resting motor threshold was measured before and after applying 900 TMS conditioning stimuli to left premotor cortex with 1 Hz repetition rate. Single subject analyses showed reduction in TEPs amplitude after PMC conditioning in a sample of participants and increase in TEPs amplitude in two subjects. No effects were found on corticospinal excitability as recorded by motor evoked potentials (MEPs. Furthermore, correlation analysis showed an inverse relation between the effects of the conditioning protocol on P5-N8 complex amplitude and MEPs amplitude. Because the effects of the used protocol have been ascribed to a cortical interaction between premotor area and MI, we suggest that despite the sign of P5-N8 amplitude modulation is not consistent across participant, this modulation could indicate, at least in part, their cortical origin. We conclude that with an accurate experimental procedure early-latency components can be used to evaluate the reactivity of the stimulated cortex.

  7. Brain-immune interaction accompanying odor-evoked autobiographic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsunaga, Masahiro; Bai, Yu; Yamakawa, Kaori; Toyama, Asako; Kashiwagi, Mitsuyoshi; Fukuda, Kazuyuki; Oshida, Akiko; Sanada, Kazue; Fukuyama, Seisuke; Shinoda, Jun; Yamada, Jitsuhiro; Sadato, Norihiro; Ohira, Hideki

    2013-01-01

    The phenomenon in which a certain smell evokes a specific memory is known as the Proust phenomenon. Odor-evoked autobiographic memories are more emotional than those elicited by other sensory stimuli. The results of our previous study indicated that odor-evoked autobiographic memory accompanied by positive emotions has remarkable effects on various psychological and physiological activities, including the secretion of cytokines, which are immune-signaling molecules that modulate systemic inflammation. In this study, we aimed to clarify the neural substrates associated with the interaction between odor-evoked autobiographic memory and peripheral circulating cytokines. We recruited healthy male and female volunteers and investigated the association between brain responses and the concentration of several cytokines in the plasma by using positron emission tomography (PET) recordings when an autographic memory was evoked in participants by asking them to smell an odor that was nostalgic to them. Participants experienced positive emotions and autobiographic memories when nostalgic odors were presented to them. The levels of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines, such as the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ), were significantly reduced after experiencing odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Subtraction analysis of PET images indicated that the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were significantly activated during experiences of odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Furthermore, a correlation analysis indicated that activities of the mOFC and precuneus/PCC were negatively correlated with IFN-γ concentration. These results indicate that the neural networks including the precuneus/PCC and mOFC might regulate the secretion of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines during the experience of odor-evoked autobiographic memories accompanied with positive emotions.

  8. Brain-immune interaction accompanying odor-evoked autobiographic memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masahiro Matsunaga

    Full Text Available The phenomenon in which a certain smell evokes a specific memory is known as the Proust phenomenon. Odor-evoked autobiographic memories are more emotional than those elicited by other sensory stimuli. The results of our previous study indicated that odor-evoked autobiographic memory accompanied by positive emotions has remarkable effects on various psychological and physiological activities, including the secretion of cytokines, which are immune-signaling molecules that modulate systemic inflammation. In this study, we aimed to clarify the neural substrates associated with the interaction between odor-evoked autobiographic memory and peripheral circulating cytokines. We recruited healthy male and female volunteers and investigated the association between brain responses and the concentration of several cytokines in the plasma by using positron emission tomography (PET recordings when an autographic memory was evoked in participants by asking them to smell an odor that was nostalgic to them. Participants experienced positive emotions and autobiographic memories when nostalgic odors were presented to them. The levels of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines, such as the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α and interferon-γ (IFN-γ, were significantly reduced after experiencing odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Subtraction analysis of PET images indicated that the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC and precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC were significantly activated during experiences of odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Furthermore, a correlation analysis indicated that activities of the mOFC and precuneus/PCC were negatively correlated with IFN-γ concentration. These results indicate that the neural networks including the precuneus/PCC and mOFC might regulate the secretion of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines during the experience of odor-evoked autobiographic memories accompanied with positive emotions.

  9. [Effects of sevoflurane and propofol on evoked potentials during neurosurgical anesthesia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakagawa, Itsuo; Hidaka, Syozo; Okada, Hironori; Kubo, Takashi; Okamura, Kenta; Kato, Takahiro

    2006-06-01

    The effect of anesthetics on somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and auditory brain stem response (ABR) has been a subject of intense reseach over the last two decades. In fact, volatile anesthetics have been repeatedly shown to decrease cortical amplitude in a dose-dependent fashion but the information regarding the effect of propofol is incomplete. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of sevoflurane and propofol on evoked potentials during comparable depth of anesthesia guided by bispectral index (BIS). Forty four patients scheduled for neurosurgery were studied. Anesthesia was maintained with intravenous propofol using target controlled infusion (TCI). We measured the change of amplitude and latency of SEP(N20-P25), ABR (V wave) and visual evoked potential (VEP: P100) at three sets of sevoflurane (0%, 1%, 2%) or propofol concentrations (effect site concentration of 1.5, 2.0, 3.0 microug x ml(-1)). BIS monitor was used to measure relative depth of hypnosis. With increasing concentrations of sevoflurane (0, 1% and 2%), SEP showed dose-related reduction in its amplitude, ABR produced less marked changes and VEP showed a significant reduction at 1%. VEP at the propofol concentration of 3.0 microg x ml(-1) was decreased significantly compared with the amplitude at 1.5 microg x ml(-1) concentration. No significant change was observed with SEP and ABR during the change of propofol dosages. BIS values were almost the same with each anesthetics. VEP was most strongly affected with anesthetics, and ABR showed less marked influence of sevoflurane and propofol. Propofol based TIVA technique would induce less change in evoked potentials than sevoflurane.

  10. Brain stem auditory potentials evoked by clicks in the presence of high-pass filtered noise in dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poncelet, L; Deltenre, P; Coppens, A; Michaux, C; Coussart, E

    2006-04-01

    This study evaluates the effects of a high-frequency hearing loss simulated by the high-pass-noise masking method, on the click-evoked brain stem-evoked potentials (BAEP) characteristics in dogs. BAEP were obtained in response to rarefaction and condensation click stimuli from 60 dB normal hearing level (NHL, corresponding to 89 dB sound pressure level) to wave V threshold, using steps of 5 dB in eleven 58 to 80-day-old Beagle puppies. Responses were added, providing an equivalent to alternate polarity clicks, and subtracted, providing the rarefaction-condensation potential (RCDP). The procedure was repeated while constant level, high-pass filtered (HPF) noise was superposed to the click. Cut-off frequencies of the successively used filters were 8, 4, 2 and 1 kHz. For each condition, wave V and RCDP thresholds, and slope of the wave V latency-intensity curve (LIC) were collected. The intensity range at which RCDP could not be recorded (pre-RCDP range) was calculated. Compared with the no noise condition, the pre-RCDP range significantly diminished and the wave V threshold significantly increased when the superposed HPF noise reached the 4 kHz area. Wave V LIC slope became significantly steeper with the 2 kHz HPF noise. In this non-invasive model of high-frequency hearing loss, impaired hearing of frequencies from 8 kHz and above escaped detection through click BAEP study in dogs. Frequencies above 13 kHz were however not specifically addressed in this study.

  11. Task-evoked brain functional magnetic susceptibility mapping by independent component analysis (χICA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zikuan; Calhoun, Vince D

    2016-03-01

    Conventionally, independent component analysis (ICA) is performed on an fMRI magnitude dataset to analyze brain functional mapping (AICA). By solving the inverse problem of fMRI, we can reconstruct the brain magnetic susceptibility (χ) functional states. Upon the reconstructed χ dataspace, we propose an ICA-based brain functional χ mapping method (χICA) to extract task-evoked brain functional map. A complex division algorithm is applied to a timeseries of fMRI phase images to extract temporal phase changes (relative to an OFF-state snapshot). A computed inverse MRI (CIMRI) model is used to reconstruct a 4D brain χ response dataset. χICA is implemented by applying a spatial InfoMax ICA algorithm to the reconstructed 4D χ dataspace. With finger-tapping experiments on a 7T system, the χICA-extracted χ-depicted functional map is similar to the SPM-inferred functional χ map by a spatial correlation of 0.67 ± 0.05. In comparison, the AICA-extracted magnitude-depicted map is correlated with the SPM magnitude map by 0.81 ± 0.05. The understanding of the inferiority of χICA to AICA for task-evoked functional map is an ongoing research topic. For task-evoked brain functional mapping, we compare the data-driven ICA method with the task-correlated SPM method. In particular, we compare χICA with AICA for extracting task-correlated timecourses and functional maps. χICA can extract a χ-depicted task-evoked brain functional map from a reconstructed χ dataspace without the knowledge about brain hemodynamic responses. The χICA-extracted brain functional χ map reveals a bidirectional BOLD response pattern that is unavailable (or different) from AICA. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential in HIV-Positive Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matas, Carla Gentile; Samelli, Alessandra Giannella; Angrisani, Rosanna Giaffredo; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Segurado, Aluísio C

    2015-10-20

    To characterize the findings of brainstem auditory evoked potential in HIV-positive individuals exposed and not exposed to antiretroviral treatment. This research was a cross-sectional, observational, and descriptive study. Forty-five HIV-positive individuals (18 not exposed and 27 exposed to the antiretroviral treatment - research groups I and II, respectively - and 30 control group individuals) were assessed through brainstem auditory evoked potential. There were no significant between-group differences regarding wave latencies. A higher percentage of altered brainstem auditory evoked potential was observed in the HIV-positive groups when compared to the control group. The most common alteration was in the low brainstem. HIV-positive individuals have a higher percentage of altered brainstem auditory evoked potential that suggests central auditory pathway impairment when compared to HIV-negative individuals. There was no significant difference between individuals exposed and not exposed to antiretroviral treatment.

  13. Brainstem evoked potentials in infantile spasms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyazaki, Masahito; Hashimoto, Toshiaki; Murakawa, Kazuyoshi; Tayama, Masanobu; Kuroda, Yasuhiro

    1992-01-01

    In ten patients with infantile spasms, brainstem evoked potentials and MRI examinations were performed to evaluate the brainstem involvement. The result of short latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) following the right median nerve stimulation revealed abnormal findings including the absence or low amplitudes of the waves below wave P3 and delayed central conduction time in 7 of the ten patients. The result of auditory brainstem responses (ABR) revealed abnormal findings including low amplitudes of wave V, prolonged interpeak latency of waves I-V and absence of the waves below wave IV in 5 of the ten patients. The result of the MRI examinations revealed various degrees of the brainstem atrophy in 6 of the ten patients, all of whom showed abnormal brainstem evoked potentials. The result of this study demonstrates that patients with infantile spasms are frequently associated with brainstem dysfunction and raises the possibility that brainstem atrophy might be a cause of infantile spasms. (author)

  14. [A wireless smart home system based on brain-computer interface of steady state visual evoked potential].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Li; Xing, Xiao; Guo, Xuhong; Liu, Zehua; He, Yang

    2014-10-01

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) system is a system that achieves communication and control among humans and computers and other electronic equipment with the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This paper describes the working theory of the wireless smart home system based on the BCI technology. We started to get the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) using the single chip microcomputer and the visual stimulation which composed by LED lamp to stimulate human eyes. Then, through building the power spectral transformation on the LabVIEW platform, we processed timely those EEG signals under different frequency stimulation so as to transfer them to different instructions. Those instructions could be received by the wireless transceiver equipment to control the household appliances and to achieve the intelligent control towards the specified devices. The experimental results showed that the correct rate for the 10 subjects reached 100%, and the control time of average single device was 4 seconds, thus this design could totally achieve the original purpose of smart home system.

  15. Intrinsic and task-evoked network architectures of the human brain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Michael W.; Bassett, Danielle S.; Power, Jonathan D.; Braver, Todd S.; Petersen, Steven E.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Many functional network properties of the human brain have been identified during rest and task states, yet it remains unclear how the two relate. We identified a whole-brain network architecture present across dozens of task states that was highly similar to the resting-state network architecture. The most frequent functional connectivity strengths across tasks closely matched the strengths observed at rest, suggesting this is an “intrinsic”, standard architecture of functional brain organization. Further, a set of small but consistent changes common across tasks suggests the existence of a task-general network architecture distinguishing task states from rest. These results indicate the brain’s functional network architecture during task performance is shaped primarily by an intrinsic network architecture that is also present during rest, and secondarily by evoked task-general and task-specific network changes. This establishes a strong relationship between resting-state functional connectivity and task-evoked functional connectivity – areas of neuroscientific inquiry typically considered separately. PMID:24991964

  16. Feasibility and performance evaluation of generating and recording visual evoked potentials using ambulatory Bluetooth based system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellingson, Roger M; Oken, Barry

    2010-01-01

    Report contains the design overview and key performance measurements demonstrating the feasibility of generating and recording ambulatory visual stimulus evoked potentials using the previously reported custom Complementary and Alternative Medicine physiologic data collection and monitoring system, CAMAS. The methods used to generate visual stimuli on a PDA device and the design of an optical coupling device to convert the display to an electrical waveform which is recorded by the CAMAS base unit are presented. The optical sensor signal, synchronized to the visual stimulus emulates the brain's synchronized EEG signal input to CAMAS normally reviewed for the evoked potential response. Most importantly, the PDA also sends a marker message over the wireless Bluetooth connection to the CAMAS base unit synchronized to the visual stimulus which is the critical averaging reference component to obtain VEP results. Results show the variance in the latency of the wireless marker messaging link is consistent enough to support the generation and recording of visual evoked potentials. The averaged sensor waveforms at multiple CPU speeds are presented and demonstrate suitability of the Bluetooth interface for portable ambulatory visual evoked potential implementation on our CAMAS platform.

  17. International Evoked Potentials Symposium

    CERN Document Server

    1980-01-01

    The past decade has seen great progress in the measurement of evoked potentials in man; a steady increase in our understanding of their charac­ teristics, their origins and their usefulness; and a growing application in the field of clinical diagnosis. The topic is a truly multidisciplinary one. Important research contributions have been made by workers of many different backgrounds and clinical applications span the specialities. This book represents a revised and updated version of the work originally presented at the international evoked potential symposium held in Nottingham 4-6 1978. The Nottingham Symposium provided a forum for a state-of-the-art discussion amongst workers from many different disciplines and from many different countries. For each major topic in the field an expert review set the scene for discussion of current research presentations. This format is retained in the book: the chapters in Part A provide the context in which the research presented in Part B is set. The task of selecting m...

  18. Cortical evoked potential and extracellular K+ and H+ at critical levels of brain ischemia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Astrup, J; Symon, L; Branston, N M

    1977-01-01

    + as well as evoked potential were made in the baboon neocortex. Reductions in blood flow were obtained by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery and depression beyond the ischemic threshold of electrical function achieved by a reduction of systemic blood pressure which, in the ischemic zones, changed...

  19. Can visual evoked potentials be used in biometric identification?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Power, Alan J; Lalor, Edmund C; Reilly, Richard B

    2006-01-01

    Due to known differences in the anatomical structure of the visual pathways and generators in different individuals, the use of visual evoked potentials offers the possibility of an alternative to existing biometrics methods. A study based on visual evoked potentials from 13 individuals was carried out to assess the best combination of temporal, spectral and AR modeling features to realize a robust biometric. From the results it can be concluded that visual evoked potentials show considerable biometric qualities, with classification accuracies reaching a high of 86.54% and that a specific temporal and spectral combination was found to be optimal. Based on these results the visual evoked potential may be a useful tool in biometric identification when used in conjunction with more established biometric methods.

  20. Slow cortical evoked potentials after noise exposure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    von Wedel, H; Opitz, H J

    1979-07-01

    Human cortical evoked potentials under conditions of stimuation are registrated in the post-stimulatory phase of a five minutes lasting equally masking white noise (90 dB HL). Changes of the evoked potentials during adaptation, possible analogy with high tone losses after noise representation and the origin of tinnitus are examined. Stimulation was started 3 sec after the off-effect of the noise. For five minutes periodically tone bursts were represented. Each train of stimulation consists of tone bursts of three frequencies: 2 kcs, 4 kcs, 8 kcs. The 0.5 sec lasting tones were separated by pauses of 2 sec. During the experiment stimulation and analysis were controlled by a computer. Changes in latency and amplitudes of the cortical evoked potentials were registered. Changes of the adaptation patterns as a function of the poststimulatory time are discussed.

  1. Vibration and muscle contraction affect somatosensory evoked potentials

    OpenAIRE

    Cohen, LG; Starr, A

    1985-01-01

    We recorded potentials evoked by specific somatosensory stimuli over peripheral nerve, spinal cord, and cerebral cortex. Vibration attenuated spinal and cerebral potentials evoked by mixed nerve and muscle spindle stimulation; in one subject that was tested, there was no effect on cutaneous input. Presynaptic inhibition of Ia input in the spinal cord and muscle spindle receptor occupancy are probably the responsible mechanisms. In contrast, muscle contraction attenuated cerebral potentials to...

  2. Effects of stimulation intensity, gender and handedness upon auditory evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susana Camposano

    1992-03-01

    Full Text Available Left handers and women show less anatomical brain asymmetry, larger corpus callosum and more bilateral representation of specific functions. Sensory and cognitive components of cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEF have been shown to be asymmetric in right handed males and to be influenced by stimulus intensity. In this study the influence of sex, handedness and stimulus intensity upon AEP components is investigated under basal conditions of passive attention. 14 right handed males, 14 right handed females, 14 left handed males, and 14 left handed females were studied while lying awake and paying passive attention to auditory stimulation (series of 100 binaural clicks, duration 1 msec, rate 1/sec, at four intensities. Cz, C3 and C4 referenced to linked mastoids and right EOG were recorded. Analysis time was 400 msec, average evoked potentials were based on 100 clicks. Stimulus intensity and gender affect early sensory components (P1N1 and N1P2 at central leads, asymmetry is influenced only by handedness, right handers showing larger P1N1 amplitudes over the right hemisphere.

  3. Binaural interaction in auditory evoked potentials: Brainstem, middle- and long-latency components

    OpenAIRE

    McPherson, DL; Starr, A

    1993-01-01

    Binaural interaction occurs in the auditory evoked potentials when the sum of the monaural auditory evoked potentials are not equivalent to the binaural evoked auditory potentials. Binaural interaction of the early- (0-10 ms), middle- (10-50 ms) and long-latency (50-200 ms) auditory evoked potentials was studied in 17 normal young adults. For the early components, binaural interaction was maximal at 7.35 ms accounting for a reduction of 21% of the amplitude of the binaural evoked potentials. ...

  4. Direct detection of a single evoked action potential with MRS in Lumbricus terrestris.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poplawsky, Alexander J; Dingledine, Raymond; Hu, Xiaoping P

    2012-01-01

    Functional MRI (fMRI) measures neural activity indirectly by detecting the signal change associated with the hemodynamic response following brain activation. In order to alleviate the temporal and spatial specificity problems associated with fMRI, a number of attempts have been made to detect neural magnetic fields (NMFs) with MRI directly, but have thus far provided conflicting results. In this study, we used MR to detect axonal NMFs in the median giant fiber of the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, by examining the free induction decay (FID) with a sampling interval of 0.32 ms. The earthworm nerve cords were isolated from the vasculature and stimulated at the threshold of action potential generation. FIDs were acquired shortly after the stimulation, and simultaneous field potential recordings identified the presence or absence of single evoked action potentials. FIDs acquired when the stimulus did not evoke an action potential were summed as background. The phase of the background-subtracted FID exhibited a systematic change, with a peak phase difference of (-1.2 ± 0.3) × 10(-5) radians occurring at a time corresponding to the timing of the action potential. In addition, we calculated the possible changes in the FID magnitude and phase caused by a simulated action potential using a volume conductor model. The measured phase difference matched the theoretical prediction well in both amplitude and temporal characteristics. This study provides the first evidence for the direct detection of a magnetic field from an evoked action potential using MR. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Toward brain-computer interface based wheelchair control utilizing tactually-evoked event-related potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background People with severe disabilities, e.g. due to neurodegenerative disease, depend on technology that allows for accurate wheelchair control. For those who cannot operate a wheelchair with a joystick, brain-computer interfaces (BCI) may offer a valuable option. Technology depending on visual or auditory input may not be feasible as these modalities are dedicated to processing of environmental stimuli (e.g. recognition of obstacles, ambient noise). Herein we thus validated the feasibility of a BCI based on tactually-evoked event-related potentials (ERP) for wheelchair control. Furthermore, we investigated use of a dynamic stopping method to improve speed of the tactile BCI system. Methods Positions of four tactile stimulators represented navigation directions (left thigh: move left; right thigh: move right; abdomen: move forward; lower neck: move backward) and N = 15 participants delivered navigation commands by focusing their attention on the desired tactile stimulus in an oddball-paradigm. Results Participants navigated a virtual wheelchair through a building and eleven participants successfully completed the task of reaching 4 checkpoints in the building. The virtual wheelchair was equipped with simulated shared-control sensors (collision avoidance), yet these sensors were rarely needed. Conclusion We conclude that most participants achieved tactile ERP-BCI control sufficient to reliably operate a wheelchair and dynamic stopping was of high value for tactile ERP classification. Finally, this paper discusses feasibility of tactile ERPs for BCI based wheelchair control. PMID:24428900

  6. Brownian Optogenetic-Noise-Photostimulation on the Brain Amplifies Somatosensory-Evoked Field Potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nayeli Huidobro

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Stochastic resonance (SR is an inherent and counter-intuitive mechanism of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR facilitation in biological systems associated with the application of an intermediate level of noise. As a first step to investigate in detail this phenomenon in the somatosensory system, here we examined whether the direct application of noisy light on pyramidal neurons from the mouse-barrel cortex expressing a light-gated channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2 can produce facilitation in somatosensory evoked field potentials. Using anesthetized Thy1-ChR2-YFP transgenic mice, and a new neural technology, that we called Brownian optogenetic-noise-photostimulation (BONP, we provide evidence for how BONP directly applied on the barrel cortex modulates the SNR in the amplitude of whisker-evoked field potentials (whisker-EFP. In all transgenic mice, we found that the SNR in the amplitude of whisker-EFP (at 30% of the maximal whisker-EFP exhibited an inverted U-like shape as a function of the BONP level. As a control, we also applied the same experimental paradigm, but in wild-type mice, as expected, we did not find any facilitation effects. Our results show that the application of an intermediate intensity of BONP on the barrel cortex of ChR2 transgenic mice amplifies the SNR of somatosensory whisker-EFPs. This result may be relevant to explain the improvements found in sensory detection in humans produced by the application of transcranial-random-noise-stimulation (tRNS on the scalp.

  7. Effects of Distracting Task with Different Mental Workload on Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential Based Brain Computer Interfaces—an Offline Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yawei Zhao

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs, independent of the brain's normal output pathways, are attracting an increasing amount of attention as devices that extract neural information. As a typical type of BCI system, the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP-based BCIs possess a high signal-to-noise ratio and information transfer rate. However, the current high speed SSVEP-BCIs were implemented with subjects concentrating on stimuli, and intentionally avoided additional tasks as distractors. This paper aimed to investigate how a distracting simultaneous task, a verbal n-back task with different mental workload, would affect the performance of SSVEP-BCI. The results from fifteen subjects revealed that the recognition accuracy of SSVEP-BCI was significantly impaired by the distracting task, especially under a high mental workload. The average classification accuracy across all subjects dropped by 8.67% at most from 1- to 4-back, and there was a significant negative correlation (maximum r = −0.48, p < 0.001 between accuracy and subjective mental workload evaluation of the distracting task. This study suggests a potential hindrance for the SSVEP-BCI daily use, and then improvements should be investigated in the future studies.

  8. Analysis on the training effect of criteria and practical guidance for determination of brain death: evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan ZHANG

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective To analyze the training results of short-latency somatosensory-evoked potential (SLSEP for brain death determination and to improve the training program. Methods A total of 101 trainees received theoretical training, simulation skills training, bedside skills training and test analysis for SLSEP in brain death determination. The composition of trainees was analyzed and the error rates of 6 knowledge points were calculated. Univariate and multivariate backward Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the influence of factors including sex, age, specialty, professional category, professional qualification and hospital level, on the error rates. Results Among them, trainees of 30-49 years old occupied 76.24% (77/101, most of them were from third grade, grade A hospitals (98.02%, 99/101, and 78 trainees (77.23% were from Department of Neurology. There were 82 clinicians (81.19%, 31 (30.69% had senior certificate and 42 (41.58% had intermediate certificate. Total error rate of 6 knowledge points was 4.50% (91/2020. Of the 6 knowledge points, the error rate of pitfalls was the highest (9.41%, 19/202, followed by result determination (5.94% , 12/202, recording techniques (4.75% , 24/505, procedures (3.96%, 32/808, sequence of confirmatory tests (1.98%, 2/101 and environmental conditions (0.99%, 2/202. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses showed that age (OR = 1.566, 95% CI: 1.116-2.197; P = 0.009 and professional qualification (OR = 1.669, 95% CI: 1.163-2.397; P = 0.005 were independent risk factors associated with high error rates. Conclusions The differences between brain death determination and routine check of SLSEP should be paid more attention to improve the quality of determination for brain death by SLSEP.  DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.12.007

  9. Analysis of User Interaction with a Brain-Computer Interface Based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials: Case Study of a Game.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leite, Harlei Miguel de Arruda; de Carvalho, Sarah Negreiros; Costa, Thiago Bulhões da Silva; Attux, Romis; Hornung, Heiko Horst; Arantes, Dalton Soares

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents a systematic analysis of a game controlled by a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based on Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). The objective is to understand BCI systems from the Human-Computer Interface (HCI) point of view, by observing how the users interact with the game and evaluating how the interface elements influence the system performance. The interactions of 30 volunteers with our computer game, named "Get Coins," through a BCI based on SSVEP, have generated a database of brain signals and the corresponding responses to a questionnaire about various perceptual parameters, such as visual stimulation, acoustic feedback, background music, visual contrast, and visual fatigue. Each one of the volunteers played one match using the keyboard and four matches using the BCI, for comparison. In all matches using the BCI, the volunteers achieved the goals of the game. Eight of them achieved a perfect score in at least one of the four matches, showing the feasibility of the direct communication between the brain and the computer. Despite this successful experiment, adaptations and improvements should be implemented to make this innovative technology accessible to the end user.

  10. Fast detection of unexpected sound intensity decrements as revealed by human evoked potentials.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heike Althen

    Full Text Available The detection of deviant sounds is a crucial function of the auditory system and is reflected by the automatically elicited mismatch negativity (MMN, an auditory evoked potential at 100 to 250 ms from stimulus onset. It has recently been shown that rarely occurring frequency and location deviants in an oddball paradigm trigger a more negative response than standard sounds at very early latencies in the middle latency response of the human auditory evoked potential. This fast and early ability of the auditory system is corroborated by the finding of neurons in the animal auditory cortex and subcortical structures, which restore their adapted responsiveness to standard sounds, when a rare change in a sound feature occurs. In this study, we investigated whether the detection of intensity deviants is also reflected at shorter latencies than those of the MMN. Auditory evoked potentials in response to click sounds were analyzed regarding the auditory brain stem response, the middle latency response (MLR and the MMN. Rare stimuli with a lower intensity level than standard stimuli elicited (in addition to an MMN a more negative potential in the MLR at the transition from the Na to the Pa component at circa 24 ms from stimulus onset. This finding, together with the studies about frequency and location changes, suggests that the early automatic detection of deviant sounds in an oddball paradigm is a general property of the auditory system.

  11. Auditory evoked potential measurements in elasmobranchs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casper, Brandon; Mann, David

    2005-04-01

    Auditory evoked potentials (AEP) were first used to examine hearing in elasmobranchs by Corwin and Bullock in the late 1970s and early 1980s, marking the first time AEPs had been measured in fishes. Results of these experiments identified the regions of the ear and brain in which sound is processed, though no actual hearing thresholds were measured. Those initial experiments provided the ground work for future AEP experiments to measure fish hearing abilities in a manner that is much faster and more convenient than classical conditioning. Data will be presented on recent experiments in which AEPs were used to measure the hearing thresholds of two species of elasmobranchs: the nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum, and the yellow stingray, Urobatis jamaicencis. Audiograms were analyzed and compared to previously published audiograms obtained using classical conditioning with results indicating that hearing thresholds were similar for the two methods. These data suggest that AEP testing is a viable option when measuring hearing in elasmobranchs and can increase the speed in which future hearing measurements can be obtained.

  12. Brain stem auditory evoked responses in chronic alcoholics.

    OpenAIRE

    Chan, Y W; McLeod, J G; Tuck, R R; Feary, P A

    1985-01-01

    Brain stem auditory evoked responses (BAERs) were performed on 25 alcoholic patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, 56 alcoholic patients without Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, 24 of whom had cerebellar ataxia, and 37 control subjects. Abnormal BAERs were found in 48% of patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, in 25% of alcoholic patients without Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome but with cerebellar ataxia, and in 13% of alcoholic patients without Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome or ataxia. The mean...

  13. Effect of oculomotor vision rehabilitation on the visual-evoked potential and visual attention in mild traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yadav, Naveen K; Thiagarajan, Preethi; Ciuffreda, Kenneth J

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the effect of oculomotor vision rehabilitation (OVR) on the visual-evoked potential (VEP) and visual attention in the mTBI population. Subjects (n = 7) were adults with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Each received 9 hours of OVR over a 6-week period. The effects of OVR on VEP amplitude and latency, the attention-related alpha band (8-13 Hz) power (µV(2)) and the clinical Visual Search and Attention Test (VSAT) were assessed before and after the OVR. After the OVR, the VEP amplitude increased and its variability decreased. There was no change in VEP latency, which was normal. Alpha band power increased, as did the VSAT score, following the OVR. The significant changes in most test parameters suggest that OVR affects the visual system at early visuo-cortical levels, as well as other pathways which are involved in visual attention.

  14. Stimulator with arbitrary waveform for auditory evoked potentials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martins, H R; Romao, M; Placido, D; Provenzano, F; Tierra-Criollo, C J

    2007-01-01

    The technological improvement helps many medical areas. The audiometric exams involving the auditory evoked potentials can make better diagnoses of auditory disorders. This paper proposes the development of a stimulator based on Digital Signal Processor. This stimulator is the first step of an auditory evoked potential system based on the ADSP-BF533 EZ KIT LITE (Analog Devices Company - USA). The stimulator can generate arbitrary waveform like Sine Waves, Modulated Amplitude, Pulses, Bursts and Pips. The waveforms are generated through a graphical interface programmed in C++ in which the user can define the parameters of the waveform. Furthermore, the user can set the exam parameters as number of stimuli, time with stimulation (Time ON) and time without stimulus (Time OFF). In future works will be implemented another parts of the system that includes the acquirement of electroencephalogram and signal processing to estimate and analyze the evoked potential

  15. Stimulator with arbitrary waveform for auditory evoked potentials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martins, H R; Romao, M; Placido, D; Provenzano, F; Tierra-Criollo, C J [Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Departamento de Engenharia Eletrica (DEE), Nucleo de Estudos e Pesquisa em Engenharia Biomedica NEPEB, Av. Ant. Carlos, 6627, sala 2206, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31.270-901 (Brazil)

    2007-11-15

    The technological improvement helps many medical areas. The audiometric exams involving the auditory evoked potentials can make better diagnoses of auditory disorders. This paper proposes the development of a stimulator based on Digital Signal Processor. This stimulator is the first step of an auditory evoked potential system based on the ADSP-BF533 EZ KIT LITE (Analog Devices Company - USA). The stimulator can generate arbitrary waveform like Sine Waves, Modulated Amplitude, Pulses, Bursts and Pips. The waveforms are generated through a graphical interface programmed in C++ in which the user can define the parameters of the waveform. Furthermore, the user can set the exam parameters as number of stimuli, time with stimulation (Time ON) and time without stimulus (Time OFF). In future works will be implemented another parts of the system that includes the acquirement of electroencephalogram and signal processing to estimate and analyze the evoked potential.

  16. Visual evoked potentials in patients after methanol poisoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urban, Pavel; Zakharov, Sergey; Diblík, Pavel; Pelclová, Daniela; Ridzoň, Petr

    2016-01-01

    We report the results of the visual evoked potentials (VEP) examination in patients after severe poisoning by methanol. The group of 47 patients (38 males and 9 females) was assembled out of persons who survived an outbreak of poisoning by the methanol adulterated alcohol beverages, which happened in the Czech Republic in 2012-2013. The visual evoked potentials examination was performed using monocular checkerboard pattern-reversal stimulation. Two criteria of abnormality were chosen: missing evoked response, and wave P1 latency > 117 ms. Non-parametric statistical methods (median, range, and the median test) were used to analyze factors influencing the VEP abnormality. The visual evoked potential was abnormal in 20 patients (43%), 5 of them had normal visual acuity on the Snellen chart. The VEP abnormality did not correlate significantly with initial serum concentrations of methanol, formic acid or lactate; however, it showed statistically significant inverse relation to the initial serum pH: the subgroup with the abnormal VEP had significantly lower median pH in comparison with the subgroup with the normal VEP (7.16 vs. 7.34, p = 0.04). The abnormality was not related to chronic alcohol abuse. The visual evoked potentials examination appeared sensitive enough to detected even subclinical impairment of the optic system. Metabolic acidosis is likely to be the key factor related to the development of visual damage induced by methanol. The examination performed with a delay of 1-9 months after the poisoning documented the situation relatively early after the event. It is considered as a baseline for the planned long-term follow-up of the patients, which will make it possible to assess the dynamics of the observed changes, their reversibility, and the occurrence of potential late sequelae. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

  17. A Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential Brain-Computer Interface System Evaluation as an In-Vehicle Warning Device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riyahi, Pouria

    This thesis is part of current research at Center for Intelligence Systems Research (CISR) at The George Washington University for developing new in-vehicle warning systems via Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). The purpose of conducting this research is to contribute to the current gap between BCI and in-vehicle safety studies. It is based on the premise that accurate and timely monitoring of human (driver) brain's signal to external stimuli could significantly aide in detection of driver's intentions and development of effective warning systems. The thesis starts with introducing the concept of BCI and its development history while it provides a literature review on the nature of brain signals. The current advancement and increasing demand for commercial and non-medical BCI products are described. In addition, the recent research attempts in transportation safety to study drivers' behavior or responses through brain signals are reviewed. The safety studies, which are focused on employing a reliable and practical BCI system as an in-vehicle assistive device, are also introduced. A major focus of this thesis research has been on the evaluation and development of the signal processing algorithms which can effectively filter and process brain signals when the human subject is subjected to Visual LED (Light Emitting Diodes) stimuli at different frequencies. The stimulated brain generates a voltage potential, referred to as Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP). Therefore, a newly modified analysis algorithm for detecting the brain visual signals is proposed. These algorithms are designed to reach a satisfactory accuracy rate without preliminary trainings, hence focusing on eliminating the need for lengthy training of human subjects. Another important concern is the ability of the algorithms to find correlation of brain signals with external visual stimuli in real-time. The developed analysis models are based on algorithms which are capable of generating results

  18. The relation of ongoing brain activity, evoked neural responses, and cognition

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    Sepideh Sadaghiani

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Ongoing brain activity has been observed since the earliest neurophysiological recordings and is found over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. It is characterized by remarkably large spontaneous modulations. Here, we review evidence for the functional role of these ongoing activity fluctuations and argue that they constitute an essential property of the neural architecture underlying cognition. The role of spontaneous activity fluctuations is probably best understood when considering both their spatiotemporal structure and their functional impact on cognition. We first briefly argue against a ‘segregationist’ view on ongoing activity, both in time and space, countering this view with an emphasis on integration within a hierarchical spatiotemporal organization of intrinsic activity. We then highlight the flexibility and context-sensitivity of intrinsic functional connectivity that suggest its involvement in functionally relevant information processing. This role in information processing is pursued by reviewing how ongoing brain activity interacts with afferent and efferent information exchange of the brain with its environment. We focus on the relationship between the variability of ongoing and evoked brain activity, and review recent reports that tie ongoing brain activity fluctuations to variability in human perception and behavior. Finally, these observations are discussed within the framework of the free-energy principle which – applied to human brain function - provides a theoretical account for a non-random, coordinated interaction of ongoing and evoked activity in perception and behaviour.

  19. Abnormalities in auditory evoked potentials of 75 patients with Arnold-Chiari malformations types I and II

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    Henriques Filho Paulo Sergio A.

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency and degree of severity of abnormalities in the auditory pathways in patients with Chiari malformations type I and II. METHOD: This is a series-of-case descriptive study in which the possible presence of auditory pathways abnormalities in 75 patients (48 children and 27 adults with Chiari malformation types I and II were analyzed by means of auditory evoked potentials evaluation. The analysis was based on the determination of intervals among potentials peak values, absolute latency and amplitude ratio among potentials V and I. RESULTS: Among the 75 patients studied, 27 (36% disclosed Arnold-Chiari malformations type I and 48 (64% showed Arnold-Chiari malformations type II. Fifty-three (71% of these patients showed some degree of auditory evoked potential abnormalities. Tests were normal in the remaining 22 (29% patients. CONCLUSION: Auditory evoked potentials testing can be considered a valuable instrument for diagnosis and evaluation of brain stem functional abnormalities in patients with Arnold-Chiari malformations type I and II. The determination of the presence and degree of severity of these abnormalities can be contributory to the prevention of further handicaps in these patients either through physical therapy or by means of precocious corrective surgical intervention.

  20. Recording visual evoked potentials and auditory evoked P300 at 9.4T static magnetic field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arrubla, Jorge; Neuner, Irene; Hahn, David; Boers, Frank; Shah, N Jon

    2013-01-01

    Simultaneous recording of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shown a number of advantages that make this multimodal technique superior to fMRI alone. The feasibility of recording EEG at ultra-high static magnetic field up to 9.4 T was recently demonstrated and promises to be implemented soon in fMRI studies at ultra high magnetic fields. Recording visual evoked potentials are expected to be amongst the most simple for simultaneous EEG/fMRI at ultra-high magnetic field due to the easy assessment of the visual cortex. Auditory evoked P300 measurements are of interest since it is believed that they represent the earliest stage of cognitive processing. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of recording visual evoked potentials and auditory evoked P300 in a 9.4 T static magnetic field. For this purpose, EEG data were recorded from 26 healthy volunteers inside a 9.4 T MR scanner using a 32-channel MR compatible EEG system. Visual stimulation and auditory oddball paradigm were presented in order to elicit evoked related potentials (ERP). Recordings made outside the scanner were performed using the same stimuli and EEG system for comparison purposes. We were able to retrieve visual P100 and auditory P300 evoked potentials at 9.4 T static magnetic field after correction of the ballistocardiogram artefact using independent component analysis. The latencies of the ERPs recorded at 9.4 T were not different from those recorded at 0 T. The amplitudes of ERPs were higher at 9.4 T when compared to recordings at 0 T. Nevertheless, it seems that the increased amplitudes of the ERPs are due to the effect of the ultra-high field on the EEG recording system rather than alteration in the intrinsic processes that generate the electrophysiological responses.

  1. Visual evoked potentials of mildly mentally retarded and control children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gasser, T; Pietz, J; Schellberg, D; Köhler, W

    1988-10-01

    Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded from 25 10- to 13-year-old mildly mentally retarded children and compared with those from 31 control children of the same age-range. Correlations of VEPs with age were weak, but a relationship between VEPs and IQ was demonstrated for the control group. The retarded group had significantly longer latencies and higher amplitude peaks than the control group, with the differences occurring primarily over non-specific cortex and for secondary components. Analysis also showed that the retarded group were neurophysiologically heterogeneous. Since the same children had been analyzed earlier by quantitative EEG methods, comparisons are made with respect to these two methods of investigating brain function.

  2. Steady-state evoked potentials to study the processing of tactile and nociceptive somatosensory input in the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colon, E; Legrain, V; Mouraux, A

    2012-10-01

    The periodic presentation of a sensory stimulus induces, at certain frequencies of stimulation, a sustained electroencephalographic response of corresponding frequency, known as steady-state evoked potentials (SS-EP). In visual, auditory and vibrotactile modalities, studies have shown that SS-EP reflect mainly activity originating from early, modality-specific sensory cortices. Furthermore, it has been shown that SS-EP have several advantages over the recording of transient event-related brain potentials (ERP), such as a high signal-to-noise ratio, a shorter time to obtain reliable signals, and the capacity to frequency-tag the cortical activity elicited by concurrently presented sensory stimuli. Recently, we showed that SS-EP can be elicited by the selective activation of skin nociceptors and that nociceptive SS-EP reflect the activity of a population of neurons that is spatially distinct from the somatotopically-organized population of neurons underlying vibrotactile SS-EP. Hence, the recording of SS-EP offers a unique opportunity to study the cortical representation of nociception and touch in humans, and to explore their potential crossmodal interactions. Here, (1) we review available methods to achieve the rapid periodic stimulation of somatosensory afferents required to elicit SS-EP, (2) review previous studies that have characterized vibrotactile and nociceptive SS-EP, (3) discuss the nature of the recorded signals and their relationship with transient event-related potentials and (4) outline future perspectives and potential clinical applications of this technique. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  3. Passive language mapping combining real-time oscillation analysis with cortico-cortical evoked potentials for awake craniotomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamura, Yukie; Ogawa, Hiroshi; Kapeller, Christoph; Prueckl, Robert; Takeuchi, Fumiya; Anei, Ryogo; Ritaccio, Anthony; Guger, Christoph; Kamada, Kyousuke

    2016-12-01

    OBJECTIVE Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) is the gold standard for functional brain mapping; however, precise functional mapping is still difficult in patients with language deficits. High gamma activity (HGA) between 80 and 140 Hz on electrocorticography is assumed to reflect localized cortical processing, whereas the cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) can reflect bidirectional responses evoked by monophasic pulse stimuli to the language cortices when there is no patient cooperation. The authors propose the use of "passive" mapping by combining HGA mapping and CCEP recording without active tasks during conscious resections of brain tumors. METHODS Five patients, each with an intraaxial tumor in their dominant hemisphere, underwent conscious resection of their lesion with passive mapping. The authors performed functional localization for the receptive language area, using real-time HGA mapping, by listening passively to linguistic sounds. Furthermore, single electrical pulses were delivered to the identified receptive temporal language area to detect CCEPs in the frontal lobe. All mapping results were validated by ECS, and the sensitivity and specificity were evaluated. RESULTS Linguistic HGA mapping quickly identified the language area in the temporal lobe. Electrical stimulation by linguistic HGA mapping to the identified temporal receptive language area evoked CCEPs on the frontal lobe. The combination of linguistic HGA and frontal CCEPs needed no patient cooperation or effort. In this small case series, the sensitivity and specificity were 93.8% and 89%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The described technique allows for simple and quick functional brain mapping with higher sensitivity and specificity than ECS mapping. The authors believe that this could improve the reliability of functional brain mapping and facilitate rational and objective operations. Passive mapping also sheds light on the underlying physiological mechanisms of language in the human brain.

  4. Short-interval and long-interval intracortical inhibition of TMS-evoked EEG potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Premoli, Isabella; Király, Julia; Müller-Dahlhaus, Florian; Zipser, Carl M; Rossini, Pierre; Zrenner, Christoph; Ziemann, Ulf; Belardinelli, Paolo

    2018-03-15

    Inhibition in the human motor cortex can be probed by means of paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) at interstimulus intervals of 2-3 ms (short-interval intracortical inhibition, SICI) or ∼100 ms (long-interval intracortical inhibition, LICI). Conventionally, SICI and LICI are recorded as motor evoked potential (MEP) inhibition in the hand muscle. Pharmacological experiments indicate that they are mediated by GABAA and GABAB receptors, respectively. SICI and LICI of TMS-evoked EEG potentials (TEPs) and their pharmacological properties have not been systematically studied. Here, we sought to examine SICI by ppTMS-evoked compared to single-pulse TMS-evoked TEPs, to investigate its pharmacological manipulation and to compare SICI with our previous results on LICI. PpTMS-EEG was applied to the left motor cortex in 16 healthy subjects in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, testing the effects of a single oral dose 20 mg of diazepam, a positive modulator at the GABAA receptor, vs. 50 mg of the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen on SICI of TEPs. We found significant SICI of the N100 and P180 TEPs prior to drug intake. Diazepam reduced SICI of the N100 TEP, while baclofen enhanced it. Compared to our previous ppTMS-EEG results on LICI, the SICI effects on TEPs, including their drug modulation, were largely analogous. Findings suggest a similar interaction of paired-pulse effects on TEPs irrespective of the interstimulus interval. Therefore, SICI and LICI as measured with TEPs cannot be directly derived from SICI and LICI measured with MEPs, but may offer novel insight into paired-pulse responses recorded directly from the brain rather than muscle. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Do resting brain dynamics predict oddball evoked-potential?

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    Lee Tien-Wen

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The oddball paradigm is widely applied to the investigation of cognitive function in neuroscience and in neuropsychiatry. Whether cortical oscillation in the resting state can predict the elicited oddball event-related potential (ERP is still not clear. This study explored the relationship between resting electroencephalography (EEG and oddball ERPs. The regional powers of 18 electrodes across delta, theta, alpha and beta frequencies were correlated with the amplitude and latency of N1, P2, N2 and P3 components of oddball ERPs. A multivariate analysis based on partial least squares (PLS was applied to further examine the spatial pattern revealed by multiple correlations. Results Higher synchronization in the resting state, especially at the alpha spectrum, is associated with higher neural responsiveness and faster neural propagation, as indicated by the higher amplitude change of N1/N2 and shorter latency of P2. None of the resting quantitative EEG indices predict P3 latency and amplitude. The PLS analysis confirms that the resting cortical dynamics which explains N1/N2 amplitude and P2 latency does not show regional specificity, indicating a global property of the brain. Conclusions This study differs from previous approaches by relating dynamics in the resting state to neural responsiveness in the activation state. Our analyses suggest that the neural characteristics carried by resting brain dynamics modulate the earlier/automatic stage of target detection.

  6. A Telehealth System for Remote Auditory Evoked Potential Monitoring

    OpenAIRE

    Millan, Jorge; Yunda, Leonardo

    2013-01-01

    A portable, Internet-based EEG/Auditory Evoked Potential (AEP) monitoring system was developed for remote electrophysiological studies during sleep. The system records EEG/AEP simultaneously at the subject?s home for increased comfort and flexibility. The system provides simultaneous recording and remote viewing of EEG, EMG and EOG waves and allows on-line averaging of auditory evoked potentials. The design allows the recording of all major AEP components (brainstem, middle and late latency E...

  7. INFLUENCE OF DANCE TRAINING ON SACCULOCOLLIC PATHWAY: VESTIBULAR EVOKED MYOGENIC POTENTIALS (VEMP) AS AN OBJECTIVE TOOL

    OpenAIRE

    Swathi; Sathish Kumar

    2013-01-01

    ABSTRACT : Auditory system is shaped by experience and training. Training (s ensory experience) induces neurophysiologic changes & plasticity in normal hearing individuals, hearing loss patients, hearing aid users and cochlear implanted subjects. Not only speech stimulus, but music also brings about functional and structural organi zation of the brain in musician compared to non - musicians. The Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) are a biphasic in...

  8. Laser-Induced Evoked Potentials in the Brain after Nonperceptible Optical Stimulation at the Neiguan Acupoint: A Preliminary Report

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    Gerhard Litscher

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We report on small but reproducible human cerebral evoked potentials after bilateral nonperceptible laser needle (658 nm, 40 mW, 500 μm, 1 Hz irradiation of the Neiguan acupoint (PC6. The results which are unique in scientific literature were obtained in a 26-year-old female healthy volunteer within a joint study between the Medical University of Graz, the Karl-Franzens University of Graz, and the Graz University of Technology. The findings of the 32-channel evoked potential analysis indicate that exposure to laser needle stimulation with a frequency of 1 Hz can modulate the ascending reticular activating system. Further studies are absolutely necessary to confirm or refute the preliminary findings.

  9. Estimating and Testing the Sources of Evoked Potentials in the Brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huizenga, Hilde M.; Molenaar, Peter C. M.

    1994-01-01

    The source of an event-related brain potential (ERP) is estimated from multivariate measures of ERP on the head under several mathematical and physical constraints on the parameters of the source model. Statistical aspects of estimation are discussed, and new tests are proposed. (SLD)

  10. Comparison of effectiveness between cork-screw and peg-screw electrodes for transcranial motor evoked potential monitoring using the finite element method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomio, Ryosuke; Akiyama, Takenori; Ohira, Takayuki; Yoshida, Kazunari

    2016-01-01

    Intraoperative monitoring of motor evoked potentials by transcranial electric stimulation is popular in neurosurgery for monitoring motor function preservation. Some authors have reported that the peg-screw electrodes screwed into the skull can more effectively conduct current to the brain compared to subdermal cork-screw electrodes screwed into the skin. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of electrode design on transcranial motor evoked potential monitoring. We estimated differences in effectiveness between the cork-screw electrode, peg-screw electrode, and cortical electrode to produce electric fields in the brain. We used the finite element method to visualize electric fields in the brain generated by transcranial electric stimulation using realistic three-dimensional head models developed from T1-weighted images. Surfaces from five layers of the head were separated as accurately as possible. We created the "cork-screws model," "1 peg-screw model," "peg-screws model," and "cortical electrode model". Electric fields in the brain radially diffused from the brain surface at a maximum just below the electrodes in coronal sections. The coronal sections and surface views of the brain showed higher electric field distributions under the peg-screw compared to the cork-screw. An extremely high electric field was observed under cortical electrodes. Our main finding was that the intensity of electric fields in the brain are higher in the peg-screw model than the cork-screw model.

  11. Beyond the evoked/intrinsic neural process dichotomy

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    Taylor Bolt

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Contemporary functional neuroimaging research has increasingly focused on characterization of intrinsic or “spontaneous” brain activity. Analysis of intrinsic activity is often contrasted with analysis of task-evoked activity that has traditionally been the focus of cognitive neuroscience. But does this evoked/intrinsic dichotomy adequately characterize human brain function? Based on empirical data demonstrating a close functional interdependence between intrinsic and task-evoked activity, we argue that the dichotomy between intrinsic and task-evoked activity as unobserved contributions to brain activity is artificial. We present an alternative picture of brain function in which the brain’s spatiotemporal dynamics do not consist of separable intrinsic and task-evoked components, but reflect the enaction of a system of mutual constraints to move the brain into and out of task-appropriate functional configurations. According to this alternative picture, cognitive neuroscientists are tasked with describing both the temporal trajectory of brain activity patterns across time, and the modulation of this trajectory by task states, without separating this process into intrinsic and task-evoked components. We argue that this alternative picture of brain function is best captured in a novel explanatory framework called enabling constraint. Overall, these insights call for a reconceptualization of functional brain activity, and should drive future methodological and empirical efforts.

  12. Steady-state visually evoked potential correlates of human body perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giabbiconi, Claire-Marie; Jurilj, Verena; Gruber, Thomas; Vocks, Silja

    2016-11-01

    In cognitive neuroscience, interest in the neuronal basis underlying the processing of human bodies is steadily increasing. Based on functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, it is assumed that the processing of pictures of human bodies is anchored in a network of specialized brain areas comprising the extrastriate and the fusiform body area (EBA, FBA). An alternative to examine the dynamics within these networks is electroencephalography, more specifically so-called steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs). In SSVEP tasks, a visual stimulus is presented repetitively at a predefined flickering rate and typically elicits a continuous oscillatory brain response at this frequency. This brain response is characterized by an excellent signal-to-noise ratio-a major advantage for source reconstructions. The main goal of present study was to demonstrate the feasibility of this method to study human body perception. To that end, we presented pictures of bodies and contrasted the resulting SSVEPs to two control conditions, i.e., non-objects and pictures of everyday objects (chairs). We found specific SSVEPs amplitude differences between bodies and both control conditions. Source reconstructions localized the SSVEP generators to a network of temporal, occipital and parietal areas. Interestingly, only body perception resulted in activity differences in middle temporal and lateral occipitotemporal areas, most likely reflecting the EBA/FBA.

  13. Awareness during anaesthesia for surgery requiring evoked potential monitoring: A pilot study

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    Pritish J Korula

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Evoked potential monitoring such as somatosensory-evoked potential (SSEP or motor-evoked potential (MEP monitoring during surgical procedures in proximity to the spinal cord requires minimising the minimum alveolar concentrations (MACs below the anaesthetic concentrations normally required (1 MAC to prevent interference in amplitude and latency of evoked potentials. This could result in awareness. Our primary objective was to determine the incidence of awareness while administering low MAC inhalational anaesthetics for these unique procedures. The secondary objective was to assess the adequacy of our anaesthetic technique from neurophysiologist′s perspective. Methods: In this prospective observational pilot study, 61 American Society of Anesthesiologists 1 and 2 patients undergoing spinal surgery for whom intraoperative evoked potential monitoring was performed were included; during the maintenance phase, 0.7-0.8 MAC of isoflurane was targeted. We evaluated the intraoperative depth of anaesthesia using a bispectral (BIS index monitor as well as the patients response to surgical stimulus (PRST scoring system. Post-operatively, a modified Bruce questionnaire was used to verify awareness. The adequacy of evoked potential readings was also assessed. Results: Of the 61 patients, no patient had explicit awareness. Intraoperatively, 19 of 61 patients had a BIS value of above sixty at least once, during surgery. There was no correlation with PRST scoring and BIS during surgery. Fifty-four out of 61 patient′s evoked potential readings were deemed ′good′ or ′fair′ for the conduct of electrophysiological monitoring. Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrates that administering low MAC inhalational anaesthetics to facilitate evoked potential monitoring does not result in explicit awareness. However, larger studies are needed to verify this. The conduct of SSEP electrophysiological monitoring was satisfactory with the use of this

  14. Refractory episodic vertigo: role of intratympanic gentamicin and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials,

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    Erika Celis-Aguilar

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Even today, the treatment of intractable vertigo remains a challenge. Vestibular ablation with intratympanic gentamicin stands as a good alternative in the management of refractory vertigo patients. Objective: To control intractable vertigo through complete saccular and horizontal canal vestibular ablation with intratympanic gentamicin treatment. Methods: Patients with refractory episodic vertigo were included. The inclusion criteria were: unilateral ear disease, moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss, and failure to other treatments. Included patients underwent 0.5-0.8 mL of gentamicin intratympanic application at a 30 mg/mL concentration. Vestibular ablation was confirmed by the absence of response on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and no response on caloric tests. Audiometry, electronystagmography with iced water, and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were performed in all patients. Results: Ten patients were included; nine patients with Meniere's disease and one patient with (late onset delayed hydrops. Nine patients showed an absent response on vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and no response on caloric tests. The only patient with low amplitude on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials had vertigo recurrence. Vertigo control was achieved in 90% of the patients. One patient developed hearing loss >30 dB. Conclusions: Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials confirmed vestibular ablation in patients treated with intratympanic gentamicin. High-grade vertigo control was due to complete saccular and horizontal canal ablation (no response to iced water in electronystagmography and no response on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials.

  15. Conscious wireless electroretinogram and visual evoked potentials in rats.

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    Jason Charng

    Full Text Available The electroretinogram (ERG, retina and visual evoked potential (VEP, brain are widely used in vivo tools assaying the integrity of the visual pathway. Current recordings in preclinical models are conducted under anesthesia, which alters neural physiology and contaminates responses. We describe a conscious wireless ERG and VEP recording platform in rats. Using a novel surgical technique to chronically implant electrodes subconjunctivally on the eye and epidurally over the visual cortex, we are able to record stable and repeatable conscious ERG and VEP signals over at least 1 month. We show that the use of anaesthetics, necessary for conventional ERG and VEP measurements, alters electrophysiology recordings. Conscious visual electrophysiology improves the viability of longitudinal studies by eliminating complications associated with repeated anaesthesia. It will also enable uncontaminated assessment of drug effects, allowing the eye to be used as an effective biomarker of the central nervous system.

  16. Sequence detection analysis based on canonical correlation for steady-state visual evoked potential brain computer interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Lei; Ju, Zhengyu; Li, Jie; Jian, Rongjun; Jiang, Changjun

    2015-09-30

    Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) has been widely applied to develop brain computer interface (BCI) systems. The essence of SSVEP recognition is to recognize the frequency component of target stimulus focused by a subject significantly present in EEG spectrum. In this paper, a novel statistical approach based on sequence detection (SD) is proposed for improving the performance of SSVEP recognition. This method uses canonical correlation analysis (CCA) coefficients to observe SSVEP signal sequence. And then, a threshold strategy is utilized for SSVEP recognition. The result showed the classification performance with the longer duration of time window achieved the higher accuracy for most subjects. And the average time costing per trial was lower than the predefined recognition time. It was implicated that our approach could improve the speed of BCI system in contrast to other methods. Comparison with existing method(s): In comparison with other resultful algorithms, experimental accuracy of SD approach was better than those using a widely used CCA-based method and two newly proposed algorithms, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) recognition model as well as multivariate synchronization index (MSI) method. Furthermore, the information transfer rate (ITR) obtained by SD approach was higher than those using other three methods for most participants. These conclusions demonstrated that our proposed method was promising for a high-speed online BCI. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Effects of single cycle binaural beat duration on auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihajloski, Todor; Bohorquez, Jorge; Özdamar, Özcan

    2014-01-01

    Binaural beat (BB) illusions are experienced as continuous central pulsations when two sounds with slightly different frequencies are delivered to each ear. It has been shown that steady-state auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to BBs can be captured and investigated. The authors recently developed a new method of evoking transient AEPs to binaural beats using frequency modulated stimuli. This methodology was able to create single BBs in predetermined intervals with varying carrier frequencies. This study examines the effects of the BB duration and the frequency modulating component of the stimulus on the binaural beats and their evoked potentials. Normal hearing subjects were tested with a set of four durations (25, 50, 100, and 200 ms) with two stimulation configurations, binaural dichotic (binaural beats) and diotic (frequency modulation). The results obtained from the study showed that out of the given durations, the 100 ms beat, was capable of evoking the largest amplitude responses. The frequency modulation effect showed a decrease in peak amplitudes with increasing beat duration until their complete disappearance at 200 ms. Even though, at 200 ms, the frequency modulation effects were not present, the binaural beats were still perceived and captured as evoked potentials.

  18. Index finger somatosensory evoked potentials in blind Braille readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giriyappa, Dayananda; Subrahmanyam, Roopakala Mysore; Rangashetty, Srinivasa; Sharma, Rajeev

    2009-01-01

    Traditionally, vision has been considered the dominant modality in our multi-sensory perception of the surrounding world. Sensory input via non-visual tracts becomes of greater behavioural relevance in totally blind individuals to enable effective interaction with the world around them. These include audition and tactile perceptions, leading to an augmentation in these perceptions when compared with normal sighted individuals. The objective of the present work was to study the index finger somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in totally blind and normal sighted individuals. SEPs were recorded in 15 Braille reading totally blind females and compared with 15 age-matched normal sighted females. Latency and amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potential waveforms (N9, N13, and N20) were measured. Amplitude of N20 SEP (a cortical somatosensory evoked potential) was significantly larger in the totally blind than in normal sighted individuals (p Braille reading right index finger. Totally blind Braille readers have larger N20 amplitude, suggestive of greater somatosensory cortical representation of the Braille reading index finger.

  19. Music-Evoked Emotions—Current Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaefer, Hans-Eckhardt

    2017-01-01

    The present study is focused on a review of the current state of investigating music-evoked emotions experimentally, theoretically and with respect to their therapeutic potentials. After a concise historical overview and a schematic of the hearing mechanisms, experimental studies on music listeners and on music performers are discussed, starting with the presentation of characteristic musical stimuli and the basic features of tomographic imaging of emotional activation in the brain, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), which offer high spatial resolution in the millimeter range. The progress in correlating activation imaging in the brain to the psychological understanding of music-evoked emotion is demonstrated and some prospects for future research are outlined. Research in psychoneuroendocrinology and molecular markers is reviewed in the context of music-evoked emotions and the results indicate that the research in this area should be intensified. An assessment of studies involving measuring techniques with high temporal resolution down to the 10 ms range, as, e.g., electroencephalography (EEG), event-related brain potentials (ERP), magnetoencephalography (MEG), skin conductance response (SCR), finger temperature, and goose bump development (piloerection) can yield information on the dynamics and kinetics of emotion. Genetic investigations reviewed suggest the heredity transmission of a predilection for music. Theoretical approaches to musical emotion are directed to a unified model for experimental neurological evidence and aesthetic judgment. Finally, the reports on musical therapy are briefly outlined. The study concludes with an outlook on emerging technologies and future research fields. PMID:29225563

  20. Maturation of the auditory system in clinically normal puppies as reflected by the brain stem auditory-evoked potential wave V latency-intensity curve and rarefaction-condensation differential potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poncelet, L C; Coppens, A G; Meuris, S I; Deltenre, P F

    2000-11-01

    To evaluate auditory maturation in puppies. Ten clinically normal Beagle puppies. Puppies were examined repeatedly from days 11 to 36 after birth (8 measurements). Click-evoked brain stem auditory-evoked potentials (BAEP) were obtained in response to rarefaction and condensation click stimuli from 90 dB normal hearing level to wave V threshold, using steps of 10 dB. Responses were added, providing an equivalent to alternate polarity clicks, and subtracted, providing the rarefaction-condensation differential potential (RCDP). Steps of 5 dB were used to determine thresholds of RCDP and wave V. Slope of the low-intensity segment of the wave V latency-intensity curve was calculated. The intensity range at which RCDP could not be recorded (ie, pre-RCDP range) was calculated by subtracting the threshold of wave V from threshold of RCDP RESULTS: Slope of the wave V latency-intensity curve low-intensity segment evolved with age, changing from (mean +/- SD) -90.8 +/- 41.6 to -27.8 +/- 4.1 micros/dB. Similar results were obtained from days 23 through 36. The pre-RCDP range diminished as puppies became older, decreasing from 40.0 +/- 7.5 to 20.5 +/- 6.4 dB. Changes in slope of the latency-intensity curve with age suggest enlargement of the audible range of frequencies toward high frequencies up to the third week after birth. Decrease in the pre-RCDP range may indicate an increase of the audible range of frequencies toward low frequencies. Age-related reference values will assist clinicians in detecting hearing loss in puppies.

  1. [Communication and auditory behavior obtained by auditory evoked potentials in mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arch-Tirado, Emilio; Collado-Corona, Miguel Angel; Morales-Martínez, José de Jesús

    2004-01-01

    amphibians, Frog catesbiana (frog bull, 30 animals); reptiles, Sceloporus torcuatus (common small lizard, 22 animals); birds: Columba livia (common dove, 20 animals), and mammals, Cavia porcellus, (guinea pig, 20 animals). With regard to lodging, all animals were maintained at the Institute of Human Communication Disorders, were fed with special food for each species, and had water available ad libitum. Regarding procedure, for carrying out analysis of auditory evoked potentials of brain stem SPL amphibians, birds, and mammals were anesthetized with ketamine 20, 25, and 50 mg/kg, by injection. Reptiles were anesthetized by freezing (6 degrees C). Study subjects had needle electrodes placed in an imaginary line on the half sagittal line between both ears and eyes, behind right ear, and behind left ear. Stimulation was carried out inside a no noise site by means of a horn in free field. The sign was filtered at between 100 and 3,000 Hz and analyzed in a computer for provoked potentials (Racia APE 78). In data shown by amphibians, wave-evoked responses showed greater latency than those of the other species. In reptiles, latency was observed as reduced in comparison with amphibians. In the case of birds, lesser latency values were observed, while in the case of guinea pigs latencies were greater than those of doves but they were stimulated by 10 dB, which demonstrated best auditory threshold in the four studied species. Last, it was corroborated that as the auditory threshold of each species it descends conforms to it advances in the phylogenetic scale. Beginning with these registrations, we care able to say that response for evoked brain stem potential showed to be more complex and lesser values of absolute latency as we advance along the phylogenetic scale; thus, the opposing auditory threshold is better agreement with regard to the phylogenetic scale among studied species. These data indicated to us that seeking of auditory information is more complex in more

  2. Refractory episodic vertigo: role of intratympanic gentamicin and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Celis-Aguilar, Erika; Hinojosa-González, Ramon; Vales-Hidalgo, Olivia; Coutinho-Toledo, Heloisa

    Even today, the treatment of intractable vertigo remains a challenge. Vestibular ablation with intratympanic gentamicin stands as a good alternative in the management of refractory vertigo patients. To control intractable vertigo through complete saccular and horizontal canal vestibular ablation with intratympanic gentamicin treatment. Patients with refractory episodic vertigo were included. The inclusion criteria were: unilateral ear disease, moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss, and failure to other treatments. Included patients underwent 0.5-0.8mL of gentamicin intratympanic application at a 30mg/mL concentration. Vestibular ablation was confirmed by the absence of response on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and no response on caloric tests. Audiometry, electronystagmography with iced water, and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were performed in all patients. Ten patients were included; nine patients with Meniere's disease and one patient with (late onset) delayed hydrops. Nine patients showed an absent response on vestibular evoked myogenic potentials and no response on caloric tests. The only patient with low amplitude on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials had vertigo recurrence. Vertigo control was achieved in 90% of the patients. One patient developed hearing loss >30dB. Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials confirmed vestibular ablation in patients treated with intratympanic gentamicin. High-grade vertigo control was due to complete saccular and horizontal canal ablation (no response to iced water in electronystagmography and no response on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials). Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  3. Effects of pesticides on the peripheral and central nervous system in tobacco farmers in Malaysia: studies on peripheral nerve conduction, brain-evoked potentials and computerized posturography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimura, Kaoru; Yokoyama, Kazuhito; Sato, Hajime; Nordin, Rusli Bin; Naing, Lin; Kimura, Satoshi; Okabe, Shingo; Maeno, Takashi; Kobayashi, Yasuki; Kitamura, Fumihiko; Araki, Shunichi

    2005-04-01

    We examined the effects of pesticides on the central and peripheral nervous system in the setting of a tobacco farm at a developing country. Maximal motor and sensory nerve conduction velocities (MCV and SCV, respectively) in the median, sural and tibial nerves, postural sway, and brain-evoked potentials (auditory event-related and visual-evoked potentials) were measured in 80 male tobacco farmers and age- and sex-matched 40 controls in Kelantan, Malaysia. Median SCV (finger-wrist) in farmers using Delsen (mancozeb, dithiocarbamate fungicide), who showed significant decrease of serum cholinesterase activities, were significantly lower compared with the controls. Sural SCV in farmers using Fastac (alpha-cypermethrin, pyrethroid insecticide) and median MCV (elbow-wrist) in farmers using Tamex (butralin, dinitroaniline herbicide) were significantly slowed compared with their respective controls. In Delsen (mancozeb, dithiocarbamate) users, the power of postural sway of 0-1 Hz was significantly larger than that in the controls both in the anterior-posterior direction with eyes open and in the right-left direction with eyes closed. The former type of sway was also significantly increased in Tamaron (methamidophos, organophosphorus insecticide) users. In conclusion, nerve conduction velocities and postural sway seem to be sensitive indicators of the effects of pesticides on the central and peripheral nervous system.

  4. Proprioceptive evoked potentials in man

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnfred, S; Chen, A C; Eder, Derek N

    2000-01-01

    We studied cerebral evoked potentials on the scalp to the stimulation of the right hand from a change in weight of 400-480 g in ten subjects. Rise-time was 20g/10 ms, Inter Stimulus Interval 2s and stimulus duration was 100 ms. The cerebral activations were a double positive contralateral C3'/P70......). Further studies of the PEP are needed to assess the influence of load manipulations and of muscle contraction and to explore the effect of attentional manipulation....

  5. Analog and digital filtering of the brain stem auditory evoked response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavanagh, K T; Franks, R

    1989-07-01

    This study compared the filtering effects on the auditory evoked potential of zero and standard phase shift digital filters (the former was a mathematical approximation of a standard Butterworth filter). Conventional filters were found to decrease the height of the evoked response in the majority of waveforms compared to zero phase shift filters. A 36-dB/octave zero phase shift high pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 100 Hz produced a 16% reduction in wave amplitude compared to the unfiltered control. A 36-dB/octave, 100-Hz standard phase shift high pass filter produced a 41% reduction, and a 12-dB/octave, 150-Hz standard phase shift high pass filter produced a 38% reduction in wave amplitude compared to the unfiltered control. A decrease in the mean along with an increase in the variability of wave IV/V latency was also noted with conventional compared to zero phase shift filters. The increase in the variability of the latency measurement was due to the difficulty in waveform identification caused by the phase shift distortion of the conventional filter along with the variable decrease in wave latency caused by phase shifting responses with different spectral content. Our results indicated that a zero phase shift high pass filter of 100 Hz was the most desirable filter studied for the mitigation of spontaneous brain activity and random muscle artifact.

  6. Pattern visual evoked potentials in malingering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, A; Akio, T; Matsuda, E; Wakami, Y

    2001-03-01

    We previously developed a new method for estimating objective visual acuity by means of pattern visual evoked potentials (PVEP). In this study, this method was applied to the diagnosis of malingering. Six patients ranging in age from 40 to 54 years (mean 47 years) with suspected malingering were evaluated by means of the visual evoked potential test, optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) inhibition test, and the visual field test. In the PVEP study, the stimulus consisted of black and white checkerboards (39', 26', 15', and 9') with a visual angle of 8 degrees, contrast level of 15%, and a frequency of 0.7 Hz. One hundred PVEP responses were averaged per session. Routine ophthalmic examinations were normal in all patients. Five patients had a tubularly constricted visual field, and the remaining patient had a normal visual field. The objective visual acuities of the six patients estimated from PVEP were better than their subjective visual acuities estimated with Landolt rings. Among a variety of psychophysical and electrophysiologic ancillary tests, we consider our PVEP method a useful method for objectively determining visual acuity in a patient with signs of ocular malingering.

  7. Study on change of multi-modally evoked potentials in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qin Ling; Chen Jiaxin; Zhang Lixiang; Wang Tiejian; Han Min; Lu Xiaoling

    2001-01-01

    Objective: To investigate possible changes of multi-modally evoked potentials in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after radiotherapy. Methods: Altogether 48 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients receiving primary conventional external beam irradiation were examined before and after radiotherapy to determine their brainstem auditory-evoked potential (BAEP), short-latency somatosensory-evoked potential (SLSEP) and pattern reversal visual-evoked potential (PRVEP). Results: In comparison with the conditions before radiotherapy, in different periods after radiotherapy abnormal peak latency and interval latency difference were found in BAEP, SLSEP and PRVEP. Conclusion: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radiotherapy may cause abnormal function of nerve conduction in early periods, which can be showed by BAEP, SLSEP, PRVEP, and injury can be timely detected if the three evoked potentials are used together. Thus authors suggest BAEP, SLSEP, PRVEP should be examined in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients during and after the radiotherapy so as to find early damage in auditory somatosensory and visual conduction pathways

  8. Long-term potentiation (LTP) of human sensory-evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, Ian J; McNair, Nicolas A; Hamm, Jeffrey P; Clapp, Wesley C; Mathalon, Daniel H; Cavus, Idil; Teyler, Timothy J

    2010-09-01

    Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the principal candidate synaptic mechanism underlying learning and memory, and has been studied extensively at the cellular and molecular level in laboratory animals. Inquiry into the functional significance of LTP has been hindered by the absence of a human model as, until recently, LTP has only been directly demonstrated in humans in isolated cortical tissue obtained from patients undergoing surgery, where it displays properties identical to those seen in non-human preparations. In this brief review, we describe the results of paradigms recently developed in our laboratory for inducing LTP-like changes in visual-, and auditory-evoked potentials. We describe how rapid, repetitive presentation of sensory stimuli leads to a persistent enhancement of components of sensory-evoked potential in normal humans. Experiments to date, investigating the locus, stimulus specificity, and NMDA receptor dependence of these LTP-like changes suggest that they have the essential characteristics of LTP seen in experimental animals. The ability to elicit LTP from non-surgical patients will provide a human model system allowing the detailed examination of synaptic plasticity in normal subjects and may have future clinical applications in the assessment of cognitive disorders. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Auditory and visual evoked potentials during hyperoxia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, D. B. D.; Strawbridge, P. J.

    1974-01-01

    Experimental study of the auditory and visual averaged evoked potentials (AEPs) recorded during hyperoxia, and investigation of the effect of hyperoxia on the so-called contingent negative variation (CNV). No effect of hyperoxia was found on the auditory AEP, the visual AEP, or the CNV. Comparisons with previous studies are discussed.

  10. Effect of binasal occlusion (BNO) on the visual-evoked potential (VEP) in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciuffreda, Kenneth J; Yadav, Naveen K; Ludlam, Diana P

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the experiment was to assess the effect of binasal occlusion (BNO) on the visually-evoked potential (VEP) in visually-normal (VN) individuals and in those with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) for whom BNO frequently reduces their primary symptoms related to abnormally-increased visual motion sensitivity (VMS). Subjects were comprised of asymptomatic VN adults (n = 10) and individuals with mTBI (n = 10) having the symptom of VMS. Conventional full-field VEP testing was employed under two conditions: without BNO and with opaque BNO which blocked regions on either side of the VEP test stimulus. Subjective impressions were also assessed. In VN, the mean VEP amplitude decreased significantly with BNO in all subjects. In contrast, in mTBI, the mean VEP amplitude increased significantly with BNO in all subjects. Latency was normal and unaffected in all cases. Repeat VEP testing in three subjects from each group revealed similar test-re-test findings. Visuomotor activities improved, with reduced symptoms, with BNO in the mTBI group. It is speculated that individuals with mTBI habitually attempt to suppress visual information in the near retinal periphery to reduce their abnormal VMS, with addition of the BNO negating the suppressive influence and thus producing a widespread disinhibition effect and resultant increase in VEP amplitude.

  11. Temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prestes, Raquel; de Andrade, Adriana Neves; Santos, Renata Beatriz Fernandes; Marangoni, Andrea Tortosa; Schiefer, Ana Maria; Gil, Daniela

    Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder, and may be associated with neuroaudiological factors linked to central auditory processing, including changes in auditory processing skills and temporal resolution. To characterize the temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers and to compare them with non-stutterers. The study included 41 right-handed subjects, aged 18-46 years, divided into two groups: stutterers (n=20) and non-stutters (n=21), compared according to age, education, and sex. All subjects were submitted to the duration pattern tests, random gap detection test, and long-latency auditory evoked potential. Individuals who stutter showed poorer performance on Duration Pattern and Random Gap Detection tests when compared with fluent individuals. In the long-latency auditory evoked potential, there was a difference in the latency of N2 and P3 components; stutterers had higher latency values. Stutterers have poor performance in temporal processing and higher latency values for N2 and P3 components. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  12. Temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raquel Prestes

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder, and may be associated with neuroaudiological factors linked to central auditory processing, including changes in auditory processing skills and temporal resolution. Objective: To characterize the temporal processing and long-latency auditory evoked potential in stutterers and to compare them with non-stutterers. Methods: The study included 41 right-handed subjects, aged 18-46 years, divided into two groups: stutterers (n = 20 and non-stutters (n = 21, compared according to age, education, and sex. All subjects were submitted to the duration pattern tests, random gap detection test, and long-latency auditory evoked potential. Results: Individuals who stutter showed poorer performance on Duration Pattern and Random Gap Detection tests when compared with fluent individuals. In the long-latency auditory evoked potential, there was a difference in the latency of N2 and P3 components; stutterers had higher latency values. Conclusion: Stutterers have poor performance in temporal processing and higher latency values for N2 and P3 components.

  13. Do Event-Related Evoked Potentials Reflect Apathy Tendency and Motivation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takayoshi, Hiroyuki; Onoda, Keiichi; Yamaguchi, Shuhei

    2018-01-01

    Apathy is a mental state of diminished motivation. Although the reward system as the foundation of the motivation in the human brain has been studied extensively with neuroimaging techniques, the electrophysiological correlates of motivation and apathy have not been fully explored. Thus, in 14 healthy volunteers, we examined whether event-related evoked potentials (ERP) obtained during a simple number discrimination task with/without rewards reflected apathy tendency and a reward-dependent tendency, which were assessed separately using the apathy scale and the temperament and character inventory (TCI). Participants were asked to judge the size of a number, and received feedback based on their performance in each trial. The P3 amplitudes related to the feedback stimuli increased only in the reward condition. Furthermore, the P2 amplitudes related to the negative feedback stimuli in the reward condition had a positive correlation with the reward-dependent tendency in TCI, whereas the P3 amplitudes related to the positive feedback stimuli had a negative correlation with the apathy score. Our result suggests that the P2 and P3 ERPs to reward-related feedback stimuli are modulated in a distinctive manner by the motivational reward dependence and apathy tendency, and thus the current paradigm may be useful for investigating the brain activity associated with motivation. PMID:29445331

  14. Visual cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials following incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nightingale, S. (Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)); Schofield, I.S.; Dawes, P.J.D.K. (Newcastle upon Tyne Univ. (UK). Newcastle General Hospital)

    1984-01-01

    Visual, cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials were recorded before incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon during radiotherapy in and around the middle ear, and at 11 weeks and eight months after completion of treatment. No patient experienced neurological symptoms during this period. No consistent changes in evoked potentials were found. The failure to demonstrate subclinical radiation-induced demyelination suggests either that the syndrome of early-delayed radiation rhombencephalopathy occurs in an idiosyncratic manner, or that any subclinical lesions are not detectable by serial evoked potential recordings.

  15. Effect Of Electromagnetic Waves Emitted From Mobile Phone On Brain Stem Auditory Evoked Potential In Adult Males.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, K

    2015-01-01

    Mobile phone (MP) is commonly used communication tool. Electromagnetic waves (EMWs) emitted from MP may have potential health hazards. So, it was planned to study the effect of electromagnetic waves (EMWs) emitted from the mobile phone on brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) in male subjects in the age group of 20-40 years. BAEPs were recorded using standard method of 10-20 system of electrode placement and sound click stimuli of specified intensity, duration and frequency.Right ear was exposed to EMW emitted from MP for about 10 min. On comparison of before and after exposure to MP in right ear (found to be dominating ear), there was significant increase in latency of II, III (p potential.

  16. Visual evoked potential and magnetic resonance imaging are more effective markers of multiple sclerosis progression than laser polarimetry with variable corneal compensation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ema eKantorová

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Backround: The aim of our study was to assess the role of laser polarimetry and visual evoked potentials as potential biomarkers of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS. Participants: A total of 41 patients with MS (82 eyes and 22 age-related healthy volunteers (44 eyes completed the study. MS patients were divided into two groups, one (ON with a history of optic neuritis (17 patients, 34 eyes and another group (NON without it (24 patients, 48 eyes. The MS patients and controls underwent laser polarimetry (GDx examination of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL. In the MS group we also examined: Kurtzke Expanded disability status scale (EDSS, the duration of the disorder, visual evoked potentials (VEP – latency and amplitude – and conventional brain MRI. Results: In the MS group, brain atrophy and new T2 brain lesions in MRI correlated with both VEP latencies and amplitudes. Separate comparisons revealed VEP latency testing to be less sensitive in ON than in NON patients. In ON patients, VEP amplitudes correlated mildly with brain atrophy (r =-0.15 and strongly with brain new MRI lesions (r = -0.8. In NON patients, highly significant correlation of new MRI brain lesions with VEP latencies (r = 0.63, r = 0.6, and amplitudes ( r = -0.3, r = -4.2 was found. EDSS also correlated with brain atrophy in this group (r = 0.5. Our study did not find a correlation of GDx measures with MRI tests. The GDx method was not able to detect whole brain demyelinisation and the degeneration process, but was only able to reveal the involvement of optic nerves in ON and NON patients.Conclusions: In our study, we found that both methods (VEP and GDx can be used for detection of optic nerve damage, but VEP was found to be superior in evaluating whole brain demyelinisation and axonal degeneration. Both VEP and MRI, but not GDx, have an important role in monitoring disease progression in MS patients, independent of the ON history.

  17. Visual cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials following incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nightingale, S.; Schofield, I.S.; Dawes, P.J.D.K.

    1984-01-01

    Visual, cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials were recorded before incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon during radiotherapy in and around the middle ear, and at 11 weeks and eight months after completion of treatment. No patient experienced neurological symptoms during this period. No consistent changes in evoked potentials were found. The failure to demonstrate subclinical radiation-induced demyelination suggests either that the syndrome of early-delayed radiation rhombencephalopathy occurs in an idiosyncratic manner, or that any subclinical lesions are not detectable by serial evoked potential recordings. (author)

  18. The effect of ingested sulfite on visual evoked potentials, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant status of brain in normal and sulfite oxidase-deficient aged rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozsoy, Ozlem; Aras, Sinem; Ozkan, Ayse; Parlak, Hande; Aslan, Mutay; Yargicoglu, Piraye; Agar, Aysel

    2016-07-01

    Sulfite, commonly used as a preservative in foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals, is a very reactive and potentially toxic molecule which is detoxified by sulfite oxidase (SOX). Changes induced by aging may be exacerbated by exogenous chemicals like sulfite. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ingested sulfite on visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and brain antioxidant statuses by measuring superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities. Brain lipid oxidation status was also determined via thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in normal- and SOX-deficient aged rats. Rats do not mimic the sulfite responses seen in humans because of their relatively high SOX activity level. Therefore this study used SOX-deficient rats since they are more appropriate models for studying sulfite toxicity. Forty male Wistar rats aged 24 months were randomly assigned to four groups: control (C), sulfite (S), SOX-deficient (D) and SOX-deficient + sulfite (DS). SOX deficiency was established by feeding rats with low molybdenum (Mo) diet and adding 200 ppm tungsten (W) to their drinking water. Sulfite in the form of sodium metabisulfite (25 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) was given by gavage. Treatment continued for 6 weeks. At the end of the experimental period, flash VEPs were recorded. Hepatic SOX activity was measured to confirm SOX deficiency. SOX-deficient rats had an approximately 10-fold decrease in hepatic SOX activity compared with the normal rats. The activity of SOX in deficient rats was thus in the range of humans. There was no significant difference between control and treated groups in either latence or amplitude of VEP components. Brain SOD, CAT, and GPx activities and brain TBARS levels were similar in all experimental groups compared with the control group. Our results indicate that exogenous administration of sulfite does not affect VEP components and the antioxidant/oxidant status of aged rat brains. © The Author

  19. Multi-channel motor evoked potential monitoring during anterior cervical discectomy and fusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong-Gun Kim

    Full Text Available Objectives: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF surgery is the most common surgical procedure for the cervical spine with low complication rate. Despite the potential prognostic benefit, intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM, a method for detecting impending neurological compromise, is not routinely used in ACDF surgery. The present study aimed to identify the potential benefits of monitoring multi-channel motor evoked potentials (MEPs during ACDF surgery. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 200 consecutive patients who received IONM with multi-channel MEPs and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs. On average, 9.2 muscles per patient were evaluated under MEP monitoring. Results: The rate of MEP change during surgery in the multi-level ACDF group was significantly higher than the single-level group. Two patients from the single-level ACDF group (1.7% and four patients from the multi-level ACDF group (4.9% experienced post-operative motor deficits. Multi-channel MEPs monitoring during single and multi-level ACDF surgery demonstrated higher sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive value than SSEP monitoring. Conclusions: Multi-channel MEP monitoring might be beneficial for the detection of segmental injury as well as long tract injury during single- and multi-level ACDF surgery. Significance: This is first large scale study to identify the usefulness of multi-channel MEPs in monitoring ACDF surgery. Keywords: Disc disease, Somatosensory evoked potentials, Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, Motor evoked potentials, Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion

  20. A portable, differential amplifier for recording high frequency EEG signals and evoked potentials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donos, Cristian; Giurgiu, Liviu; Popescu, Aurel; Mocanu, Marian

    2010-01-01

    In a clinical context, EEG refers to recording the brain's spontaneous electric activity, using small electrodes placed on the scalp. The signals collected are electric 'potentials' measured between two electrodes. Usually, for a healthy adult, these signals have small voltage (10 μV to 100 μV) and frequencies in the 0-40 Hz range. In the scientific literature, there are mentioned EEG signals and evoked potentials that have higher frequencies (up to 600 Hz) and amplitudes lower than 500 ηV. For this reason, building an amplifier capable of recording EEG signals in the ηV range and with frequencies up to couple of kHz is necessary to continue research beyond 600 Hz. We designed a very low noise amplifier that is able to measure/record EEG signals in the ηV range over a very large frequency bandwidth (0.09 Hz -385 kHz).(Author)

  1. Intermediate Latency-Evoked Potentials of Multimodal Cortical Vestibular Areas: Galvanic Stimulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan Kammermeier

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available IntroductionHuman multimodal vestibular cortical regions are bilaterally anterior insulae and posterior opercula, where characteristic vestibular-related cortical potentials were previously reported under acoustic otolith stimulation. Galvanic vestibular stimulation likely influences semicircular canals preferentially. Galvanic stimulation was compared to previously established data under acoustic stimulation.Methods14 healthy right-handed subjects, who were also included in the previous acoustic potential study, showed normal acoustic and galvanic vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials. They received 2,000 galvanic binaural bipolar stimuli for each side during EEG recording.ResultsVestibular cortical potentials were found in all 14 subjects and in the pooled data of all subjects (“grand average” bilaterally. Anterior insula and posterior operculum were activated exclusively under galvanic stimulation at 25, 35, 50, and 80 ms; frontal regions at 30 and 45 ms. Potentials at 70 ms in frontal regions and at 110 ms at all of the involved regions could also be recorded; these events were also found using acoustic stimulation in our previous study.ConclusionGalvanic semicircular canal stimulation evokes specific potentials in addition to those also found with acoustic otolith stimulation in identically located regions of the vestibular cortex. Vestibular cortical regions activate differently by galvanic and acoustic input at the peripheral sensory level.SignificanceDifferential effects in vestibular cortical-evoked potentials may see clinical use in specific vertigo disorders.

  2. Do Event-Related Evoked Potentials Reflect Apathy Tendency and Motivation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiroyuki Takayoshi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Apathy is a mental state of diminished motivation. Although the reward system as the foundation of the motivation in the human brain has been studied extensively with neuroimaging techniques, the electrophysiological correlates of motivation and apathy have not been fully explored. Thus, in 14 healthy volunteers, we examined whether event-related evoked potentials (ERP obtained during a simple number discrimination task with/without rewards reflected apathy tendency and a reward-dependent tendency, which were assessed separately using the apathy scale and the temperament and character inventory (TCI. Participants were asked to judge the size of a number, and received feedback based on their performance in each trial. The P3 amplitudes related to the feedback stimuli increased only in the reward condition. Furthermore, the P2 amplitudes related to the negative feedback stimuli in the reward condition had a positive correlation with the reward-dependent tendency in TCI, whereas the P3 amplitudes related to the positive feedback stimuli had a negative correlation with the apathy score. Our result suggests that the P2 and P3 ERPs to reward-related feedback stimuli are modulated in a distinctive manner by the motivational reward dependence and apathy tendency, and thus the current paradigm may be useful for investigating the brain activity associated with motivation.

  3. The motor evoked potential in AIDS and HAM/TSP: state of the evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leon-Sarmiento, Fidias E; Elfakhani, Mohamed; Boutros, Nash N

    2009-12-01

    We aimed to better understand the involvement of the corticospinal tract, assessed by non-invasive transcranial stimulation, in order to determine the actual involvement of the motor system in patients with HAM/TSP and AIDS. An exhaustive MEDLINE search for the period of 1985 to 2008 for all articles cross-referenced for 'HTLV-I, HTLV-II, HTLV-III and HIV, HIV1, HIV2, evoked potential, motor evoked potential, high voltage electrical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetic stimulation, corticomotor physiology, motor pathways, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS, SIDA, tropical spastic paraparesis, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy, HAM, TSP, and HAM/TSP' were selected and analysed. Eighteen papers published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Japanese were identified. Only the central motor conduction time has been analyzed in seropositive patients to human retroviruses. The investigations done on HAM/TSP support the involvement of the pyramidal tract mainly at lower levels, following a centripetal pattern; in AIDS, such an involvement seems to be more prominent at brain levels following a centrifugal pattern. The central motor conduction time abnormalities and involvement differences of the corticospinal tract of patients with AIDS and HAM/TSP dissected here would allow to re-orient early neurorehabilitation measures in these retroviruses-associated neurodegenerative disorders. Besides this, more sophisticated and sensitive non-invasive corticospinal stimulation measures that detect early changes in thalamocortical-basal ganglia circuitry will be needed in both clinically established as well as asymptomatic patients at times when the fastest corticospinal fibers remain uninvolved.

  4. Abdominal acupuncture reduces laser-evoked potentials in healthy subjects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pazzaglia, C.; Liguori, S.; Minciotti, I.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: Acupuncture is known to reduce clinical pain, although the exact mechanism is unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of acupuncture on laser-evoked potential amplitudes and laser pain perception. Methods: In order to evaluate whether abdominal acupuncture...... is able to modify pain perception, 10 healthy subjects underwent a protocol in which laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) and laser pain perception were collected before the test (baseline), during abdominal acupuncture, and 15. min after needle removal. The same subjects also underwent a similar protocol...... in which, however, sham acupuncture without any needle penetration was used. Results: During real acupuncture, both N1 and N2/P2 amplitudes were reduced, as compared to baseline (p . < 0.01). The reduction lasted up to 15. min after needle removal. Furthermore, laser pain perception was reduced during...

  5. 3D graphics, virtual reality, and motion-onset visual evoked potentials in neurogaming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beveridge, R; Wilson, S; Coyle, D

    2016-01-01

    A brain-computer interface (BCI) offers movement-free control of a computer application and is achieved by reading and translating the cortical activity of the brain into semantic control signals. Motion-onset visual evoked potentials (mVEP) are neural potentials employed in BCIs and occur when motion-related stimuli are attended visually. mVEP dynamics are correlated with the position and timing of the moving stimuli. To investigate the feasibility of utilizing the mVEP paradigm with video games of various graphical complexities including those of commercial quality, we conducted three studies over four separate sessions comparing the performance of classifying five mVEP responses with variations in graphical complexity and style, in-game distractions, and display parameters surrounding mVEP stimuli. To investigate the feasibility of utilizing contemporary presentation modalities in neurogaming, one of the studies compared mVEP classification performance when stimuli were presented using the oculus rift virtual reality headset. Results from 31 independent subjects were analyzed offline. The results show classification performances ranging up to 90% with variations in conditions in graphical complexity having limited effect on mVEP performance; thus, demonstrating the feasibility of using the mVEP paradigm within BCI-based neurogaming. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Absence of both auditory evoked potentials and auditory percepts dependent on timing cues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starr, A; McPherson, D; Patterson, J; Don, M; Luxford, W; Shannon, R; Sininger, Y; Tonakawa, L; Waring, M

    1991-06-01

    An 11-yr-old girl had an absence of sensory components of auditory evoked potentials (brainstem, middle and long-latency) to click and tone burst stimuli that she could clearly hear. Psychoacoustic tests revealed a marked impairment of those auditory perceptions dependent on temporal cues, that is, lateralization of binaural clicks, change of binaural masked threshold with changes in signal phase, binaural beats, detection of paired monaural clicks, monaural detection of a silent gap in a sound, and monaural threshold elevation for short duration tones. In contrast, auditory functions reflecting intensity or frequency discriminations (difference limens) were only minimally impaired. Pure tone audiometry showed a moderate (50 dB) bilateral hearing loss with a disproportionate severe loss of word intelligibility. Those auditory evoked potentials that were preserved included (1) cochlear microphonics reflecting hair cell activity; (2) cortical sustained potentials reflecting processing of slowly changing signals; and (3) long-latency cognitive components (P300, processing negativity) reflecting endogenous auditory cognitive processes. Both the evoked potential and perceptual deficits are attributed to changes in temporal encoding of acoustic signals perhaps occurring at the synapse between hair cell and eighth nerve dendrites. The results from this patient are discussed in relation to previously published cases with absent auditory evoked potentials and preserved hearing.

  7. Brainstem auditory evoked potentials in horses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juliana Almeida Nogueira da Gama

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP evaluates the integrity of the auditory pathways to the brainstem. The aim of this study was to evoke BAEPs in 21 clinically normal horses. The animals were sedated with detomidine hydrochloride (0.013mg.kg-1 BW. Earphones were inserted and rarefaction clicks at 90 dB and noise masking at 40 dB were used. After performing the test, the latencies of waves (I, II, III, IV, and V and interpeaks(I-III, III-V, and I-V were identified. The mean latencies of the waves were as follows: wave I, 2.4 ms; wave II, 2.24 ms; wave III, 3.61ms; wave IV, 4.61ms; and wave V, 5.49ms. The mean latencies of the interpeaks were as follows: I-III, 1.37ms; III-V, 1.88ms; and I-V, 3.26ms. This is the first study using BAEPs in horses in Brazil, and the observed latencies will be used as normative data for the interpretation of tests performed on horses with changes related to auditory system or neurologic abnormalities.

  8. Single-sweep spectral analysis of contact heat evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Tine M; Graversen, Carina; Frøkjaer, Jens B

    2015-01-01

    AIMS: The cortical response to nociceptive thermal stimuli recorded as contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) may be altered by morphine. However, previous studies have averaged CHEPs over multiple stimuli, which are confounded by jitter between sweeps. Thus, the aim was to assess single-sweep ch......AIMS: The cortical response to nociceptive thermal stimuli recorded as contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) may be altered by morphine. However, previous studies have averaged CHEPs over multiple stimuli, which are confounded by jitter between sweeps. Thus, the aim was to assess single...... by 13% (P = 0.04) and 9% (P = 0.007), while the beta and gamma bands were increased by 10% (P = 0.006) and 24% (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: The decreases in the delta and theta band are suggested to represent a decrease in the pain specific morphology of the CHEPs, which indicates a diminished pain response...

  9. The Relationship of Visual Evoked Potential Asymmetries to the Performance of Sonar Operators

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-08-11

    also been related to EP variability. Schizophrenic adults and patients with Korsakoff’s Syndrome have shown higher evoked potential variability than...average evoked response in Korsakoff patients. J. Psychiatry Res. 6: 253-260, 1969. Santoro, T. and D. Fender. Rules for the perception of

  10. Automatic classification of visual evoked potentials based on wavelet decomposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stasiakiewicz, Paweł; Dobrowolski, Andrzej P.; Tomczykiewicz, Kazimierz

    2017-04-01

    Diagnosis of part of the visual system, that is responsible for conducting compound action potential, is generally based on visual evoked potentials generated as a result of stimulation of the eye by external light source. The condition of patient's visual path is assessed by set of parameters that describe the time domain characteristic extremes called waves. The decision process is compound therefore diagnosis significantly depends on experience of a doctor. The authors developed a procedure - based on wavelet decomposition and linear discriminant analysis - that ensures automatic classification of visual evoked potentials. The algorithm enables to assign individual case to normal or pathological class. The proposed classifier has a 96,4% sensitivity at 10,4% probability of false alarm in a group of 220 cases and area under curve ROC equals to 0,96 which, from the medical point of view, is a very good result.

  11. Neurophysiological Effects of Meditation Based on Evoked and Event Related Potential Recordings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Nilkamal; Telles, Shirley

    2015-01-01

    Evoked potentials (EPs) are a relatively noninvasive method to assess the integrity of sensory pathways. As the neural generators for most of the components are relatively well worked out, EPs have been used to understand the changes occurring during meditation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) yield useful information about the response to tasks, usually assessing attention. A brief review of the literature yielded eleven studies on EPs and seventeen on ERPs from 1978 to 2014. The EP studies covered short, mid, and long latency EPs, using both auditory and visual modalities. ERP studies reported the effects of meditation on tasks such as the auditory oddball paradigm, the attentional blink task, mismatched negativity, and affective picture viewing among others. Both EP and ERPs were recorded in several meditations detailed in the review. Maximum changes occurred in mid latency (auditory) EPs suggesting that maximum changes occur in the corresponding neural generators in the thalamus, thalamic radiations, and primary auditory cortical areas. ERP studies showed meditation can increase attention and enhance efficiency of brain resource allocation with greater emotional control.

  12. Neurophysiological Effects of Meditation Based on Evoked and Event Related Potential Recordings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Nilkamal; Telles, Shirley

    2015-01-01

    Evoked potentials (EPs) are a relatively noninvasive method to assess the integrity of sensory pathways. As the neural generators for most of the components are relatively well worked out, EPs have been used to understand the changes occurring during meditation. Event-related potentials (ERPs) yield useful information about the response to tasks, usually assessing attention. A brief review of the literature yielded eleven studies on EPs and seventeen on ERPs from 1978 to 2014. The EP studies covered short, mid, and long latency EPs, using both auditory and visual modalities. ERP studies reported the effects of meditation on tasks such as the auditory oddball paradigm, the attentional blink task, mismatched negativity, and affective picture viewing among others. Both EP and ERPs were recorded in several meditations detailed in the review. Maximum changes occurred in mid latency (auditory) EPs suggesting that maximum changes occur in the corresponding neural generators in the thalamus, thalamic radiations, and primary auditory cortical areas. ERP studies showed meditation can increase attention and enhance efficiency of brain resource allocation with greater emotional control. PMID:26137479

  13. Conduction velocity of the human spinothalamic tract as assessed by laser evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cruccu, G.; Iannetti, G. D.; Agostino, R.

    2000-01-01

    To study the conduction velocity of the spinothalamic tract (STT) we delivered CO2 laser pulses, evoking pinprick sensations, to the skin overlying the vertebral spinous processes at different spinal levels from C5 to T10 and recorded evoked potentials (LEPs) in 15 healthy human subjects...

  14. The effect of nucleotides and adenosine on stimulus-evoked glutamate release from rat brain cortical slices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, G C; Boarder, M R

    2000-10-01

    Evidence has previously been presented that P1 receptors for adenosine, and P2 receptors for nucleotides such as ATP, regulate stimulus-evoked release of biogenic amines from nerve terminals in the brain. Here we investigated whether adenosine and nucleotides exert presynaptic control over depolarisation-elicited glutamate release. Slices of rat brain cortex were perfused and stimulated with pulses of 46 mM K(+) in the presence of the glutamate uptake inhibitor L-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylic acid (0.2 mM). High K(+) substantially increased efflux of glutamate from the slices. Basal glutamate release was unchanged by the presence of nucleotides or adenosine at concentrations of 300 microM. Adenosine, ATP, ADP and adenosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphoshate) at 300 microM attenuated depolarisation-evoked release of glutamate. However UTP, 2-methylthio ATP, 2-methylthio ADP, and alpha,beta-methylene ATP at 300 microM had no effect on stimulated glutamate efflux. Adenosine deaminase blocked the effect of adenosine, but left the response to ATP unchanged. The A(1) antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine antagonised the inhibitory effect of both adenosine and ATP. Cibacron blue 3GA inhibited stimulus-evoked glutamate release when applied alone. When cibacron blue 3GA was present with ATP, stimulus-evoked glutamate release was almost eliminated. However, this P2 antagonist had no effect on the inhibition by adenosine. These results show that the release of glutamate from depolarised nerve terminals of the rat cerebral cortex is inhibited by adenosine and ATP. ATP appears to act directly and not through conversion to adenosine.

  15. Identification enhancement of auditory evoked potentials in EEG by epoch concatenation and temporal decorrelation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zavala-Fernandez, H; Orglmeister, R; Trahms, L; Sander, T H

    2012-12-01

    Event-related potentials (ERP) recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) are brain responses following an external stimulus, e.g., a sound or an image. They are used in fundamental cognitive research and neurological and psychiatric clinical research. ERPs are weaker than spontaneous brain activity and therefore it is difficult or even impossible to identify an ERP in the brain activity following an individual stimulus. For this reason, a blind source separation method relying on statistical information is proposed for the isolation of ERP after auditory stimulation. In this paper it is suggested to integrate epoch concatenation into the popular temporal decorrelation algorithm SOBI/TDSEP relying on time shifted correlations. With the proposed epoch concatenation temporal decorrelation (ecTD) algorithm a component representing the auditory evoked potential (AEP) is found in electroencephalographic data from an auditory stimulation experiment lasting 3min. The ecTD result is compared with the averaged AEP and it is superior to the result from the SOBI/TDSEP algorithm. Furthermore the ecTD processing leads to significant increases in the signal-to-noise ratio (shape SNR) of the AEP and reduces the computation time by 50% if compared to the SOBI/TDSEP calculation. It can be concluded that data concatenation in combination with temporal decorrelation is useful for isolating and improving the properties of an AEP especially in a short duration stimulation experiment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Primary Generators of Visually Evoked Field Potentials Recorded in the Macaque Auditory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smiley, John F.; Schroeder, Charles E.

    2017-01-01

    Prior studies have reported “local” field potential (LFP) responses to faces in the macaque auditory cortex and have suggested that such face-LFPs may be substrates of audiovisual integration. However, although field potentials (FPs) may reflect the synaptic currents of neurons near the recording electrode, due to the use of a distant reference electrode, they often reflect those of synaptic activity occurring in distant sites as well. Thus, FP recordings within a given brain region (e.g., auditory cortex) may be “contaminated” by activity generated elsewhere in the brain. To determine whether face responses are indeed generated within macaque auditory cortex, we recorded FPs and concomitant multiunit activity with linear array multielectrodes across auditory cortex in three macaques (one female), and applied current source density (CSD) analysis to the laminar FP profile. CSD analysis revealed no appreciable local generator contribution to the visual FP in auditory cortex, although we did note an increase in the amplitude of visual FP with cortical depth, suggesting that their generators are located below auditory cortex. In the underlying inferotemporal cortex, we found polarity inversions of the main visual FP components accompanied by robust CSD responses and large-amplitude multiunit activity. These results indicate that face-evoked FP responses in auditory cortex are not generated locally but are volume-conducted from other face-responsive regions. In broader terms, our results underscore the caution that, unless far-field contamination is removed, LFPs in general may reflect such “far-field” activity, in addition to, or in absence of, local synaptic responses. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Field potentials (FPs) can index neuronal population activity that is not evident in action potentials. However, due to volume conduction, FPs may reflect activity in distant neurons superimposed upon that of neurons close to the recording electrode. This is

  17. The effect of nucleotides and adenosine on stimulus-evoked glutamate release from rat brain cortical slices

    OpenAIRE

    Bennett, Gillian C; Boarder, Michael R

    2000-01-01

    Evidence has previously been presented that P1 receptors for adenosine, and P2 receptors for nucleotides such as ATP, regulate stimulus-evoked release of biogenic amines from nerve terminals in the brain. Here we investigated whether adenosine and nucleotides exert presynaptic control over depolarisation-elicited glutamate release.Slices of rat brain cortex were perfused and stimulated with pulses of 46 mM K+ in the presence of the glutamate uptake inhibitor L-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxyl...

  18. Exploring the methods of data analysis in multifocal visual evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malmqvist, Lasse; Santiago de Abreu, Lucimar; Fraser, C.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) provides a topographical assessment of visual function, which has already shown potential for use in patients with glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. However, the variability in mfVEP measurements has limited its broader application. The purpo...

  19. The role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Visual Evoked ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Introduction: To report our experience in management of patients with optic neuritis. The effects of brain magnetic resonance imaging and visual evoked potential on management were investigated. Methods: This is a four years clinical trial that included patients presenting with first attack of optic neuritis older than 16 years ...

  20. Normalization reduces intersubject variability in cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Tilburg, Mark J; Herrmann, Barbara S; Guinan, John J; Rauch, Steven D

    2014-09-01

    Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials are used to assess saccular and inferior vestibular nerve function. Normalization of the VEMP waveform has been proposed to reduce the variability in vestibular evoked myogenic potentials by correcting for muscle activation. In this study, we test the hypothesis that normalization of the raw cervical VEMP waveform causes a significant decrease in the intersubject variability. Prospective cohort study. Large specialty hospital, department of otolaryngology. Twenty healthy subjects were used in this study. All subjects underwent cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing using short tone bursts at 250, 500, 750, and 1,000 Hz. Both intersubject and intrasubject variability was assessed. Variability between raw and normalized peak-to-peak amplitudes was compared using the coefficient of variation. Intrasubject variability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient and interaural asymmetry ratio. cVEMPs were present in most ears. Highest peak-to-peak amplitudes were recorded at 750 Hz. Normalization did not alter cVEMP tuning characteristics. Normalization of the cVEMP response caused a significant reduction in intersubject variability of the peak-to-peak amplitude. No significant change was seen in the intrasubject variability. Normalization significantly reduces cVEMP intersubject variability in healthy subjects without altering cVEMP characteristics. By reducing cVEMP amplitude variation due to nonsaccular, muscle-related factors, cVEMP normalization is expected to improve the ability to distinguish between healthy and pathologic responses in the clinical application of cVEMP testing.

  1. [Cortical potentials evoked to response to a signal to make a memory-guided saccade].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slavutskaia, M V; Moiseeva, V V; Shul'govskiĭ, V V

    2010-01-01

    The difference in parameters of visually guided and memory-guided saccades was shown. Increase in the memory-guided saccade latency as compared to that of the visually guided saccades may indicate the deceleration of saccadic programming on the basis of information extraction from the memory. The comparison of parameters and topography of evoked components N1 and P1 of the evoked potential on the signal to make a memory- or visually guided saccade suggests that the early stage of the saccade programming associated with the space information processing is performed predominantly with top-down attention mechanism before the memory-guided saccade and bottom-up mechanism before the visually guided saccade. The findings show that the increase in the latency of the memory-guided saccades is connected with decision making at the central stage of the saccade programming. We proposed that wave N2, which develops in the middle of the latent period of the memory-guided saccades, is correlated with this process. Topography and spatial dynamics of components N1, P1 and N2 testify that the memory-guided saccade programming is controlled by the frontal mediothalamic system of selective attention and left-hemispheric brain mechanisms of motor attention.

  2. [Intraoperative pain stimuli change somatosensory evoked potentials, but not auditory evoked potentials during isoflurane/nitrous oxide anesthesia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rundshagen, I; Kochs, E; Bischoff, P; Schulte am Esch, J

    1997-10-01

    Evoked potentials are used for intraoperative monitoring to assess changes of cerebral function. This prospective randomised study assesses the influence of surgical stimulation on midlatency components of somatosensory (SEPs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in anaesthetised patients. After approval of the Ethics Committee and written informed consent 36 orthopaedic patients (34 +/- 15 y, 73 +/- 14 kg. 1.71 +/- 0.07 m, ASA I-II) were randomly included in the study. Anaesthesia was induced with 1.5 micrograms/kg fentanyl, 0.3 mg/kg etomidate and 0.1 mg/kg vecuronium. The lungs were intubated and patients normoventilated in steady state anaesthesia with isoflurane (end-tidal 0.6%) and 66% nitrous oxide. 18 patients (group 1) were assigned to the SEP group: median nerve stimulation, recording at Erb, C 6 and the contralateral somatosensory cortex (N20, P25, N35) vs Fz. AEPs were recorded in group 2 (n = 18): binaural stimulation, recording at Cz versus linked mastoid (V, Na, Pa, Nb). Recordings were performed during 30 min before the start of surgery (baseline: BL), at skin incision (SURG1) and at the preparation of the periost (SURG2). Heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, oxygen saturation, endtidal pCO2 and isoflurane (PetISO) concentrations were registered simultaneously. Data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance. Post hoc comparison were made by Mann-Whitney U-Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test with p beats/min) to SURG2 (76 +/- 12 beats/min). Increases of amplitudes of midlatency SEP amplitudes indicate increased nociceptive signal transmission which is not blunted by isoflurane-nitrous oxide anaesthesia. In contrast, unchanged AEPs indicate adequate levels of the hypnotic components of anaesthesia.

  3. Magnetic resonance imaging compared with trimodal evoked potentials in possible multiple sclerosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roullet, E.; Leger-Ravet, M.B.; Amarenco, P.; Marteau, R.; Lavallard-Rousseau, M.-C.; Dupuch, K.; Iba-Zizen, M.T.; Tamraz, J.; Cabanis, E.A.

    1988-01-01

    Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain and Evoked Potentials (EP) can both demonstrate the presence of clinically unsuspected demyelinating lesions and have proven to be sensitive (but not specific) in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). MRI and EP are positive in 90 to 100% of patients with a definite diagnosis of MS. However, few studies have been conducted in patients with a lesser diagnostic certainty. In possible or suspected MS they gave conflicting results, possibly because of technical discrepancies and different clinical inclusion criteria. Since a number of putative new treatments can be evaluated in patients who have a definite diagnosis of MS, but nevertheless a short duration of disease and a low disability, it was decided to compare the sensitivity of MRI and EP as diagnostic tools in possible MS patients. MRI is shown to be more sensitive, shows more multiple lesions and gives a clearer appreciation of their size and exact location than EP. 10 refs.; 3 tabs

  4. Brainstem auditory evoked potential testing in Dalmatian dogs in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.I.P. Palumbo

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The brain stem auditory-evoked potential (BAEP is an electrophysiologic test that detects and records the electrical activity in the auditory system from cochlea to midbrain, generated after an acoustic stimulus applied to the external ear. The aim of this study is to obtain normative data for BAEP in Dalmatian dogs in order to apply this to the evaluation of deafness and other neurologic disorders. BAEP were recorded from 30 Dalmatian dogs for a normative Brazilian study. Mean latencies for waves I, III, and V were 1.14 (±0.09, 2.62 (±0.10, and 3.46 (±0.14 ms, respectively. Mean inter-peak latencies for I-III, III-V, and I-V intervals were 1.48 (±0.17, 0.84 (±0.12, and 2.31 (±0.18 ms, respectively. Unilateral abnormalities were found in 16.7% of animals and bilateral deafness was seen in one dog. The normative data obtained in this paper is compatible with other published data. As far as we know this is the first report of deafness occurrence in Dalmatian dogs in Brazil.

  5. Multimodal evoked potentials follow up in multiple sclerosis patients under fingolimod therapy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iodice, R; Carotenuto, A; Dubbioso, R

    2016-01-01

    related to EDSS at baseline (t=-1), while MEP and total EP sum score were related to EDSS at all time points. CONCLUSION: Fingolimod is able to improve visual and somatosensory evoked potential in RR-MS patients even if clinical disability scale remains stable. VEP and SEP could give eloquent information...... patients examined 12months prior to initiation of fingolimod (t=-1), at treatment initiation (t=0) and 1year later (t=+1) were compared. Each EP (VEP, MEP, SEP) and EP sum score, a global evoked potential score as the sum score of the each EP score was evaluated and correlated with Expanded Disability...

  6. Bi-phasic activation of the primary motor cortex by pain and its relation to pain-evoked potentials - an exploratory study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kisler, Lee-Bareket; Weissman-Fogel, Irit; Sinai, Alon; Sprecher, Elliot; Chistyakov, Andrei V; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone; Moscovitz, Nadav; Granovsky, Yelena

    2017-06-15

    The primary motor cortex (M1) is a known target for brain stimulation aimed at pain alleviation in chronic pain patients, yet the mechanisms through which analgesia occurs, and the exact pain-motor interrelations are not fully understood. We used noxious contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) and cortical source analysis to further explore the relevance of M1 in pain processing. Twenty-four healthy young females received brief noxious heat stimuli to their left non-dominant volar forearm, simultaneously with CHEPs recordings. Thereafter, the pain-evoked activity of M1 and a control area in the occipital cortex (OC) was analyzed and estimated using sLORETA (standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography). This analysis revealed two phases of M1 pain-evoked activation (phase 1: the peak at 261.5±25.7ms; phase 2: the peak at 381.3±28.3ms). Canonical correlations revealed that M1, but not the OC, was the main factor contributing to the relation with the CHEPs components. In detail, the activity magnitude of M1 first and second phases was related to the N2 and P2 amplitude, respectively. The latency of the second phase was associated with both N2 and P2 latencies. In relation to pain, the latency of M1's first activity phase was positively correlated with pain ratings, suggesting pain interference to synchronized activity in M1. Our results confirm the established relevance of the primary motor cortex to pain processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Comparison of clinical, magnetic resonance and evoked potentials data in a case of valproic-acid-related hyperammonemic coma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hantson, Philippe [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Department of Intensive Care, Cliniques Saint-Luc, Brussels (Belgium); Grandin, Cecile; Duprez, Thierry [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Department of Neuroradiology, Cliniques Saint-Luc, Brussels (Belgium); Nassogne, Marie-Cecile [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Cliniques Saint-Luc, Brussels (Belgium); Guerit, Jean-Michel [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Cliniques Saint-Luc, Brussels (Belgium)

    2005-01-01

    Magnetic resonance (MR) multimodality evoked potentials (MEPs) and clinical findings were correlated in a 47-year-old epileptic man in whom parenteral valproic acid (VPA) therapy induced severe comatose hyperammonemic encephalopathy without biological signs of hepatotoxicity (or hepatocytic dysfunction). Although the plasma VPA level remained within a normal therapeutic range, the ammoniemia increased to a toxic peak level at 411 {mu}mol/l 24 h after symptom onset, requiring VPA therapy discontinuation. Brain MR monitoring demonstrated early cytotoxic edema evolving into delayed vasogenic edema and final brain atrophy. Concomitantly to abnormalities within the brainstem on MR images, an increase in brainstem conduction at MEPs and clinical disturbance of brainstem reflexes were observed at the initial phase of the disease course. Later, the resolution of the MR and MEPs abnormalities paralleled the clinical recovery of the reflexes. (orig.)

  8. Comparison of clinical, magnetic resonance and evoked potentials data in a case of valproic-acid-related hyperammonemic coma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hantson, Philippe; Grandin, Cecile; Duprez, Thierry; Nassogne, Marie-Cecile; Guerit, Jean-Michel

    2005-01-01

    Magnetic resonance (MR) multimodality evoked potentials (MEPs) and clinical findings were correlated in a 47-year-old epileptic man in whom parenteral valproic acid (VPA) therapy induced severe comatose hyperammonemic encephalopathy without biological signs of hepatotoxicity (or hepatocytic dysfunction). Although the plasma VPA level remained within a normal therapeutic range, the ammoniemia increased to a toxic peak level at 411 μmol/l 24 h after symptom onset, requiring VPA therapy discontinuation. Brain MR monitoring demonstrated early cytotoxic edema evolving into delayed vasogenic edema and final brain atrophy. Concomitantly to abnormalities within the brainstem on MR images, an increase in brainstem conduction at MEPs and clinical disturbance of brainstem reflexes were observed at the initial phase of the disease course. Later, the resolution of the MR and MEPs abnormalities paralleled the clinical recovery of the reflexes. (orig.)

  9. Effect of caffeine on vestibular evoked myogenic potential: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Maria Eduarda Di Cavalcanti Alves de; Costa, Klinger Vagner Teixeira da; Menezes, Pedro de Lemos

    2017-12-24

    Caffeine can be considered the most consumed drug by adults worldwide, and can be found in several foods, such as chocolate, coffee, tea, soda and others. Overall, caffeine in moderate doses, results in increased physical and intellectual productivity, increases the capacity of concentration and reduces the time of reaction to sensory stimuli. On the other hand, high doses can cause noticeable signs of mental confusion and error induction in intellectual tasks, anxiety, restlessness, muscle tremors, tachycardia, labyrinthine changes, and tinnitus. Considering that the vestibular evoked myogenic potential is a clinical test that evaluates the muscular response of high intensity auditory stimulation, the present systematic review aimed to analyze the effects of caffeine on vestibular evoked myogenic potential. This study consisted of the search of the following databases: MEDLINE, CENTRAL, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, SciELO and ClinicalTrials.gov. Additionally, the gray literature was also searched. The search strategy included terms related to intervention (caffeine or coffee consumption) and the primary outcome (vestibular evoked myogenic potential). Based on the 253 potentially relevant articles identified through the database search, only two full-text publications were retrieved for further evaluation, which were maintained for qualitative analysis. Analyzing the articles found, caffeine has no effect on vestibular evoked myogenic potential in normal individuals. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  10. Predictability of painful stimulation modulates the somatosensory-evoked potential in the rat

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schaap, M.W.H.; van Oostrom, H.; Doornenbal, A.; Baars, A.M.; Arndt, S.S.; Hellebrekers, L.J.

    2013-01-01

    Abstract Somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) are used in humans and animals to increase knowledge about nociception and pain. Since the SEP in humans increases when noxious stimuli are administered unpredictably, predictability potentially influences the SEP in animals as well. To assess the

  11. Influence of detomidine and buprenorphine on motor-evoked potentials in horses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nollet, H; Van Ham, L; Gasthuys, F; Dewulf, J; Vanderstraeten, G; Deprez, P

    2003-04-26

    Horses need to be sedated before they are investigated by transcranial magnetic stimulation because of the mild discomfort induced by the evoked muscle contraction and the noise of stimulation. This paper describes the influence of a combination of detomidine (10 microg/kg bodyweight) and a low dose of buprenorphine (2.4 microg/kg) on the onset latency and peak-to-peak amplitude of magnetic motor-evoked potentials in normal horses. There were no significant differences between measurements of these parameters made before the horses were sedated and measurements made 10 and 30 minutes after the drugs were administered.

  12. Clinical feasibility of brain-computer interface based on steady-state visual evoked potential in patients with locked-in syndrome: Case studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Han-Jeong; Han, Chang-Hee; Lim, Jeong-Hwan; Kim, Yong-Wook; Choi, Soo-In; An, Kwang-Ok; Lee, Jun-Hak; Cha, Ho-Seung; Hyun Kim, Seung; Im, Chang-Hwan

    2017-03-01

    Although the feasibility of brain-computer interface (BCI) systems based on steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) has been extensively investigated, only a few studies have evaluated its clinical feasibility in patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS), who are the main targets of BCI technology. The main objective of this case report was to share our experiences of SSVEP-based BCI experiments involving five patients with LIS, thereby providing researchers with useful information that can potentially help them to design BCI experiments for patients with LIS. In our experiments, a four-class online SSVEP-based BCI system was implemented and applied to four of five patients repeatedly on multiple days to investigate its test-retest reliability. In the last experiments with two of the four patients, the practical usability of our BCI system was tested using a questionnaire survey. All five patients showed clear and distinct SSVEP responses at all four fundamental stimulation frequencies (6, 6.66, 7.5, 10 Hz), and responses at harmonic frequencies were also observed in three patients. Mean classification accuracy was 76.99% (chance level = 25%). The test-retest reliability experiments demonstrated stable performance of our BCI system over different days even when the initial experimental settings (e.g., electrode configuration, fixation time, visual angle) used in the first experiment were used without significant modifications. Our results suggest that SSVEP-based BCI paradigms might be successfully used to implement clinically feasible BCI systems for severely paralyzed patients. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  13. Multimodal evoked potentials and the ovarian cycle in young ovulating women Potenciais evocados nas diferentes fases do ciclo menstrual da mulher

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LUIZ ANTONIO DE LIMA RESENDE

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available There is controversy over how hormonal conditions influence cerebral physiology. We studied pattern-shift visual evoked potentials (PS-VEP, brain stem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP and short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEV in 20 female volunteers at different phases of the menstrual cycle (estrogen phase, ovulatory day and progesterone phase. Statistical analysis showed decreased latencies for P100 (PS-VEP, N19 and P22 (SSEV waves in the progesterone phase compared with the estrogen phase. There was no significant difference between the estrogen and the ovulation day values. Comparing the three above stages, there were no significant differences in the brainstem auditory evoked potentials. The reduction of the latencies of the potentials generated in multisynaptic circuits provides the first consistent neurophysiological basis for a tentative comprehension of human pre-menstrual syndrome.Há controvérsias sobre como variações hormonais do ciclo menstrual da mulher influenciam a neurofisiologia cerebral. Estudamos potenciais evocados de curta latência, visuais, auditivos e sômato-sensoriais, em 20 mulheres voluntárias normais, nas diferentes fases do ciclo menstrual (fase estrogênica, fase ovulatória, fase progestacional. Comparação entre fase estrogênica e ovulatória mostrou resultados similares. Ondas I, III, V dos potenciais evocados auditivos não apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as três fases do ciclo. Análise estatística dos resultados mostrou diminuição significativa das latências das ondas P100, N19 e P22 obtidas na fase progestacional, comparadas com aquelas obtidas na fase estrogênica. Como estas ondas são geradas em circuitos multissinápticos, tal redução de latências, na fase progestacional, fornece a primeira base neurofisiológica consistente para tentativa de compreensão da síndrome pré-menstrual da mulher.

  14. Long-term visuo-gustatory appetitive and aversive conditioning potentiate human visual evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christoffersen, Gert R.J.; Laugesen, Jakob L.; Møller, Per

    2017-01-01

    Human recognition of foods and beverages are often based on visual cues associated with flavors. The dynamics of neurophysiological plasticity related to acquisition of such long-term associations has only recently become the target of investigation. In the present work, the effects of appetitive...... and aversive visuo-gustatory conditioning were studied with high density EEG-recordings focusing on late components in the visual evoked potentials (VEPs), specifically the N2-P3 waves. Unfamiliar images were paired with either a pleasant or an unpleasant juice and VEPs evoked by the images were compared...... before and 1 day after the pairings. In electrodes located over posterior visual cortex areas, the following changes were observed after conditioning: the amplitude from the N2-peak to the P3-peak increased and the N2 peak delay was reduced. The percentage increase of N2-to-P3 amplitudes...

  15. Consensus on the use of neurophysiological tests in the intensive care unit (ICU): electroencephalogram (EEG), evoked potentials (EP), and electroneuromyography (ENMG)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guørit, J.M.; Amantini, A.; Amodio, P.

    2009-01-01

    STUDY AIM: To provide a consensus of European leading authorities about the optimal use of clinical neurophysiological (CN) tests (electroencephalogram [EEG]; evoked potentials [EP]; electroneuromyography [ENMG]) in the intensive care unit (ICU) and, particularly, about the way to make these tests...... contribution to all other experts. A complete consensus has been reached when submitting the manuscript. RESULTS: What the group considered as the best classification systems for EEG and EP abnormalities in the ICU is first presented. CN tests are useful for diagnosis (epilepsy, brain death, and neuromuscular...

  16. Long-Term Visuo-Gustatory Appetitive and Aversive Conditioning Potentiate Human Visual Evoked Potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gert R. J. Christoffersen

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Human recognition of foods and beverages are often based on visual cues associated with flavors. The dynamics of neurophysiological plasticity related to acquisition of such long-term associations has only recently become the target of investigation. In the present work, the effects of appetitive and aversive visuo-gustatory conditioning were studied with high density EEG-recordings focusing on late components in the visual evoked potentials (VEPs, specifically the N2-P3 waves. Unfamiliar images were paired with either a pleasant or an unpleasant juice and VEPs evoked by the images were compared before and 1 day after the pairings. In electrodes located over posterior visual cortex areas, the following changes were observed after conditioning: the amplitude from the N2-peak to the P3-peak increased and the N2 peak delay was reduced. The percentage increase of N2-to-P3 amplitudes was asymmetrically distributed over the posterior hemispheres despite the fact that the images were bilaterally symmetrical across the two visual hemifields. The percentage increases of N2-to-P3 amplitudes in each experimental subject correlated with the subject’s evaluation of positive or negative hedonic valences of the two juices. The results from 118 scalp electrodes gave surface maps of theta power distributions showing increased power over posterior visual areas after the pairings. Source current distributions calculated from swLORETA revealed that visual evoked currents rose as a result of conditioning in five cortical regions—from primary visual areas and into the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG. These learning-induced changes were seen after both appetitive and aversive training while a sham trained control group showed no changes. It is concluded that long-term visuo-gustatory conditioning potentiated the N2-P3 complex, and it is suggested that the changes are regulated by the perceived hedonic valence of the US.

  17. Thermoreceptive innervation of human glabrous and hairy skin: a contact heat evoked potential analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granovsky, Yelena; Matre, Dagfinn; Sokolik, Alexander; Lorenz, Jürgen; Casey, Kenneth L

    2005-06-01

    The human palm has a lower heat detection threshold and a higher heat pain threshold than hairy skin. Neurophysiological studies of monkeys suggest that glabrous skin has fewer low threshold heat nociceptors (AMH type 2) than hairy skin. Accordingly, we used a temperature-controlled contact heat evoked potential (CHEP) stimulator to excite selectively heat receptors with C fibers or Adelta-innervated AMH type 2 receptors in humans. On the dorsal hand, 51 degrees C stimulation produced painful pinprick sensations and 41 degrees C stimuli evoked warmth. On the glabrous thenar, 41 degrees C stimulation produced mild warmth and 51 degrees C evoked strong but painless heat sensations. We used CHEP responses to estimate the conduction velocities (CV) of peripheral fibers mediating these sensations. On hairy skin, 41 degrees C stimuli evoked an ultra-late potential (mean, SD; N wave latency: 455 (118) ms) mediated by C fibers (CV by regression analysis: 1.28 m/s, N=15) whereas 51 degrees C stimuli evoked a late potential (N latency: 267 (33) ms) mediated by Adelta afferents (CV by within-subject analysis: 12.9 m/s, N=6). In contrast, thenar responses to 41 and 51 degrees C were mediated by C fibers (average N wave latencies 485 (100) and 433 (73) ms, respectively; CVs 0.95-1.35 m/s by regression analysis, N=15; average CV=1.7 (0.41) m/s calculated from distal glabrous and proximal hairy skin stimulation, N=6). The exploratory range of the human and monkey palm is enhanced by the abundance of low threshold, C-innervated heat receptors and the paucity of low threshold AMH type 2 heat nociceptors.

  18. Assessment of visual disability using visual evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeon, Jihoon; Oh, Seiyul; Kyung, Sungeun

    2012-08-06

    The purpose of this study is to validate the use of visual evoked potential (VEP) to objectively quantify visual acuity in normal and amblyopic patients, and determine if it is possible to predict visual acuity in disability assessment to register visual pathway lesions. A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients diagnosed with normal vision, unilateral amblyopia, optic neuritis, and visual disability who visited the university medical center for registration from March 2007 to October 2009. The study included 20 normal subjects (20 right eyes: 10 females, 10 males, ages 9-42 years), 18 unilateral amblyopic patients (18 amblyopic eyes, ages 19-36 years), 19 optic neuritis patients (19 eyes: ages 9-71 years), and 10 patients with visual disability having visual pathway lesions. Amplitude and latencies were analyzed and correlations with visual acuity (logMAR) were derived from 20 normal and 18 amblyopic subjects. Correlation of VEP amplitude and visual acuity (logMAR) of 19 optic neuritis patients confirmed relationships between visual acuity and amplitude. We calculated the objective visual acuity (logMAR) of 16 eyes from 10 patients to diagnose the presence or absence of visual disability using relations derived from 20 normal and 18 amblyopic eyes. Linear regression analyses between amplitude of pattern visual evoked potentials and visual acuity (logMAR) of 38 eyes from normal (right eyes) and amblyopic (amblyopic eyes) subjects were significant [y = -0.072x + 1.22, x: VEP amplitude, y: visual acuity (logMAR)]. There were no significant differences between visual acuity prediction values, which substituted amplitude values of 19 eyes with optic neuritis into function. We calculated the objective visual acuity of 16 eyes of 10 patients to diagnose the presence or absence of visual disability using relations of y = -0.072x + 1.22 (-0.072). This resulted in a prediction reference of visual acuity associated with malingering vs. real

  19. EEG Brain Wave Activity at Rest and during Evoked Attention in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Effects of Methylphenidate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Bianca Lee; Viljoen, Margaretha

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to assess baseline EEG brain wave activity in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to examine the effects of evoked attention and methylphenidate on this activity. Children with ADHD (n = 19) were tested while they were stimulant free and during a period in which they were on stimulant (methylphenidate) medication. Control subjects (n = 18) were tested once. EEG brain wave activity was tested both at baseline and during focussed attention. Attention was evoked and EEG brain wave activity was determined by means of the BioGraph Infiniti biofeedback apparatus. The main finding of this study was that control subjects and stimulant-free children with ADHD exhibited the expected reactivity in high alpha-wave activity (11-12 Hz) from baseline to focussed attention; however, methylphenidate appeared to abolish this reactivity. Methylphenidate attenuates the normal cortical response to a cognitive challenge. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  20. Calcium-dependent plateau potentials in rostral ambiguus neurons in the newborn mouse brain stem in vitro

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rekling, J C; Feldman, J L

    1997-01-01

    Calcium-dependent plateau potentials in rostral ambiguus neurons in the newborn mouse brain stem in vitro. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2483-2492, 1997. The nucleus ambiguus contains vagal and glossopharyngeal motoneurons and preganglionic neurons involved in respiration, swallowing, vocalization......-stimulus orthodromic activation, using an electrode placed in the dorsomedial slice near the nucleus tractus solitarius, evoked single excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) or short trains of EPSPs (500 ms to 1 s). However, tetanic stimulation (5 pulses, 10 Hz) induced voltage-dependent afterdepolarizations...

  1. Evoked Brain Activity and Personnel Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-10-01

    Shucard and Horn (1972), Galbraith, Gliddon, and Busk (1970), and Callaway (1975), the latter using Navy recruits. Callaway’s own work was reported at...G.C., Gliddon, J.B., & Busk , J. (1970). Visual evoked responses in mentally retarded and nonretarded subjects. American Journal of Mental Deficiency

  2. Quantifying interhemispheric symmetry of somatosensory evoked potentials with the intraclass correlation coefficient

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van de Wassenberg, Wilma J. G.; van der Hoeven, Johannes H.; Leenders, Klaus L.; Maurits, Natasha M.

    Although large intersubject variability is reported for cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs), variability between hemispheres within one subject is thought to be small. Therefore, interhemispheric comparison of SEP waveforms might be clinically useful to detect unilateral abnormalities in

  3. Effect of binasal occlusion (BNO) and base-in prisms on the visual-evoked potential (VEP) in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yadav, Naveen K; Ciuffreda, Kenneth J

    2014-01-01

    To assess quantitatively the effect and relative contribution of binasal occlusion (BNO) and base-in prisms (BI) on visually-evoked potential (VEP) responsivity in persons with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and the symptom of visual motion sensitivity (VMS), as well as in visually-normal (VN) individuals. Subjects were comprised of 20 VN adults and 15 adults with mTBI and VMS. There were four test conditions: (1) conventional pattern VEP, which served as the baseline comparison condition; (2) VEP with BNO alone; (3) VEP with 2 pd BI prisms before each eye; and (4) VEP with the above BNO and BI prism combination. In mTBI, the mean VEP amplitude increased significantly in nearly all subjects (∼90%) with BNO alone. In contrast, in VN, it decreased significantly with BNO alone in all subjects (100%), as compared to the other test conditions. These objective findings were consistent with improvements in visual impressions and sensorimotor tasks in the group with mTBI. Latency remained within normal limits under all test conditions in both groups. Only the BNO condition demonstrated significant, but opposite and consistent, directional effects on the VEP amplitude in both groups. The BNO-VEP test condition may be used clinically for the objectively-based, differential diagnosis of persons suspected of having mTBI and VMS from the VNs.

  4. Comparison of sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging and evoked potentials in the detection of brainstem involvement in multiple sclerosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Comi, G.; Martinelli, V.; Medaglini, S.; Locatelli, T.; Magnani, G.; Poggi, A.; Triulzi, F.

    1988-01-01

    A comparison was made of the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging and the combined use of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential and Median Somatosensory Evoked Potential in the detection of brainstem dysfunction in 54 multiple sclerosis patients. 10 refs.; 2 tabs

  5. Effect of extradural morphine on somatosensory evoked potentials to dermatomal stimulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, C; Selmar, P; Hansen, O B

    1987-01-01

    The effect of the extradural (L2-3) administration of morphine 6 mg on early (less than 0.5 s) somatosensory evoked cortical potentials (SEP) to electrical stimulation of the L1- and S1-dermatomes was examined in eight patients. Extradural morphine did not influence SEP amplitude. SEP latency did...

  6. SOMATOSENSORY EVOKED POTENTIALS IN DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE - 2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rekha

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic disorder affecting majority of population. It is estimated that over 400 million people throughout the world have diabetes. It has progressed to be a pandemic from an epidemic causing morbidity and mortality in the population. Among the many complications of diabetes, diabetic neuropathies contribute majorly to the morbidity associated with the disease. Axonal conduction is affected by elevated levels of protein kinase c causing neuronal ischemia; decreased ce llular myoinositol affecting sodium potassium ATPase pump leads to decreased nerve conduction; Somatosensory E voked P otentials (SSEPs reflect the activity of somatosensory pathways mediated through the dorsal columns of the spinal cord and the specific so matosensory cortex. Recording of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in diabetics is done to assess the sensory involvement of spinal cord. Presence of SEPs provides clear evidence for axonal continuity and by using different stimulation sites, the rate of reg eneration can be determined. Both onset and peak latencies of all SEP components are prolonged in patients with diabetes. Present study is done to compare somatosensory evoked potentials in diabetics and normal subjects. MATERIALS AND METHOD S: The present study was undertaken at the Upgraded Department of Physiology, Osmania Medical College, Koti, Hyderabad. The study was conducted on subjects, both male and female in the age group of 45 to 55 years, suffering from type II diabetes excluding other neurologi cal disorders. Non - invasive method of estimation of nerve conduction studies using SFEMG/EP — Electromyography or evoked potential system (Nicolet systems — USA using surface electrodes with automated computerized monitor attached with printer is used. RESUL TS : ANOVA showed statistically significant N9 latency (right & left sides. Latencies of all the components of SSEPs were more significant than amplitudes in Diabetic

  7. Use of auditory evoked potentials for intra-operative awareness in anesthesia: a consciousness-based conceptual model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Xuebao; Suo, Puxia; Yuan, Xin; Yao, Xuefeng

    2015-01-01

    Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) have been used as a measure of the depth of anesthesia during the intra-operative process. AEPs are classically divided, on the basis of their latency, into first, fast, middle, slow, and late components. The use of auditory evoked potential has been advocated for the assessment of Intra-operative awareness (IOA), but has not been considered seriously enough to universalize it. It is because we have not explored enough the impact of auditory perception and auditory processing on the IOA phenomena as well as on the subsequent psychological impact of IOA on the patient. More importantly, we have seldom tried to look at the phenomena of IOP from the perspective of consciousness itself. This perspective is especially important because many of IOA phenomena exist in the subconscious domain than they do in the conscious domain of explicit recall. Two important forms of these subconscious manifestations of IOA are the implicit recall phenomena and post-operative dreams related to the operation. Here, we present an integrated auditory consciousness-based model of IOA. We start with a brief description of auditory awareness and the factors affecting it. Further, we proceed to the evaluation of conscious and subconscious information processing by auditory modality and how they interact during and after intra-operative period. Further, we show that both conscious and subconscious auditory processing affect the IOA experience and both have serious psychological implications on the patient subsequently. These effects could be prevented by using auditory evoked potential during monitoring of anesthesia, especially the mid-latency auditory evoked potentials (MLAERs). To conclude our model with present hypothesis, we propose that the use of auditory evoked potential should be universal with general anesthesia use in order to prevent the occurrences of distressing outcomes resulting from both conscious and subconscious auditory processing during

  8. Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy Affects Symptom Generation and Brain-Gut Axis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brock, Christina; Søfteland, Eirik; Gunterberg, Veronica

    2013-01-01

    electrostimulations, and brain activity was modeled by brain electrical source analysis. Self-reported gastrointestinal symptoms (per the Patient Assessment of Upper Gastrointestinal Disorder Severity Symptom Index) and quality of life (per short-form health survey with 36 questions) were collected...... symptoms.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSFifteen healthy volunteers and 15 diabetic patients (12 with type 1 diabetes) with severe gastrointestinal symptoms and clinical suspicion of autonomic neuropathy were included. Psychophysics and evoked brain potentials were assessed after painful rectosigmoid...... component in evoked potentials (P = 0.01). There was a caudoanterior shift of the insular brain source (P = 0.01) and an anterior shift of the cingulate generator (P = 0.01). Insular source location was associated with HRV assessments (all P

  9. Influence of P300 latency jitter on event related potential-based brain-computer interface performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aricò, P.; Aloise, F.; Schettini, F.; Salinari, S.; Mattia, D.; Cincotti, F.

    2014-06-01

    Objective. Several ERP-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can be controlled even without eye movements (covert attention) have been recently proposed. However, when compared to similar systems based on overt attention, they displayed significantly lower accuracy. In the current interpretation, this is ascribed to the absence of the contribution of short-latency visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in the tasks performed in the covert attention modality. This study aims to investigate if this decrement (i) is fully explained by the lack of VEP contribution to the classification accuracy; (ii) correlates with lower temporal stability of the single-trial P300 potentials elicited in the covert attention modality. Approach. We evaluated the latency jitter of P300 evoked potentials in three BCI interfaces exploiting either overt or covert attention modalities in 20 healthy subjects. The effect of attention modality on the P300 jitter, and the relative contribution of VEPs and P300 jitter to the classification accuracy have been analyzed. Main results. The P300 jitter is higher when the BCI is controlled in covert attention. Classification accuracy negatively correlates with jitter. Even disregarding short-latency VEPs, overt-attention BCI yields better accuracy than covert. When the latency jitter is compensated offline, the difference between accuracies is not significant. Significance. The lower temporal stability of the P300 evoked potential generated during the tasks performed in covert attention modality should be regarded as the main contributing explanation of lower accuracy of covert-attention ERP-based BCIs.

  10. Music-evoked emotions: principles, brain correlates, and implications for therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koelsch, Stefan

    2015-03-01

    This paper describes principles underlying the evocation of emotion with music: evaluation, resonance, memory, expectancy/tension, imagination, understanding, and social functions. Each of these principles includes several subprinciples, and the framework on music-evoked emotions emerging from these principles and subprinciples is supposed to provide a starting point for a systematic, coherent, and comprehensive theory on music-evoked emotions that considers both reception and production of music, as well as the relevance of emotion-evoking principles for music therapy. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  11. An Idle-State Detection Algorithm for SSVEP-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces Using a Maximum Evoked Response Spatial Filter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Dan; Huang, Bisheng; Wu, Wei; Li, Siliang

    2015-11-01

    Although accurate recognition of the idle state is essential for the application of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in real-world situations, it remains a challenging task due to the variability of the idle state. In this study, a novel algorithm was proposed for the idle state detection in a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based BCI. The proposed algorithm aims to solve the idle state detection problem by constructing a better model of the control states. For feature extraction, a maximum evoked response (MER) spatial filter was developed to extract neurophysiologically plausible SSVEP responses, by finding the combination of multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals that maximized the evoked responses while suppressing the unrelated background EEGs. The extracted SSVEP responses at the frequencies of both the attended and the unattended stimuli were then used to form feature vectors and a series of binary classifiers for recognition of each control state and the idle state were constructed. EEG data from nine subjects in a three-target SSVEP BCI experiment with a variety of idle state conditions were used to evaluate the proposed algorithm. Compared to the most popular canonical correlation analysis-based algorithm and the conventional power spectrum-based algorithm, the proposed algorithm outperformed them by achieving an offline control state classification accuracy of 88.0 ± 11.1% and idle state false positive rates (FPRs) ranging from 7.4 ± 5.6% to 14.2 ± 10.1%, depending on the specific idle state conditions. Moreover, the online simulation reported BCI performance close to practical use: 22.0 ± 2.9 out of the 24 control commands were correctly recognized and the FPRs achieved as low as approximately 0.5 event/min in the idle state conditions with eye open and 0.05 event/min in the idle state condition with eye closed. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed algorithm for implementing practical SSVEP BCI systems.

  12. Unmasking of an early laser evoked potential by a point localization task

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Valeriani, M.; Restuccia, D.; Le Pera, D.

    2000-01-01

    Objectives: The investigation of the CO2 laser evoked potential (LEP) modifications following a point localization task. Methods: LEPs were recorded from 10 healthy subjects in two different conditions. (1) Task condition: laser stimuli were shifted among 3 different locations on the right hand d...

  13. Evoked potentials in large-scale cortical networks elicited by TMS of the visual cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grossman, Emily D.; Srinivasan, Ramesh

    2011-01-01

    Single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) result in distal and long-lasting oscillations, a finding directly challenging the virtual lesion hypothesis. Previous research supporting this finding has primarily come from stimulation of the motor cortex. We have used single-pulse TMS with simultaneous EEG to target seven brain regions, six of which belong to the visual system [left and right primary visual area V1, motion-sensitive human middle temporal cortex, and a ventral temporal region], as determined with functional MRI-guided neuronavigation, and a vertex “control” site to measure the network effects of the TMS pulse. We found the TMS-evoked potential (TMS-EP) over visual cortex consists mostly of site-dependent theta- and alphaband oscillations. These site-dependent oscillations extended beyond the stimulation site to functionally connected cortical regions and correspond to time windows where the EEG responses maximally diverge (40, 200, and 385 ms). Correlations revealed two site-independent oscillations ∼350 ms after the TMS pulse: a theta-band oscillation carried by the frontal cortex, and an alpha-band oscillation over parietal and frontal cortical regions. A manipulation of stimulation intensity at one stimulation site (right hemisphere V1-V3) revealed sensitivity to the stimulation intensity at different regions of cortex, evidence of intensity tuning in regions distal to the site of stimulation. Together these results suggest that a TMS pulse applied to the visual cortex has a complex effect on brain function, engaging multiple brain networks functionally connected to the visual system with both invariant and site-specific spatiotemporal dynamics. With this characterization of TMS, we propose an alternative to the virtual lesion hypothesis. Rather than a technique that simulates lesions, we propose TMS generates natural brain signals and engages functional networks. PMID:21715670

  14. Analysis of electrically evoked compound action potential of the auditory nerve in children with bilateral cochlear implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caldas, Fernanda Ferreira; Cardoso, Carolina Costa; Barreto, Monique Antunes de Souza Chelminski; Teixeira, Marina Santos; Hilgenberg, Anacléia Melo da Silva; Serra, Lucieny Silva Martins; Bahmad Junior, Fayez

    2016-01-01

    The cochlear implant device has the capacity to measure the electrically evoked compound action potential of the auditory nerve. The neural response telemetry is used in order to measure the electrically evoked compound action potential of the auditory nerve. To analyze the electrically evoked compound action potential, through the neural response telemetry, in children with bilateral cochlear implants. This is an analytical, prospective, longitudinal, historical cohort study. Six children, aged 1-4 years, with bilateral cochlear implant were assessed at five different intervals during their first year of cochlear implant use. There were significant differences in follow-up time (p=0.0082) and electrode position (p=0.0019) in the T-NRT measure. There was a significant difference in the interaction between time of follow-up and electrode position (p=0.0143) when measuring the N1-P1 wave amplitude between the three electrodes at each time of follow-up. The electrically evoked compound action potential measurement using neural response telemetry in children with bilateral cochlear implants during the first year of follow-up was effective in demonstrating the synchronized bilateral development of the peripheral auditory pathways in the studied population. Copyright © 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  15. Sensory-Evoked Intrinsic Imaging Signals in the Olfactory Bulb Are Independent of Neurovascular Coupling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Vincis

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Functional brain-imaging techniques used in humans and animals, such as functional MRI and intrinsic optical signal (IOS imaging, are thought to largely rely on neurovascular coupling and hemodynamic responses. Here, taking advantage of the well-described micro-architecture of the mouse olfactory bulb, we dissected the nature of odor-evoked IOSs. Using in vivo pharmacology in transgenic mouse lines reporting activity in different cell types, we show that parenchymal IOSs are largely independent of neurotransmitter release and neurovascular coupling. Furthermore, our results suggest that odor-evoked parenchymal IOSs originate from changes in light scattering of olfactory sensory neuron axons, mostly due to water movement following action potential propagation. Our study sheds light on a direct correlate of neuronal activity, which may be used for large-scale functional brain imaging.

  16. Long latency auditory evoked potentials in children with cochlear implants: systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Liliane Aparecida Fagundes; Couto, Maria Inês Vieira; Matas, Carla Gentile; Carvalho, Ana Claudia Martinho de

    2013-11-25

    The aim of this study was to analyze the findings on Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in children with cochlear implant through a systematic literature review. After formulation of research question and search of studies in four data bases with the following descriptors: electrophysiology (eletrofisiologia), cochlear implantation (implante coclear), child (criança), neuronal plasticity (plasticidade neuronal) and audiology (audiologia), were selected articles (original and complete) published between 2002 and 2013 in Brazilian Portuguese or English. A total of 208 studies were found; however, only 13 contemplated the established criteria and were further analyzed; was made data extraction for analysis of methodology and content of the studies. The results described suggest rapid changes in P1 component of Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in children with cochlear implants. Although there are few studies on the theme, cochlear implant has been shown to produce effective changes in central auditory path ways especially in children implanted before 3 years and 6 months of age.

  17. Topographic Brain Mapping: A Window on Brain Function?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karniski, Walt M.

    1989-01-01

    The article reviews the method of topographic mapping of the brain's electrical activity. Multiple electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes and computerized analysis of the EEG signal are used to generate maps of frequency and voltage (evoked potential). This relatively new technique holds promise in the evaluation of children with behavioral and…

  18. Modulation of electric brain responses evoked by pitch deviants through transcranial direct current stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Royal, Isabelle; Zendel, Benjamin Rich; Desjardins, Marie-Ève; Robitaille, Nicolas; Peretz, Isabelle

    2018-01-31

    Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by a difficulty detecting pitch deviation that is related to abnormal electrical brain responses. Abnormalities found along the right fronto-temporal pathway between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the auditory cortex (AC) are the likely neural mechanism responsible for amusia. To investigate the causal role of these regions during the detection of pitch deviants, we applied cathodal (inhibitory) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over right frontal and right temporal regions during separate testing sessions. We recorded participants' electrical brain activity (EEG) before and after tDCS stimulation while they performed a pitch change detection task. Relative to a sham condition, there was a decrease in P3 amplitude after cathodal stimulation over both frontal and temporal regions compared to pre-stimulation baseline. This decrease was associated with small pitch deviations (6.25 cents), but not large pitch deviations (200 cents). Overall, this demonstrates that using tDCS to disrupt regions around the IFG and AC can induce temporary changes in evoked brain activity when processing pitch deviants. These electrophysiological changes are similar to those observed in amusia and provide causal support for the connection between P3 and fronto-temporal brain regions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Biomarkers of neuropathic pain in skin nerve degeneration neuropathy: contact heat-evoked potentials as a physiological signature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shao-Wei; Wang, Yi-Chia; Hsieh, Paul-Chen; Tseng, Ming-Tsung; Chiang, Ming-Chang; Chu, Chih-Pang; Feng, Fang-Ping; Lin, Yea-Huey; Hsieh, Sung-Tsang; Chao, Chi-Chao

    2017-03-01

    Contact heat-evoked potentials (CHEPs) have become an established method of assessing small-fiber sensory nerves; however, their potential as a physiological signature of neuropathic pain symptoms has not been fully explored. To investigate the diagnostic efficacy in examining small-fiber sensory nerve degeneration, the relationship with skin innervations, and clinical correlates with sensory symptoms, we recruited 188 patients (115 men) with length-dependent sensory symptoms and reduced intraepidermal nerve fiber (IENF) density at the distal leg to perform CHEP, quantitative sensory testing, and nerve conduction study. Fifty-seven age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled for comparison of CHEP and skin innervation. Among patients with neuropathy, 144 patients had neuropathic pain and 64 cases had evoked pain. Compared with quantitative sensory testing and nerve conduction study parameters, CHEP amplitudes showed the highest sensitivity for diagnosing small-fiber sensory nerve degeneration and exhibited the strongest correlation with IENF density in multiple linear regression. Contact heat-evoked potential amplitudes were strongly correlated with the degree of skin innervation in both patients with neuropathy and controls, and the slope of the regression line between CHEP amplitude and IENF density was higher in patients with neuropathy than in controls. Patients with evoked pain had higher CHEP amplitude than those without evoked pain, independent of IENF density. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that CHEP had better performance in diagnosing small-fiber sensory nerve degeneration than thermal thresholds. Furthermore, CHEPs showed superior classification accuracy with respect to evoked pain. In conclusion, CHEP is a sensitive tool to evaluate pathophysiology of small-fiber sensory nerve and serves as a physiological signature of neuropathic pain symptoms.

  20. Two-day fasting evokes stress, but does not affect mood, brain activity, cognitive, psychomotor, and motor performance in overweight women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solianik, Rima; Sujeta, Artūras

    2018-02-15

    The physiological, cognitive state, and motor behavior changes that occur during acute fasting are not completely understood. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate the effect of 2-day total fasting on evoked stress, mood, brain activity, and cognitive, psychomotor, and motor function in overweight women. Eleven overweight women (body mass index above 25kg/m 2 ) aged 20-30 years were tested under two conditions allocated randomly: 2-day zero-calorie diet with water provided ad libitum and 2-day usual diet. One week before the experiment, aerobic fitness was evaluated. Subjective stress ratings in relation to the diet, autonomic function, prefrontal cortex activity, cognitive performance, psychomotor coordination, and grip strength were evaluated before and after each diet. The study demonstrated that fasting decreased log-transformed high-frequency (HF) power, without affecting heart rate. The relative maximum oxygen uptake was negatively correlated with subjective stress rating and changes in log-transformed HF. Fasting did not affect mood, brain activity, and cognitive, motor, and psychomotor performance. Thus, 2-day total fasting evoked moderate stress with a shift of the autonomic nervous system balance toward sympathetic activity in overweight women. Better aerobic endurance is likely to facilitate the capacity for dealing with acute fasting. Regardless of the evoked stress, cognitive state and motor behavior remained intact. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Research on steady-state visual evoked potentials in 3D displays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Yu-Yi; Lee, Chia-Ying; Lin, Fang-Cheng; Huang, Yi-Pai; Ko, Li-Wei; Shieh, Han-Ping D.

    2015-05-01

    Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are intuitive systems for users to communicate with outer electronic devices. Steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) is one of the common inputs for BCI systems due to its easy detection and high information transfer rates. An advanced interactive platform integrated with liquid crystal displays is leading a trend to provide an alternative option not only for the handicapped but also for the public to make our lives more convenient. Many SSVEP-based BCI systems have been studied in a 2D environment; however there is only little literature about SSVEP-based BCI systems using 3D stimuli. 3D displays have potentials in SSVEP-based BCI systems because they can offer vivid images, good quality in presentation, various stimuli and more entertainment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two important 3D factors (disparity and crosstalk) on SSVEPs. Twelve participants participated in the experiment with a patterned retarder 3D display. The results show that there is a significant difference (p-value<0.05) between large and small disparity angle, and the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of small disparity angles is higher than those of large disparity angles. The 3D stimuli with smaller disparity and lower crosstalk are more suitable for applications based on the results of 3D perception and SSVEP responses (SNR). Furthermore, we can infer the 3D perception of users by SSVEP responses, and modify the proper disparity of 3D images automatically in the future.

  2. Brain inflammation enhances 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-evoked neurotoxicity in rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goralski, Kerry B.; Renton, Kenneth W.

    2004-01-01

    Experimental Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's disease in humans include a CNS inflammatory component that may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. CNS inflammation produces a loss in cytochrome P450 metabolism and may impair the brain's protection against neurotoxins. We have examined if preexisting inflammation in the brain could increase the toxicity of the dopaminergic toxin 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP + ). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 25 μg) or saline (control) was injected into the left lateral cerebral ventricle. A single injection of MPP + into the median forebrain bundle followed 48 h later and produced a reduction in striatal dopamine content that was dose and time dependant. Two-days after 5 μg of MPP + was administered, a 90% decrease in striatal dopamine content was observed in saline- and LPS-pretreated rats. However, 4 and 7 days after 5 μg MPP + treatment, striatal dopamine recovered up to 70-80% of control values in saline-pretreated rats but remained depressed (80-90%) in rats treated with LPS. These results suggested that CNS inflammation might create an increased risk factor for drug-induced CNS toxicity or chemically mediated Parkinson's disease. The prolonged toxicity of MPP + may be due to a decrease in brain cytochrome P450 metabolism that occurs during inflammation. As a second objective for the study, we examined if the CNS lesion produced by MPP + altered cytochrome P450 metabolic activity in the liver, kidney, and lung. We have demonstrated a novel mechanism whereby the brain pathology produced by MPP + treatment contributes to a reduction in cytochrome P450 metabolism in the kidney but not the liver or lung. Therefore, a chemically evoked CNS disorder with a chronic inflammatory component might have major effects on the renal metabolism of drugs or endogenous substrates

  3. Dose-response characteristics of methylphenidate on locomotor behavior and on sensory evoked potentials recorded from the VTA, NAc, and PFC in freely behaving rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Swann Alan C

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Methylphenidate (MPD is a psychostimulant commonly prescribed for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The mode of action of the brain circuitry responsible for initiating the animals' behavior in response to psychostimulants is not well understood. There is some evidence that psychostimulants activate the ventral tegmental area (VTA, nucleus accumbens (NAc, and prefrontal cortex (PFC. Methods The present study was designed to investigate the acute dose-response of MPD (0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg on locomotor behavior and sensory evoked potentials recorded from the VTA, NAc, and PFC in freely behaving rats previously implanted with permanent electrodes. For locomotor behavior, adult male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY; n = 39 rats were given saline on experimental day 1 and either saline or an acute injection of MPD (0.6, 2.5, or 10.0 mg/kg, i.p. on experimental day 2. Locomotor activity was recorded for 2-h post injection on both days using an automated, computerized activity monitoring system. Electrophysiological recordings were also performed in the adult male WKY rats (n = 10. Five to seven days after the rats had recovered from the implantation of electrodes, each rat was placed in a sound-insulated, electrophysiological test chamber where its sensory evoked field potentials were recorded before and after saline and 0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg MPD injection. Time interval between injections was 90 min. Results Results showed an increase in locomotion with dose-response characteristics, while a dose-response decrease in amplitude of the components of sensory evoked field responses of the VTA, NAc, and PFC neurons. For example, the P3 component of the sensory evoked field response of the VTA decreased by 19.8% ± 7.4% from baseline after treatment of 0.6 mg/kg MPD, 37.8% ± 5.9% after 2.5 mg/kg MPD, and 56.5% ± 3.9% after 10 mg/kg MPD. Greater attenuation from baseline was observed in the NAc and PFC. Differences in the intensity of

  4. Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mozhgan Masoom

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Since utricle is the main damaged organ in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV, ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP may be an appropriate method to evaluate the utricule dysfunction and the effect of disease recurrence rate on it. This study aimed to record myogenic potential in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, ocular myogenic potential was recorded in 25 healthy subjects and 20 patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo using 500 Hz-tone bursts (95 dB nHL.Results: In the affected ear, mean amplitude was lower and mean threshold was higher than those in the unaffected ear and in the normal group (p<0.05. Mean amplitude asymmetry ratio of patients was more than the healthy subjects (p0.05. Frequencies of abnormal responses in the affected ears were higher than in unaffected ears and in the normal group (p<0.05. Furthermore, the patients with recurrent vertigo showed more abnormalities than the patients with non-recurrent (p=0.030.Conclusion: In the recurrent benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential showed more damage in the utricle, suggesting this response could be used to evaluate the patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

  5. Contact Heat Evoked Potentials (CHEPs) in Patients with Mild-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease and Matched Control-A Pilot Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen-Dahm, Christina; Madsen, Caspar Skau; Waldemar, Gunhild

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Clinical studies have found that patients with Alzheimer's disease report pain of less intensity and with a lower affective response, which has been thought to be due to altered pain processing. The authors wished to examine the cerebral processing of non-painful and painful stimuli...... threshold and heat pain threshold. Somatosensory evoked potentials, amplitude, and latency were within normal range and similar for the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the processing of non-painful and painful stimuli is preserved in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease....... using somatosensory evoked potentials and contact heat evoked potentials in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in healthy elderly controls. DESIGN: Case-control study SETTING AND SUBJECTS: Twenty outpatients with mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease and in 17 age- and gender-matched healthy controls...

  6. Combined ocular and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential in individuals with vestibular hyporeflexia and in patients with Ménière's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Tatiana Rocha; de Resende, Luciana Macedo; Santos, Marco Aurélio Rocha

    The vestibular evoked myogenic potential is a potential of mean latency that measures the muscle response to auditory stimulation. This potential can be generated from the contraction of the sternocleidomastoid muscle and also from the contraction of extraocular muscles in response to high-intensity sounds. This study presents a combined or simultaneous technique of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential in individuals with changes in the vestibular system, for use in otoneurologic diagnosis. To characterize the records and analyze the results of combined cervical and ocular VEMP in individuals with vestibular hyporeflexia and in those with Ménière's disease. The study included 120 subjects: 30 subjects with vestibular hyporeflexia, 30 with Ménière's disease, and 60 individuals with normal hearing. Data collection was performed by simultaneously recording the cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential. There were differences between the study groups (individuals with vestibular hyporeflexia and individuals with Ménière's disease) and the control group for most of wave parameters in combined cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential. For cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential, it was observed that the prolongation of latency of the P13 and N23 waves was the most frequent finding in the group with vestibular hyporeflexia and in the group with Ménière's disease. For ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential, prolonged latency of N10 and P15 waves was the most frequent finding in the study groups. Combined cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential presented relevant results for individuals with vestibular hyporeflexia and for those with Ménière's disease. There were differences between the study groups and the control group for most of the wave parameters in combined cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential. Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia

  7. Brainstem auditory evoked potentials in healthy cats recorded with surface electrodes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai Musteata

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the brainstem auditory evoked potentials of seven healthy cats, using surface electrodes. Latencies of waves I, III and V, and intervals I–III, I–V and III–V were recorded. Monaural and binaural stimulation of the cats were done with sounds ranging between 40 and 90 decibel Sound Pressure Level. All latencies were lower than those described in previous studies, where needle electrodes were used. In the case of binaural stimulation, latencies of waves III and V were greater compared to those obtained for monaural stimulation (P P > 0.05. Regardless of the sound intensity, the interwave latency was constant (P > 0.05. Interestingly, no differences were noticed for latencies of waves III and V when sound intensity was higher than 80dB SPL. This study completes the knowledge in the field of electrophysiology and shows that the brainstem auditory evoked potentials in cats using surface electrodes is a viable method to record the transmission of auditory information. That can be faithfully used in clinical practice, when small changes of latency values may be an objective factor in health status evaluation.

  8. A change in the parameters of P300 evoked potentials in relation to the degree of exacerbation of pain syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A P Rachin

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In chronic pain, the state of suprasegmental brain structures (the cortex, limbic system, truncodiencephalic structures, which form the motivational-affective and cognitive components of pain behavior, actively affects pain afferentation as well. The purpose of the study was to comparatively analyze the parameters and topographic distribution of P300 cognitive evoked potential in patients with lower back pain. Sixty patients aged 22 to 60 years were examined. The authors made their clinical and neurological examinations, collected medical history data, and assessed back pain intensity by a visual analog scale. The findings were compared with the parameters of cognitive evoked potentials (the separating of P300 to count; keystroke in the recognition of significant stimuli; elaboration of a verbal and nonverbal visual stimulation protocol, by using emotionally significant stimuli. The processes of recognition and differentiation, those of directed attention, and the rate of information processing slowed down in patients with different stages of pain syndrome. The P300 separating procedure using the emotionally significant stimuli allows one to assess the specific features of chronization of pain syndromes and the presence of pain memory in the central nervous system of such patients. The estimation of P300 parameters over time or during treatment are of particular value for the optimization and evaluation of its efficiency.

  9. A MISO-ARX-Based Method for Single-Trial Evoked Potential Extraction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nannan Yu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a novel method for solving the single-trial evoked potential (EP estimation problem. In this method, the single-trial EP is considered as a complex containing many components, which may originate from different functional brain sites; these components can be distinguished according to their respective latencies and amplitudes and are extracted simultaneously by multiple-input single-output autoregressive modeling with exogenous input (MISO-ARX. The extraction process is performed in three stages: first, we use a reference EP as a template and decompose it into a set of components, which serve as subtemplates for the remaining steps. Then, a dictionary is constructed with these subtemplates, and EPs are preliminarily extracted by sparse coding in order to roughly estimate the latency of each component. Finally, the single-trial measurement is parametrically modeled by MISO-ARX while characterizing spontaneous electroencephalographic activity as an autoregression model driven by white noise and with each component of the EP modeled by autoregressive-moving-average filtering of the subtemplates. Once optimized, all components of the EP can be extracted. Compared with ARX, our method has greater tracking capabilities of specific components of the EP complex as each component is modeled individually in MISO-ARX. We provide exhaustive experimental results to show the effectiveness and feasibility of our method.

  10. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potentials in glaucomatous and healthy eyes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amarasekera, Dilru C; Resende, Arthur F; Waisbourd, Michael; Puri, Sanjeev; Moster, Marlene R; Hark, Lisa A; Katz, L Jay; Fudemberg, Scott J; Mantravadi, Anand V

    2018-01-01

    This study evaluates two rapid electrophysiological glaucoma diagnostic tests that may add a functional perspective to glaucoma diagnosis. This study aimed to determine the ability of two office-based electrophysiological diagnostic tests, steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potentials, to discern between glaucomatous and healthy eyes. This is a cross-sectional study in a hospital setting. Forty-one patients with glaucoma and 41 healthy volunteers participated in the study. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram and short-duration transient visual evoked potential testing was conducted in glaucomatous and healthy eyes. A 64-bar-size stimulus with both a low-contrast and high-contrast setting was used to compare steady-state pattern electroretinogram parameters in both groups. A low-contrast and high-contrast checkerboard stimulus was used to measure short-duration transient visual evoked potential parameters in both groups. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram parameters compared were MagnitudeD, MagnitudeD/Magnitude ratio, and the signal-to-noise ratio. Short-duration transient visual evoked potential parameters compared were amplitude and latency. MagnitudeD was significantly lower in glaucoma patients when using a low-contrast (P = 0.001) and high-contrast (P state pattern electroretinogram stimulus. MagnitudeD/Magnitude ratio and SNR were significantly lower in the glaucoma group when using a high-contrast 64-bar-size stimulus (P state pattern electroretinogram was effectively able to discern between glaucomatous and healthy eyes. Steady-state pattern electroretinogram may thus have a role as a clinically useful electrophysiological diagnostic tool. © 2017 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.

  11. A lower limb exoskeleton control system based on steady state visual evoked potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwak, No-Sang; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

    2015-10-01

    Objective. We have developed an asynchronous brain-machine interface (BMI)-based lower limb exoskeleton control system based on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs). Approach. By decoding electroencephalography signals in real-time, users are able to walk forward, turn right, turn left, sit, and stand while wearing the exoskeleton. SSVEP stimulation is implemented with a visual stimulation unit, consisting of five light emitting diodes fixed to the exoskeleton. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) method for the extraction of frequency information associated with the SSVEP was used in combination with k-nearest neighbors. Main results. Overall, 11 healthy subjects participated in the experiment to evaluate performance. To achieve the best classification, CCA was first calibrated in an offline experiment. In the subsequent online experiment, our results exhibit accuracies of 91.3 ± 5.73%, a response time of 3.28 ± 1.82 s, an information transfer rate of 32.9 ± 9.13 bits/min, and a completion time of 1100 ± 154.92 s for the experimental parcour studied. Significance. The ability to achieve such high quality BMI control indicates that an SSVEP-based lower limb exoskeleton for gait assistance is becoming feasible.

  12. Music evoked autobiographical memory after severe acquired brain injury: preliminary findings from a case series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baird, A; Samson, S

    2014-01-01

    Music evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) have been characterised in the healthy population, but not, to date, in patients with acquired brain injury (ABI). Our aim was to investigate music compared with verbal evoked autobiographical memories. Five patients with severe ABI and matched controls completed the experimental music (MEAM) task (a written questionnaire) while listening to 50 "Number 1 Songs of the Year" (from 1960 to 2010). Patients also completed the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and a standard neuropsychological assessment. With the exception of Case 5, who reported no MEAMs and no autobiographical incidents on the AMI and who also had impaired pitch perception, the range of frequency and type of MEAMs in patients was broadly in keeping with their matched controls. The relative preservation of MEAMs in four cases was particularly noteworthy given their impaired verbal and/or visual anterograde memory, and in three cases, autobiographical memory impairment. The majority of MEAMs in both cases and matched controls were of a person/people or a period of life. In three patients music was more efficient at evoking autobiographical memories than the AMI verbal prompts. This is the first study of MEAMs after ABI. The findings suggest that music is an effective stimulus for eliciting autobiographical memories, and may be beneficial in the rehabilitation of autobiographical amnesia, but only in patients without a fundamental deficit in autobiographical recall memory and intact pitch perception.

  13. The Role of Auditory Evoked Potentials in the Context of Cochlear Implant Provision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoth, Sebastian; Dziemba, Oliver Christian

    2017-12-01

    : Auditory evoked potentials (AEP) are highly demanded during the whole process of equipping patients with cochlear implants (CI). They play an essential role in preoperative diagnostics, intraoperative testing, and postoperative monitoring of auditory performance and success. The versatility of AEP's is essentially enhanced by their property to be evokable by acoustic as well as electric stimuli. Thus, the electric responses of the auditory system following acoustic stimulation and recorded by the conventional surface technique as well as by transtympanic derivation from the promontory (Electrocochleography [ECochG]) are used for the quantitative determination of hearing loss and, additionally, electrically evoked compound actions potentials (ECAP) can be recorded with the intracochlear electrodes of the implant just adjacent to the stimulation electrode to check the functional integrity of the device and its coupling to the auditory system. The profile of ECAP thresholds is used as basis for speech processor fitting, the spread of excitation (SOE) allows the identification of electrode mislocations such as array foldover, and recovery functions may serve to optimize stimulus pulse rate. These techniques as well as those relying on scalp surface activity originating in the brainstem or the auditory cortex accompany the CI recipient during its whole life span and they offer valuable insights into functioning and possible adverse effects of the CI for clinical and scientific purposes.

  14. Auditory- and visual-evoked potentials in Mexican infants are not affected by maternal supplementation with 400 mg/d docosahexaenoic acid in the second half of pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Aryeh D; Wang, Meng; Rivera, Juan A; Martorell, Reynaldo; Ramakrishnan, Usha

    2012-08-01

    The evidence relating prenatal supplementation with DHA to offspring neurological development is limited. We investigated the effect of prenatal DHA supplementation on infant brainstem auditory-evoked responses and visual- evoked potentials in a double-blind, randomized controlled trial in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Pregnant women were supplemented daily with 400 mg DHA or placebo from gestation wk 18-22 through delivery. DHA and placebo groups did not differ in maternal characteristics at randomization or infant characteristics at birth. Brainstem auditory-evoked responses were measured at 1 and 3 mo in 749 and 664 infants, respectively, and visual-evoked potentials were measured at 3 and 6 mo in 679 and 817 infants, respectively. Left-right brainstem auditory-evoked potentials were moderately correlated (range, 0.26-0.43; all P right visual-evoked potentials were strongly correlated (range, 0.79-0.94; all P 0.10). We conclude that DHA supplementation during pregnancy did not influence brainstem auditory-evoked responses at 1 and 3 mo or visual-evoked potentials at 3 and 6 mo.

  15. Early changes of auditory brain stem evoked response after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma - a prospective study

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    Lau, S K; Wei, W I; Sham, J S.T.; Choy, D T.K.; Hui, Y [Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

    1992-10-01

    A prospective study of the effect of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma on hearing was carried out on 49 patients who had pure tone, impedance audiometry and auditory brain stem evoked response (ABR) recordings before, immediately, three, six and 12 months after radiotherapy. Fourteen patients complained of intermittent tinnitus after radiotherapy. We found that 11 initially normal ears of nine patients developed a middle ear effusion, three to six months after radiotherapy. There was mixed sensorineural and conductive hearing impairment after radiotherapy. Persistent impairment of ABR was detected immediately after completion of radiotherapy. The waves I-III and I-V interpeak latency intervals were significantly prolonged one year after radiotherapy. The study shows that radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma impairs hearing by acting on the middle ear, the cochlea and the brain stem auditory pathway. (Author).

  16. Early changes of auditory brain stem evoked response after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma - a prospective study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, S.K.; Wei, W.I.; Sham, J.S.T.; Choy, D.T.K.; Hui, Y.

    1992-01-01

    A prospective study of the effect of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma on hearing was carried out on 49 patients who had pure tone, impedance audiometry and auditory brain stem evoked response (ABR) recordings before, immediately, three, six and 12 months after radiotherapy. Fourteen patients complained of intermittent tinnitus after radiotherapy. We found that 11 initially normal ears of nine patients developed a middle ear effusion, three to six months after radiotherapy. There was mixed sensorineural and conductive hearing impairment after radiotherapy. Persistent impairment of ABR was detected immediately after completion of radiotherapy. The waves I-III and I-V interpeak latency intervals were significantly prolonged one year after radiotherapy. The study shows that radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma impairs hearing by acting on the middle ear, the cochlea and the brain stem auditory pathway. (Author)

  17. Towards a neural basis of music-evoked emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koelsch, Stefan

    2010-03-01

    Music is capable of evoking exceptionally strong emotions and of reliably affecting the mood of individuals. Functional neuroimaging and lesion studies show that music-evoked emotions can modulate activity in virtually all limbic and paralimbic brain structures. These structures are crucially involved in the initiation, generation, detection, maintenance, regulation and termination of emotions that have survival value for the individual and the species. Therefore, at least some music-evoked emotions involve the very core of evolutionarily adaptive neuroaffective mechanisms. Because dysfunctions in these structures are related to emotional disorders, a better understanding of music-evoked emotions and their neural correlates can lead to a more systematic and effective use of music in therapy. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Noninvasive scalp recording of cortical auditory evoked potentials in the alert macaque monkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itoh, Kosuke; Nejime, Masafumi; Konoike, Naho; Nakada, Tsutomu; Nakamura, Katsuki

    2015-09-01

    Scalp-recorded evoked potentials (EP) provide researchers and clinicians with irreplaceable means for recording stimulus-related neural activities in the human brain, due to its high temporal resolution, handiness, and, perhaps more importantly, non-invasiveness. This work recorded the scalp cortical auditory EP (CAEP) in unanesthetized monkeys by using methods that are essentially identical to those applied to humans. Young adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta, 5-7 years old) were seated in a monkey chair, and their head movements were partially restricted by polystyrene blocks and tension poles placed around their head. Individual electrodes were fixated on their scalp using collodion according to the 10-20 system. Pure tone stimuli were presented while electroencephalograms were recorded from up to nineteen channels, including an electrooculogram channel. In all monkeys (n = 3), the recorded CAEP comprised a series of positive and negative deflections, labeled here as macaque P1 (mP1), macaque N1 (mN1), macaque P2 (mP2), and macaque N2 (mN2), and these transient responses to sound onset were followed by a sustained potential that continued for the duration of the sound, labeled the macaque sustained potential (mSP). mP1, mN2 and mSP were the prominent responses, and they had maximal amplitudes over frontal/central midline electrode sites, consistent with generators in auditory cortices. The study represents the first noninvasive scalp recording of CAEP in alert rhesus monkeys, to our knowledge. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. A study on dynamic model of steady-state visual evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shangen; Han, Xu; Chen, Xiaogang; Wang, Yijun; Gao, Shangkai; Gao, Xiaorong

    2018-04-04

    Significant progress has been made in the past two decades to considerably improve the performance of steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI). However, there are still some unsolved problems that may help us to improve BCI performance, one of which is that our understanding of the dynamic process of SSVEP is still superficial, especially for the transient-state response. This study introduced an antiphase stimulation method (antiphase: phase 0/π), which can simultaneously separate and extract SSVEP and event-related potential (ERP) signals from EEG, and eliminate the interference of ERP to SSVEP. Based on the SSVEP signals obtained by the antiphase stimulation method, the envelope of SSVEP was extracted by the Hilbert transform, and the dynamic model of SSVEP was quantitatively studied by mathematical modeling. The step response of a second-order linear system was used to fit the envelope of SSVEP, and its characteristics were represented by four parameters with physical and physiological meanings: one was amplitude related, one was latency related and two were frequency related. This study attempted to use pre-stimulation paradigms to modulate the dynamic model parameters, and quantitatively analyze the results by applying the dynamic model to further explore the pre-stimulation methods that had the potential to improve BCI performance. The results showed that the dynamic model had good fitting effect with SSVEP under three pre-stimulation paradigms. The test results revealed that the parameters of SSVEP dynamic models could be modulated by the pre-stimulation baseline luminance, and the gray baseline luminance pre-stimulation obtained the highest performance. This study proposed a dynamic model which was helpful to understand and utilize the transient characteristics of SSVEP. This study also found that pre-stimulation could be used to adjust the parameters of SSVEP model, and had the potential to improve the performance

  20. Light Stimulation Properties to Influence Brain Activity: A Brain-CoMputer Interface application

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bieger, J.; Garcia Molina, G.

    2010-01-01

    Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) enable people to control appliances without involving the normal output pathways of peripheral nervesand muscles. A particularly promising type of BCI is based on the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP). Users can selectcommands by focusing their attention

  1. Athletic training in badminton players modulates the early C1 component of visual evoked potentials: a preliminary investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Hua; Xu, Guiping; Zhang, John X; Ye, Zuoer; Wang, Shufang; Zhao, Lun; Lin, Chong-De; Mo, Lei

    2010-12-01

    One basic question in brain plasticity research is whether individual life experience in the normal population can affect very early sensory-perceptual processing. Athletes provide a possible model to explore plasticity of the visual cortex as athletic training in confrontational ball games is quite often accompanied by training of the visual system. We asked professional badminton players to watch video clips related to their training experience and predict where the ball would land and examined whether they differed from non-player controls in the elicited C1, a visual evoked potential indexing V1 activity. Compared with controls, the players made judgments significantly more accurately, albeit not faster. An early ERP component peaking around 65 ms post-stimulus with a scalp topography centering at the occipital pole (electrode Oz) was observed in both groups and interpreted as the C1 component. With comparable latency, amplitudes of this component were significantly enhanced for the players than for the non-players, suggesting that it can be modulated by long-term physical training. The results present a clear case of experience-induced brain plasticity in primary visual cortex for very early sensory processing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. The cortical spatiotemporal correlate of otolith stimulation: Vestibular evoked potentials by body translations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ertl, M; Moser, M; Boegle, R; Conrad, J; Zu Eulenburg, P; Dieterich, M

    2017-07-15

    The vestibular organ senses linear and rotational acceleration of the head during active and passive motion. These signals are necessary for bipedal locomotion, navigation, the coordination of eye and head movements in 3D space. The temporal dynamics of vestibular processing in cortical structures have hardly been studied in humans, let alone with natural stimulation. The aim was to investigate the cortical vestibular network related to natural otolith stimulation using a hexapod motion platform. We conducted two experiments, 1. to estimate the sources of the vestibular evoked potentials (VestEPs) by means of distributed source localization (n=49), and 2. to reveal modulations of the VestEPs through the underlying acceleration intensity (n=24). For both experiments subjects were accelerated along the main axis (left/right, up/down, fore/aft) while the EEG was recorded. We were able to identify five VestEPs (P1, N1, P2, N2, P3) with latencies between 38 and 461 ms as well as an evoked beta-band response peaking with a latency of 68 ms in all subjects and for all acceleration directions. Source localization gave the cingulate sulcus visual (CSv) area and the opercular-insular region as the main origin of the evoked potentials. No lateralization effects due to handedness could be observed. In the second experiment, area CSv was shown to be integral in the processing of acceleration intensities as sensed by the otolith organs, hinting at its potential role in ego-motion detection. These robust VestEPs could be used to investigate the mechanisms of inter-regional interaction in the natural context of vestibular processing and multisensory integration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Dehydration enhances pain-evoked activation in the human brain compared with rehydration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogino, Yuichi; Kakeda, Takahiro; Nakamura, Koji; Saito, Shigeru

    2014-06-01

    Negative effects of dehydration on the human brain and cognitive function have been reported. In this study, we examined the effects of dehydration on pain thresholds and cortical activations in response to pain, compared with rehydration with an oral rehydration solution (ORS) by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Five healthy adult men were subjected to dehydration and rehydration on 2 different days. The condition on the first day was randomly assigned to each subject. They completed a 40-minute exercise protocol using a walking machine after 12 hours of fasting under both conditions. For rehydration, the subjects consumed up to 3000 mL ORS starting from the night before the test day. After exercise, a painful stimulus (cold pressor test) was applied to the subjects' medial forearm in a magnetic resonance imaging scanning gantry, and pain-evoked brain activation was analyzed. On the rehydration day, each of the subjects consumed an average of 2040 mL (range; 1800-2500 mL) ORS. Physiological data revealed that subjects when dehydrated lost more weight from exercise than subjects when rehydrated had a larger heart rate increase, a higher tympanic temperature, and a higher urine osmolality. Subjective data revealed that the subjects reported significantly stronger thirst while dehydrated than while rehydrated with ORS, although the levels of hunger and anxiety and mood did not significantly differ between conditions. The cold pressor test robustly activated the pain-related neural network, notably the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and thalamus. Such activations in the dehydrated subjects were greater than those in the rehydrated subjects in terms of peak and cluster, accompanied by a decrease in pain threshold (P = 0.001). Our findings suggest that dehydration brings about increased brain activity related to painful stimuli together with enhanced thirst, whereas rehydration with ORS alleviates thirst and decreases brain activity related to painful stimuli.

  4. Effect of surgery on sensory threshold and somatosensory evoked potentials after skin stimulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, C; Hansen, O B; Kehlet, H

    1990-01-01

    We have studied the effect of surgical injury on cutaneous sensitivity and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) to dermatomal electrical stimulation in 10 patients undergoing hysterectomy. Forty-eight hours after surgery, sensory threshold increased from 2.2 (SEM 0.3) mA to 4.4 (1.1) mA (P less...

  5. Single-Trial Evoked Potential Estimating Based on Sparse Coding under Impulsive Noise Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nannan Yu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Estimating single-trial evoked potentials (EPs corrupted by the spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG can be regarded as signal denoising problem. Sparse coding has significant success in signal denoising and EPs have been proven to have strong sparsity over an appropriate dictionary. In sparse coding, the noise generally is considered to be a Gaussian random process. However, some studies have shown that the background noise in EPs may present an impulsive characteristic which is far from Gaussian but suitable to be modeled by the α-stable distribution 1<α≤2. Consequently, the performances of general sparse coding will degrade or even fail. In view of this, we present a new sparse coding algorithm using p-norm optimization in single-trial EPs estimating. The algorithm can track the underlying EPs corrupted by α-stable distribution noise, trial-by-trial, without the need to estimate the α value. Simulations and experiments on human visual evoked potentials and event-related potentials are carried out to examine the performance of the proposed approach. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in estimating single-trial EPs under impulsive noise environment.

  6. Effects of myelin or cell body brainstem lesions on 3-channel Lissajous' trajectories of feline auditory brainstem evoked potentials

    OpenAIRE

    Pratt, H; Zaaroor, M; Bleich, N; Starr, A

    1991-01-01

    Auditory brainstem evoked potentials (ABEP) were recorded from 16 awake cats to obtain 3-Channel Lissajous' Trajectories (3CLTs) using three orthogonal differential electrode configurations (nasion - midline nuchal ridge, left - right mastoids, vertex - midline under the mandible). Potentials, evoked by monaural 80 dBnHL (re. human threshold) clicks, were studied before, and up to 7 weeks after inducing neuronal lesions localized to the cochlear nucleus (CN) or the superior olivary complex (S...

  7. Gating of the vertex somatosensory and auditory evoked potential P50 and the correlation to skin conductance orienting response in healthy men

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnfred, S M; Eder, D N; Hemmingsen, R P

    2001-01-01

    A defect in auditory evoked potential (AEP) P50 gating supports the theory of information-processing deficits in schizophrenia. The relationship between gating of the mid-latency evoked potentials (EP) in the somatosensory and the auditory modalities has not been studied together before. In schiz...

  8. Evoked potential correlates of selective attention with multi-channel auditory inputs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwent, V. L.; Hillyard, S. A.

    1975-01-01

    Ten subjects were presented with random, rapid sequences of four auditory tones which were separated in pitch and apparent spatial position. The N1 component of the auditory vertex evoked potential (EP) measured relative to a baseline was observed to increase with attention. It was concluded that the N1 enhancement reflects a finely tuned selective attention to one stimulus channel among several concurrent, competing channels. This EP enhancement probably increases with increased information load on the subject.

  9. Brain Activity Associated with Slow Temporal Summation of C-fiber Evoked Pain in Fibromyalgia Patients and Healthy Controls

    OpenAIRE

    Staud, Roland; Craggs, Jason G.; Perlstein, William M.; Robinson, Michael E.; Price, Donald D.

    2008-01-01

    Temporal summation of “second pain” (TSSP) is the result of C-fiber-evoked responses of dorsal-horn neurons, termed ‘windup’. This phenomenon is dependent on stimulus frequency (≥0.33 Hz) and relevant for central sensitization as well as chronic pain. Whereas our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study characterized neural correlates of TSSP in eleven healthy volunteers, the present study was designed to compare brain responses associated with TSSP across these healthy par...

  10. Proprioceptive evoked gamma oscillations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnfred, S.M.; Hansen, Lars Kai; Parnas, J.

    2007-01-01

    A proprioceptive stimulus consisting of a weight change of a handheld load has recently been shown to elicit an evoked potential. Previously, somatosensory gamma oscillations have only been evoked by electrical stimuli. We conjectured that a natural proprioceptive stimulus also would be able...... to evoke gamma oscillations. EEG was recorded using 64 channels in 14 healthy subjects. In each of three runs a stimulus of 100 g load increment in each hand was presented in 120 trials. Data were wavelet transformed and runs collapsed. Inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) was computed as the best measure...

  11. [The modified method registration of kinesthetic evoked potentials and its application for research of proprioceptive sensitivity disorders at spondylogenic cervical myelopathy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordeev, S A; Voronin, S G

    2016-01-01

    To analyze the efficacy of modified (passive radiocarpal articulation flexion/extension) and «standard» (passive radiocarpal articulation flexion) methods of kinesthetic evoked potentials for proprioceptive sensitivity assessment in healthy subjects and patients with spondylotic cervical myelopathy. The study included 14 healthy subjects (4 women and 10 men, mean age 54.1±10.5 years) and 8 patients (2 women and 6 men, mean age 55.8±10.9 years) with spondylotic cervical myelopathy. Muscle-joint sensation was examined during the clinical study. A modified method of kinesthetic evoked potentials was developed. This method differed from the "standard" one by the organization of a cycle including several passive movements,where each new movement differed from the preceding one by the direction. The modified method of kinesthetic evoked potentials ensures more reliable kinesthetic sensitivity assessment due to movement variability. Asignificant increaseof the latent periods of the early components of the response was found in patients compared to healthy subjects. The modified method of kinesthetic evoked potentials can be used for objective diagnosis of proprioceptive sensitivity disorders in patients with spondylotic cervical myelopathy.

  12. Code-modulated visual evoked potentials using fast stimulus presentation and spatiotemporal beamformer decoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittevrongel, Benjamin; Van Wolputte, Elia; Van Hulle, Marc M

    2017-11-08

    When encoding visual targets using various lagged versions of a pseudorandom binary sequence of luminance changes, the EEG signal recorded over the viewer's occipital pole exhibits so-called code-modulated visual evoked potentials (cVEPs), the phase lags of which can be tied to these targets. The cVEP paradigm has enjoyed interest in the brain-computer interfacing (BCI) community for the reported high information transfer rates (ITR, in bits/min). In this study, we introduce a novel decoding algorithm based on spatiotemporal beamforming, and show that this algorithm is able to accurately identify the gazed target. Especially for a small number of repetitions of the coding sequence, our beamforming approach significantly outperforms an optimised support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier, which is considered state-of-the-art in cVEP-based BCI. In addition to the traditional 60 Hz stimulus presentation rate for the coding sequence, we also explore the 120 Hz rate, and show that the latter enables faster communication, with a maximal median ITR of 172.87 bits/min. Finally, we also report on a transition effect in the EEG signal following the onset of the stimulus sequence, and recommend to exclude the first 150 ms of the trials from decoding when relying on a single presentation of the stimulus sequence.

  13. Normative data for Aδ contact heat evoked potentials in adult population: a multicenter study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granovsky, Yelena; Anand, Praveen; Nakae, Aya; Nascimento, Osvaldo; Smith, Benn; Sprecher, Elliot; Valls-Solé, Josep

    2016-05-01

    There has been a significant increase over recent years in the use of contact heat evoked potentials (CHEPs) for the evaluation of small nerve fiber function. Measuring CHEP amplitude and latency has clinical utility for the diagnosis and assessment of conditions with neuropathic pain. This international multicenter study aimed to provide reference values for CHEPs to stimuli at 5 commonly examined body sites. Contact heat evoked potentials were recorded from 226 subjects (114 females), distributed per age decade between 20 and 79 years. Temperature stimuli were delivered by a thermode (32°C-51°C at a rate of 70°C/s). In phase I of the study, we investigated side-to-side differences and reported the maximum normal side-to-side difference in Aδ CHEP peak latency and amplitude for leg, forearm, and face. In phase II, we obtained normative data for 3 CHEP parameters (N2P2 amplitude, N2 latency, and P2 latency), stratified for gender and age decades from face, upper and lower limbs, and overlying cervical and lumbar spine. In general, larger CHEP amplitudes were associated with higher evoked pain scores. Females had CHEPs of larger amplitude and shorter latency than males. This substantive data set of normative values will facilitate the clinical use of CHEPs as a rapid, noninvasive, and objective technique for the assessment of patients presenting with neuropathic pain.

  14. Transcranial motor evoked potential monitoring outcome in the high-risk brain and spine surgeries: Correlation of clinical and neurophysiological data - An Indian perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Poornima Amit Shah

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the safety, feasibility and clinical value of transcranial motor evoked potential (MEP monitoring by electrical stimulation. Setting: Clinical neurophysiology department of tertiary reach hospital. Materials and Methods: MEP monitoring was attempted in 44 "high risk" patients. Intraoperative surgical, anesthesia and neurophysiological findings were documented prospectively. MEP monitoring results were correlated with motor outcome. Results: The success for reliable MEP recording from the lower limbs was 75%. Incidence of new permanent post-operative motor deficit was zero. Nearly, 76.5% of the cases (13 out of 17 cases who showed unobtainable and unstable MEP outcome had lesion location in the spine as compared with 23.5% (4 out of 17 cases that had lesion location in the brain. Chi-square test demonstrated a statistically significant difference between these two groups (P = 0.0020. Out of these 13 spine surgery cases, 8 (62% were operated for deformity. Seven out of 12 (60% patients less than 12 years of age had a poor MEP monitoring outcome suggesting that extremes of age and presence of a spine deformity may be associated with a lesser incidence of successful MEP monitoring. No complications related to the repetitive transcranial electrical stimulation for eliciting MEP were observed. Conclusion: MEP monitoring is safe. The protocol used in this study is simple, feasible for use and has a fairly high success rate form the lower limbs. Pediatric age group and spine lesions, particularly deformities have an adverse effect on stable MEP recording.

  15. Self-Disorder and Brain Processing of Proprioception in Schizophrenia Spectrum Patients: A Re-Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnfred, Sidse M.; Raballo, Andrea; Mørup, Morten

    2015-01-01

    with abnormalities of early contralateral proprioceptive evoked oscillatory brain activity. Methods : We investigated the association between proprioceptive evoked potential components and SDs in a re-analysis of data from a subsample (n = 12) of SZS patients who had previously been observed with deviant...

  16. Pattern Visual Evoked Potential as a Predictor of Occlusion Therapy for Amblyopia

    OpenAIRE

    Chung, Woosuk; Hong, Samin; Lee, Jong Bok; Han, Sueng-Han

    2008-01-01

    Purpose This study was conducted to investigate the role of the pattern visual evoked potential (pVEP) as a predictor of occlusion therapy for patients with strabismic, anisometropic, and isometropic amblyopia. The secondary aim was to compare the characteristics of pVEP between strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Methods This retrospective comparative case series included 120 patients who had received occlusion therapy or a glasses prescription for correction of strabismic, anisometropic...

  17. Interhemispheric Asymmetries in Visual Evoked Potential Amplitude

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-06-12

    Layne, 1965) and of patients with Korsakoff’s syndrome (Malerstein and Callaway, 1969) . In the schizophrenics, the high variability is related to poor...communication. Malerstein, A. J., Callaway, E. Two-tone average evoked response in Korsakoff patients. J. Psychiatr. Res. 6: 253-260, 1969. Marsh, G

  18. Multifocal Visual Evoked Potential in Eyes With Temporal Hemianopia From Chiasmal Compression: Correlation With Standard Automated Perimetry and OCT Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sousa, Rafael M; Oyamada, Maria K; Cunha, Leonardo P; Monteiro, Mário L R

    2017-09-01

    To verify whether multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) can differentiate eyes with temporal hemianopia due to chiasmal compression from healthy controls. To assess the relationship between mfVEP, standard automated perimetry (SAP), and Fourier domain-optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements. Twenty-seven eyes with permanent temporal visual field (VF) defects from chiasmal compression on SAP and 43 eyes of healthy controls were submitted to mfVEP and FD-OCT scanning. Multifocal visual evoked potential was elicited using a stimulus pattern of 60 sectors and the responses were averaged for the four quadrants and two hemifields. Optical coherence tomography macular measurements were averaged in quadrants and halves, while peripapillary RNFL thickness was averaged in four sectors around the disc. Visual field loss was estimated in four quadrants and each half of the 24-2 strategy test points. Multifocal visual evoked potential measurements in the two groups were compared using generalized estimated equations, and the correlations between mfVEP, VF, and OCT findings were quantified. Multifocal visual evoked potential-measured temporal P1 and N2 amplitudes were significantly smaller in patients than in controls. No significant difference in amplitude was observed for nasal parameters. A significant correlation was found between mfVEP amplitudes and temporal VF loss, and between mfVEP amplitudes and the corresponding OCT-measured macular and RNFL thickness parameters. Multifocal visual evoked potential amplitude parameters were able to differentiate eyes with temporal hemianopia from controls and were significantly correlated with VF and OCT findings, suggesting mfVEP is a useful tool for the detection of visual abnormalities in patients with chiasmal compression.

  19. New composite index based on midlatency auditory evoked potential and electroencephalographic parameters to optimize correlation with propofol effect site concentration - Comparison with bispectral index and solitary used fast extracting auditory evoked potential index

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vereecke, HEM; Vasquez, PM; Jensen, EW; Thas, O; Vandenbroecke, R; Mortier, EP; Struys, MMRF

    Background: This study investigates the accuracy of a composite index, the A-Line (R) auditory evoked potentials index version 1.6 (AAI(1.6); Danmeter A/S, Odense, Denmark), as a measure of cerebral anesthetic drug effect in a model for predicting a calculated effect site concentration of propofol

  20. The effectiveness of FES-evoked EMG potentials to assess muscle force and fatigue in individuals with spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibitoye, Morufu Olusola; Estigoni, Eduardo H; Hamzaid, Nur Azah; Wahab, Ahmad Khairi Abdul; Davis, Glen M

    2014-07-14

    The evoked electromyographic signal (eEMG) potential is the standard index used to monitor both electrical changes within the motor unit during muscular activity and the electrical patterns during evoked contraction. However, technical and physiological limitations often preclude the acquisition and analysis of the signal especially during functional electrical stimulation (FES)-evoked contractions. Hence, an accurate quantification of the relationship between the eEMG potential and FES-evoked muscle response remains elusive and continues to attract the attention of researchers due to its potential application in the fields of biomechanics, muscle physiology, and rehabilitation science. We conducted a systematic review to examine the effectiveness of eEMG potentials to assess muscle force and fatigue, particularly as a biofeedback descriptor of FES-evoked contractions in individuals with spinal cord injury. At the outset, 2867 citations were identified and, finally, fifty-nine trials met the inclusion criteria. Four hypotheses were proposed and evaluated to inform this review. The results showed that eEMG is effective at quantifying muscle force and fatigue during isometric contraction, but may not be effective during dynamic contractions including cycling and stepping. Positive correlation of up to r = 0.90 (p peak-to-peak amplitude of the eEMG and the decline in the force output during fatiguing isometric contractions has been reported. In the available prediction models, the performance index of the eEMG signal to estimate the generated muscle force ranged from 3.8% to 34% for 18 s to 70 s ahead of the actual muscle force generation. The strength and inherent limitations of the eEMG signal to assess muscle force and fatigue were evident from our findings with implications in clinical management of spinal cord injury (SCI) population.

  1. The Effectiveness of FES-Evoked EMG Potentials to Assess Muscle Force and Fatigue in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morufu Olusola Ibitoye

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The evoked electromyographic signal (eEMG potential is the standard index used to monitor both electrical changes within the motor unit during muscular activity and the electrical patterns during evoked contraction. However, technical and physiological limitations often preclude the acquisition and analysis of the signal especially during functional electrical stimulation (FES-evoked contractions. Hence, an accurate quantification of the relationship between the eEMG potential and FES-evoked muscle response remains elusive and continues to attract the attention of researchers due to its potential application in the fields of biomechanics, muscle physiology, and rehabilitation science. We conducted a systematic review to examine the effectiveness of eEMG potentials to assess muscle force and fatigue, particularly as a biofeedback descriptor of FES-evoked contractions in individuals with spinal cord injury. At the outset, 2867 citations were identified and, finally, fifty-nine trials met the inclusion criteria. Four hypotheses were proposed and evaluated to inform this review. The results showed that eEMG is effective at quantifying muscle force and fatigue during isometric contraction, but may not be effective during dynamic contractions including cycling and stepping. Positive correlation of up to r = 0.90 (p < 0.05 between the decline in the peak-to-peak amplitude of the eEMG and the decline in the force output during fatiguing isometric contractions has been reported. In the available prediction models, the performance index of the eEMG signal to estimate the generated muscle force ranged from 3.8% to 34% for 18 s to 70 s ahead of the actual muscle force generation. The strength and inherent limitations of the eEMG signal to assess muscle force and fatigue were evident from our findings with implications in clinical management of spinal cord injury (SCI population.

  2. Sugammadex to reverse neuromuscular blockade and provide optimal conditions for motor-evoked potential monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Trifa

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sugammadex is a novel pharmacologic agent, which reverses neuromuscular blockade (NMB via a mechanism that differs completely from acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. By encapsulating rocuronium, sugammadex can provide recovery of neuromuscular function even when there is a profound degree of NMB. We report anecdotal experience with the use of sugammadex to reverse NMB to facilitate intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (motor evoked potentials in an adolescent with scoliosis during posterior spinal fusion. Its potential application in this unique clinical scenario is discussed, and potential dosing schemes are reviewed.

  3. [Recognition of the spatially transformed objects in men and women: an analysis of the behavior and evoked potentials].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slavutskaia, A V; Gerasimenko, N Iu; Mikhaĭlova, E S

    2012-01-01

    In 16 men and 15 women analyzed the accuracy, reaction time and visual evoked potentials during the recognition of familiar objects at different levels of spatial transformation. We used the three levels of transformation: in a fixed position relative to each other details were carried out (1) the displacement of all the details in the radial direction and (2 and 3) a similar shift in conjunction with the rotation of all the details of the figure by +/- 0-45 and +/- 45-90 degrees. The task performance was not dependent on gender: the transformation of the image led to a deterioration of identification with the most identification impairment in the case of maximal details' rotation. Changes in evoked potentials (ERP) are different for men and women. Only in men early (100 ms after stimulus) response of the parietal cortex associated with the level of figure transformation: the more rotation evoked the higher the response. In women figure transformation evoked the ERP changes in the time window of negativity N170, they are associated with figure ungrouping but not with details rotation, and are localized in other visual areas--occipital and temporal. The data obtained are discussed in light of theory of gender specificity of the visual representations of space.

  4. Muscle potentials evoked by magnetic stimulation of the sciatic nerve in unilateral sciatic nerve dysfunction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Soens, I.; Struys, M. M. R. F.; Van Ham, L. M. L.

    Magnetic stimulation of the sciatic nerve and subsequent recording of the muscle-evoked potential (MEP) was performed in eight dogs and three cats with unilateral sciatic nerve dysfunction. Localisation of the lesion in the sciatic nerve was based on the history, clinical neurological examination

  5. HTLV-I associated myelopathy with multiple spotty areas in cerebral white matter and brain stem by MRI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hara, Yasuo; Takahashi, Mitsuo; Yoshikawa, Hiroo; Yorifuji, Shirou; Tarui, Seiichiro

    1988-01-01

    A 48-year-old woman was admitted with complaints of urinary incontinence and gait disturbance, both of which had progressed slowly without any sign of remission. Family history was not contributory. Neurologically, extreme spasticity was recoginized in the lower limbs. Babinski sign was positive bilaterally. Flower-like atypical lymphocytes were seen in blood. Positive anti-HTLV-I antibody was confirmed in serum and spinal fluid by western blot. She was diagnosed as having HTLV-I associated myelopathy (HAM). CT reveald calcification in bilateral globus pallidus, and MRI revealed multiple spotty areas in cerebral white matter and brain stem, but no spinal cord lesion was detectable. Electrophysiologically, brain stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) suggested the presence of bilateral brain stem lesions. Neither median nor posterior tibial nerve somatosensory evoked potentials were evoked, a finding suggesting the existence of spinal cord lesion. In this case, the lesion was not confined to spinal cord, it was also observed in brain stem and cerebral white matter. Such distinct lesions in cerebral white matter and brain stem have not been reported in patients with HAM. It is suggested that HTLV-I is probably associated with cerebral white matter and brain stem.

  6. Correlation of pattern reversal visual evoked potential parameters with the pattern standard deviation in primary open angle glaucoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kothari, Ruchi; Bokariya, Pradeep; Singh, Ramji; Singh, Smita; Narang, Purvasha

    2014-01-01

    To evaluate whether glaucomatous visual field defect particularly the pattern standard deviation (PSD) of Humphrey visual field could be associated with visual evoked potential (VEP) parameters of patients having primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Visual field by Humphrey perimetry and simultaneous recordings of pattern reversal visual evoked potential (PRVEP) were assessed in 100 patients with POAG. The stimulus configuration for VEP recordings consisted of the transient pattern reversal method in which a black and white checker board pattern was generated (full field) and displayed on VEP monitor (colour 14″) by an electronic pattern regenerator inbuilt in an evoked potential recorder (RMS EMG EP MARK II). The results of our study indicate that there is a highly significant (P<0.001) negative correlation of P100 amplitude and a statistically significant (P<0.05) positive correlation of N70 latency, P100 latency and N155 latency with the PSD of Humphrey visual field in the subjects of POAG in various age groups as evaluated by Student's t-test. Prolongation of VEP latencies were mirrored by a corresponding increase of PSD values. Conversely, as PSD increases the magnitude of VEP excursions were found to be diminished.

  7. Otolithic disease: clinical features and the role of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curthoys, Ian S; Manzari, Leonardo

    2013-07-01

    Through selective tests of the function of the canal and otolith sense organs, it is possible to assert that patient conditions are purely otolithic and that the canals are not involved. The video head impulse test selectively tests each semicircular canal; the ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential to 500 Hz Fz (Fz is the location on the forehead in the midline at the hairline) bone-conducted vibration (BCV) selectively tests the utricular macula and the cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential to 500 Hz Fz BCV selectively tests the saccular macula. The development of new specific tests of otolith function has shown that some patients may have specific deficits of just otolithic function. In the authors' experience, patients who complain strongly of postural unsteadiness should be suspected to have otolithic deficits. They may also have vertigo and in some cases have spontaneous nystagmus of peripheral origin, even though their semicircular canal function is normal. The prognosis for such patients is good. They usually appear to regain their postural stability spontaneously over weeks (or longer), even though they still have an otolithic deficit as shown by objective tests when they are free of symptoms. It is not known what procedures may accelerate the recovery of otolith function. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  8. Deep-brain electrical microstimulation is an effective tool to explore functional characteristics of somatosensory neurons in the rat brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han-Jia Jiang

    Full Text Available In neurophysiology researches, peripheral stimulation is used along with recordings of neural activities to study the processing of somatosensory signals in the brain. However, limited precision of peripheral stimulation makes it difficult to activate the neuron with millisecond resolution and study its functional properties in this scale. Also, tissue/receptor damage that could occur in some experiments often limits the amount of responses that can be recorded and hence reduces data reproducibility. To overcome these limitations, electrical microstimulation (ES of the brain could be used to directly and more precisely evoke neural responses. For this purpose, a deep-brain ES protocol for rat somatosensory relay neurons was developed in this study. Three male Wistar rats were used in the experiment. The ES was applied to the thalamic region responsive to hindpaw tactile stimulation (TS via a theta glass microelectrode. The resulting ES-evoked cortical responses showed action potentials and thalamocortical relay latencies very similar to those evoked by TS. This result shows that the developed deep-brain ES protocol is an effective tool to bypass peripheral tissue for in vivo functional analysis of specific types of somatosensory neurons. This protocol could be readily applied in researches of nociception and other somatosensory systems to allow more extensive exploration of the neural functional networks.

  9. Proprioceptive evoked potentials in man: cerebral responses to changing weight loads on the hand

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnfred, S; He, Chen; Eder, D

    2000-01-01

    We studied cerebral evoked potentials on the scalp to the stimulation of the right hand from a change in weight of 400-480 g in ten subjects. Rise-time was 20g/10 ms, Inter Stimulus Interval 2s and stimulus duration was 100 ms. The cerebral activations were a double positive contralateral C3'/P70...

  10. D3.1 BRAIN - Initial prototype of advanced SSVEP signal processing tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihajlovic, V.; Garcia Molina, G.

    2009-01-01

    This document describes the High Frequency (HF) Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) developed at Philips Research Europe (PRE). The interface is based on the fact that the oscillatory visual stimuli can elicit oscillatory brain activity at the same

  11. Decoding the auditory brain with canonical component analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    de Cheveigné, Alain; Wong, Daniel D E; Di Liberto, Giovanni M

    2018-01-01

    The relation between a stimulus and the evoked brain response can shed light on perceptual processes within the brain. Signals derived from this relation can also be harnessed to control external devices for Brain Computer Interface (BCI) applications. While the classic event-related potential (ERP...... higher classification scores. CCA strips the brain response of variance unrelated to the stimulus, and the stimulus representation of variance that does not affect the response, and thus improves observations of the relation between stimulus and response....

  12. Memory, Cognition and the Endogenous Evoked Potentials of the Brain: the Estimation of the Disturbance of Cognitive Functions and Capacity of Working Memory Without the Psychological Testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gnezditskiy, V V; Korepina, O S; Chatskaya, A V; Klochkova, O I

    2017-01-01

    Cognition, cognitive and memory impairments is widely discussed in the literature, especially in the psycho physiological and the neurologic. In essence, this literature is dedicated to the psycho physiological tests, different scales. However, instrument neurophysiologic methods not so widely are used for these purposes. This review is dedicated to the instrument methods of neurophysiology, in particular to the endogenous evoked potentials method Р 300 (by characteristic latency 300 ms), in the estimation of cognitive functions and memory, to their special features dependent on age and to special features to their changes with the pathology. Method cognitive EP - Р 300 is the response of the brain, recorded under the conditions of the identification of the significant distinguishing stimulus, it facilitates the inspection of cognitive functions and memory in the healthy persons and patients with different manifestation of cognitive impairments. In the review it is shown on the basis of literature and our own data, that working (operative) memory and the capacity of the working memory it can be evaluated with the aid of the indices Р 300 within the normal subject and with the pathology. Testing with the estimation of working memory according to latent period of the peak Р 300 can be carried out and when conducting psychological testing is not possible for any reasons. Together with these cognitive EP are used for evidence pharmacotherapy of many neurotropic drugs.

  13. Visual Evoked Potential and Magnetic Resonance Imaging are More Effective Markers of Multiple Sclerosis Progression than Laser Polarimetry with Variable Corneal Compensation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kantorová, Ema; Ziak, Peter; Kurča, Egon; Koyšová, Mária; Hladká, Mária; Zeleňák, Kamil; Michalik, Jozef

    2014-01-01

    The aim of our study was to assess the role of laser polarimetry and visual evoked potentials (VEP) as potential biomarkers of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). A total of 41 patients with MS (82 eyes) and 22 age-related healthy volunteers (44 eyes) completed the study. MS patients were divided into two groups, one (ON) with a history of optic neuritis (17 patients, 34 eyes) and another group (NON) without it (24 patients, 48 eyes). The MS patients and controls underwent laser polarimetry (GDx) examination of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL). In the MS group, we also examined: Kurtzke "expanded disability status scale" (EDSS), the duration of the disorder, VEP - latency and amplitude, and conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our results were statistically analyzed using ANOVA, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman correlation analyses. In the MS group, brain atrophy and new T2 brain lesions in MRI correlated with both VEP latencies and amplitudes. Separate comparisons revealed VEP latency testing to be less sensitive in ON than in NON-patients. In ON patients, VEP amplitudes correlated mildly with brain atrophy (r = -0.15) and strongly with brain new MRI lesions (r = -0.8). In NON-patients, highly significant correlation of new MRI brain lesions with VEP latencies (r = 0.63, r = 0.6) and amplitudes (r = -0.3, r = -4.2) was found. EDSS also correlated with brain atrophy in this group (r = 0.5). Our study did not find a correlation of GDx measures with MRI tests. The GDx method was not able to detect whole brain demyelinization and the degeneration process, but was only able to reveal the involvement of optic nerves in ON and NON-patients. In our study, we found that both methods (VEP and GDx) can be used for the detection of optic nerve damage, but VEP was found to be superior in evaluating whole brain demyelinization and axonal degeneration. Both VEP and MRI, but not GDx, have an important role in monitoring

  14. Visual evoked potentials in neuromyelitis optica and its spectrum disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ringelstein, Marius; Kleiter, Ingo; Ayzenberg, Ilya; Borisow, Nadja; Paul, Friedemann; Ruprecht, Klemens; Kraemer, Markus; Cohn, Eva; Wildemann, Brigitte; Jarius, Sven; Hartung, Hans-Peter; Aktas, Orhan; Albrecht, Philipp

    2014-04-01

    Optic neuritis (ON) is a key feature of neuromyelitis optica (NMO). Recently, NMO patients of predominantly Afro-Brazilian origin were evaluated by visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and showed marked amplitude reductions. Here, we analyzed VEPs in a predominantly Caucasian cohort, consisting of 43 patients with definite NMO, 18 with anti-aquaporin (AQP) 4 antibody-seropositive NMO spectrum disorders and 61 matched healthy controls. We found reduced amplitudes in only 12.3%, prolonged latencies in 41.9% and a lack of response in 14.0% of NMO eyes. Delayed P100 latencies in eyes without prior ON suggested this was a subclinical affection. The data indicate heterogenous patterns in NMO, warranting further investigation.

  15. Analysis of relationship among visual evoked potential, oscillatory potential and visual acuity under stimulated weightlessness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Zhao

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To observe the influence of head-down tilt simulated weightlessness on visual evoked potential(VEP, oscillatory potentials(OPsand visual acuity, and analyse the relationship among them. METHODS: Head-down tilt for -6° was adopted in 14 healthy volunteers. Distant visual acuity, near visual acuity, VEP and OPs were recorded before, two days and five days after trial. The record procedure of OPs followed the ISCEV standard for full-field clinical electroretinography(2008 update. RESULTS: Significant differences were detected in the amplitude of P100 waves and ∑OPs among various time points(P<0.05. But no relationship was observed among VEP, OPs and visual acuity. CONCLUSION: Head-down tilt simulated weightlessness induce the rearrange of blood of the whole body including eyes, which can make the change of visual electrophysiology but not visual acuity.

  16. Lifting the veil on the dynamics of neuronal activities evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bingshuo; Virtanen, Juha P; Oeltermann, Axel; Schwarz, Cornelius; Giese, Martin A; Ziemann, Ulf; Benali, Alia

    2017-11-22

    Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used non-invasive tool to study and modulate human brain functions. However, TMS-evoked activity of individual neurons has remained largely inaccessible due to the large TMS-induced electromagnetic fields. Here, we present a general method providing direct in vivo electrophysiological access to TMS-evoked neuronal activity 0.8-1 ms after TMS onset. We translated human single-pulse TMS to rodents and unveiled time-grained evoked activities of motor cortex layer V neurons that show high-frequency spiking within the first 6 ms depending on TMS-induced current orientation and a multiphasic spike-rhythm alternating between excitation and inhibition in the 6-300 ms epoch, all of which can be linked to various human TMS responses recorded at the level of spinal cord and muscles. The advance here facilitates a new level of insight into the TMS-brain interaction that is vital for developing this non-invasive tool to purposefully explore and effectively treat the human brain.

  17. Detecting number processing and mental calculation in patients with disorders of consciousness using a hybrid brain-computer interface system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuanqing; Pan, Jiahui; He, Yanbin; Wang, Fei; Laureys, Steven; Xie, Qiuyou; Yu, Ronghao

    2015-12-15

    For patients with disorders of consciousness such as coma, a vegetative state or a minimally conscious state, one challenge is to detect and assess the residual cognitive functions in their brains. Number processing and mental calculation are important brain functions but are difficult to detect in patients with disorders of consciousness using motor response-based clinical assessment scales such as the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised due to the patients' motor impairments and inability to provide sufficient motor responses for number- and calculation-based communication. In this study, we presented a hybrid brain-computer interface that combines P300 and steady state visual evoked potentials to detect number processing and mental calculation in Han Chinese patients with disorders of consciousness. Eleven patients with disorders of consciousness who were in a vegetative state (n = 6) or in a minimally conscious state (n = 3) or who emerged from a minimally conscious state (n = 2) participated in the brain-computer interface-based experiment. During the experiment, the patients with disorders of consciousness were instructed to perform three tasks, i.e., number recognition, number comparison, and mental calculation, including addition and subtraction. In each experimental trial, an arithmetic problem was first presented. Next, two number buttons, only one of which was the correct answer to the problem, flickered at different frequencies to evoke steady state visual evoked potentials, while the frames of the two buttons flashed in a random order to evoke P300 potentials. The patients needed to focus on the target number button (the correct answer). Finally, the brain-computer interface system detected P300 and steady state visual evoked potentials to determine the button to which the patients attended, further presenting the results as feedback. Two of the six patients who were in a vegetative state, one of the three patients who were in a minimally conscious state, and

  18. Correlation of pattern reversal visual evoked potential parameters with the pattern standard deviation in primary open angle glaucoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruchi Kothari

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available AIM:To evaluate whether glaucomatous visual field defect particularly the pattern standard deviation (PSD of Humphrey visual field could be associated with visual evoked potential (VEP parameters of patients having primary open angle glaucoma (POAG.METHODS:Visual field by Humphrey perimetry and simultaneous recordings of pattern reversal visual evoked potential (PRVEP were assessed in 100 patients with POAG. The stimulus configuration for VEP recordings consisted of the transient pattern reversal method in which a black and white checker board pattern was generated (full field and displayed on VEP monitor (colour 14” by an electronic pattern regenerator inbuilt in an evoked potential recorder (RMS EMG EP MARK II.RESULTS:The results of our study indicate that there is a highly significant (P<0.001 negative correlation of P100 amplitude and a statistically significant (P<0.05 positive correlation of N70 latency, P100 latency and N155 latency with the PSD of Humphrey visual field in the subjects of POAG in various age groups as evaluated by Student’s t-test.CONCLUSION:Prolongation of VEP latencies were mirrored by a corresponding increase of PSD values. Conversely, as PSD increases the magnitude of VEP excursions were found to be diminished.

  19. Online adaptation of a c-VEP Brain-computer Interface(BCI) based on error-related potentials and unsupervised learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spüler, Martin; Rosenstiel, Wolfgang; Bogdan, Martin

    2012-01-01

    The goal of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is to control a computer by pure brain activity. Recently, BCIs based on code-modulated visual evoked potentials (c-VEPs) have shown great potential to establish high-performance communication. In this paper we present a c-VEP BCI that uses online adaptation of the classifier to reduce calibration time and increase performance. We compare two different approaches for online adaptation of the system: an unsupervised method and a method that uses the detection of error-related potentials. Both approaches were tested in an online study, in which an average accuracy of 96% was achieved with adaptation based on error-related potentials. This accuracy corresponds to an average information transfer rate of 144 bit/min, which is the highest bitrate reported so far for a non-invasive BCI. In a free-spelling mode, the subjects were able to write with an average of 21.3 error-free letters per minute, which shows the feasibility of the BCI system in a normal-use scenario. In addition we show that a calibration of the BCI system solely based on the detection of error-related potentials is possible, without knowing the true class labels.

  20. The impact of verbal framing on brain activity evoked by emotional images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kisley, Michael A; Campbell, Alana M; Larson, Jenna M; Naftz, Andrea E; Regnier, Jesse T; Davalos, Deana B

    2011-12-01

    Emotional stimuli generally command more brain processing resources than non-emotional stimuli, but the magnitude of this effect is subject to voluntary control. Cognitive reappraisal represents one type of emotion regulation that can be voluntarily employed to modulate responses to emotional stimuli. Here, the late positive potential (LPP), a specific event-related brain potential (ERP) component, was measured in response to neutral, positive and negative images while participants performed an evaluative categorization task. One experimental group adopted a "negative frame" in which images were categorized as negative or not. The other adopted a "positive frame" in which the exact same images were categorized as positive or not. Behavioral performance confirmed compliance with random group assignment, and peak LPP amplitude to negative images was affected by group membership: brain responses to negative images were significantly reduced in the "positive frame" group. This suggests that adopting a more positive appraisal frame can modulate brain activity elicited by negative stimuli in the environment.

  1. Extracting visual evoked potentials from EEG data recorded during fMRI-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeh, Boaz; Yovel, Galit

    2014-05-12

    Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an effective method for establishing a causal link between a cortical area and cognitive/neurophysiological effects. Specifically, by creating a transient interference with the normal activity of a target region and measuring changes in an electrophysiological signal, we can establish a causal link between the stimulated brain area or network and the electrophysiological signal that we record. If target brain areas are functionally defined with prior fMRI scan, TMS could be used to link the fMRI activations with evoked potentials recorded. However, conducting such experiments presents significant technical challenges given the high amplitude artifacts introduced into the EEG signal by the magnetic pulse, and the difficulty to successfully target areas that were functionally defined by fMRI. Here we describe a methodology for combining these three common tools: TMS, EEG, and fMRI. We explain how to guide the stimulator's coil to the desired target area using anatomical or functional MRI data, how to record EEG during concurrent TMS, how to design an ERP study suitable for EEG-TMS combination and how to extract reliable ERP from the recorded data. We will provide representative results from a previously published study, in which fMRI-guided TMS was used concurrently with EEG to show that the face-selective N1 and the body-selective N1 component of the ERP are associated with distinct neural networks in extrastriate cortex. This method allows us to combine the high spatial resolution of fMRI with the high temporal resolution of TMS and EEG and therefore obtain a comprehensive understanding of the neural basis of various cognitive processes.

  2. Extracting Visual Evoked Potentials from EEG Data Recorded During fMRI-guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadeh, Boaz; Yovel, Galit

    2014-01-01

    Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an effective method for establishing a causal link between a cortical area and cognitive/neurophysiological effects. Specifically, by creating a transient interference with the normal activity of a target region and measuring changes in an electrophysiological signal, we can establish a causal link between the stimulated brain area or network and the electrophysiological signal that we record. If target brain areas are functionally defined with prior fMRI scan, TMS could be used to link the fMRI activations with evoked potentials recorded. However, conducting such experiments presents significant technical challenges given the high amplitude artifacts introduced into the EEG signal by the magnetic pulse, and the difficulty to successfully target areas that were functionally defined by fMRI. Here we describe a methodology for combining these three common tools: TMS, EEG, and fMRI. We explain how to guide the stimulator's coil to the desired target area using anatomical or functional MRI data, how to record EEG during concurrent TMS, how to design an ERP study suitable for EEG-TMS combination and how to extract reliable ERP from the recorded data. We will provide representative results from a previously published study, in which fMRI-guided TMS was used concurrently with EEG to show that the face-selective N1 and the body-selective N1 component of the ERP are associated with distinct neural networks in extrastriate cortex. This method allows us to combine the high spatial resolution of fMRI with the high temporal resolution of TMS and EEG and therefore obtain a comprehensive understanding of the neural basis of various cognitive processes. PMID:24893706

  3. Visual Evoked Response in Children Subjected to Prenatal Maternal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    neural conduction, or arousal level. S. Afr. Med. J., 48 ... pression treatment in either development or IQ, whether ... children in brain function at an electrophysiological level, ..... Perry, N. W. and Childers, D. G. (1969): The Human Visual Evoked.

  4. Maturation of long latency auditory evoked potentials in hearing children: systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Liliane Aparecida Fagundes; Magliaro, Fernanda Cristina Leite; Carvalho, Ana Claudia Martinho de; Matas, Carla Gentile

    2017-05-15

    To analyze how Auditory Long Latency Evoked Potentials (LLAEP) change according to age in children population through a systematic literature review. After formulation of the research question, a bibliographic survey was done in five data bases with the following descriptors: Electrophysiology (Eletrofisiologia), Auditory Evoked Potentials (Potenciais Evocados Auditivos), Child (Criança), Neuronal Plasticity (Plasticidade Neuronal) and Audiology (Audiologia). Level 1 evidence articles, published between 1995 and 2015 in Brazilian Portuguese or English language. Aspects related to emergence, morphology and latency of P1, N1, P2 and N2 components were analyzed. A total of 388 studies were found; however, only 21 studies contemplated the established criteria. P1 component is characterized as the most frequent component in young children, being observed around 100-150 ms, which tends to decrease as chronological age increases. The N2 component was shown to be the second most commonly observed component in children, being observed around 200-250 ms.. The other N1 and P2 components are less frequent and begin to be seen and recorded throughout the maturational process. The maturation of LLAEP occurs gradually, and the emergence of P1, N1, P2 and N2 components as well as their latency values are variable in childhood. P1 and N2 components are the most observed and described in pediatric population. The diversity of protocols makes the comparison between studies difficult.

  5. Attention to affective pictures in closed head injury: event-related brain potentials and cardiac responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solbakk, Anne-Kristin; Reinvang, Ivar; Svebak, Sven; Nielsen, Christopher S; Sundet, Kjetil

    2005-02-01

    We examined whether closed head injury patients show altered patterns of selective attention to stimulus categories that naturally evoke differential responses in healthy people. Self-reported rating and electrophysiological (event-related potentials [ERPs], heart rate [HR]) responses to affective pictures were studied in patients with mild head injury (n = 20; CT/MRI negative), in patients with predominantly frontal brain lesions (n = 12; CT/MRI confirmed), and in healthy controls (n = 20). Affective valence similarly modulated HR and ERP responses in all groups, but group differences occurred that were independent of picture valence. The attenuation of P3-slow wave amplitudes in the mild head injury group indicates a reduction in the engagement of attentional resources to the task. In contrast, the general enhancement of ERP amplitudes at occipital sites in the group with primarily frontal brain injury may reflect disinhibition of input at sensory receptive areas, possibly due to a deficit in top-down modulation performed by anterior control systems.

  6. Deconvolution of the vestibular evoked myogenic potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lütkenhöner, Bernd; Basel, Türker

    2012-02-07

    The vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) and the associated variance modulation can be understood by a convolution model. Two functions of time are incorporated into the model: the motor unit action potential (MUAP) of an average motor unit, and the temporal modulation of the MUAP rate of all contributing motor units, briefly called rate modulation. The latter is the function of interest, whereas the MUAP acts as a filter that distorts the information contained in the measured data. Here, it is shown how to recover the rate modulation by undoing the filtering using a deconvolution approach. The key aspects of our deconvolution algorithm are as follows: (1) the rate modulation is described in terms of just a few parameters; (2) the MUAP is calculated by Wiener deconvolution of the VEMP with the rate modulation; (3) the model parameters are optimized using a figure-of-merit function where the most important term quantifies the difference between measured and model-predicted variance modulation. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated with simulated data. An analysis of real data confirms the view that there are basically two components, which roughly correspond to the waves p13-n23 and n34-p44 of the VEMP. The rate modulation corresponding to the first, inhibitory component is much stronger than that corresponding to the second, excitatory component. But the latter is more extended so that the two modulations have almost the same equivalent rectangular duration. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Brain–Immune Interaction Accompanying Odor-Evoked Autobiographic Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsunaga, Masahiro; Bai, Yu; Yamakawa, Kaori; Toyama, Asako; Kashiwagi, Mitsuyoshi; Fukuda, Kazuyuki; Oshida, Akiko; Sanada, Kazue; Fukuyama, Seisuke; Shinoda, Jun; Yamada, Jitsuhiro; Sadato, Norihiro; Ohira, Hideki

    2013-01-01

    The phenomenon in which a certain smell evokes a specific memory is known as the Proust phenomenon. Odor-evoked autobiographic memories are more emotional than those elicited by other sensory stimuli. The results of our previous study indicated that odor-evoked autobiographic memory accompanied by positive emotions has remarkable effects on various psychological and physiological activities, including the secretion of cytokines, which are immune-signaling molecules that modulate systemic inflammation. In this study, we aimed to clarify the neural substrates associated with the interaction between odor-evoked autobiographic memory and peripheral circulating cytokines. We recruited healthy male and female volunteers and investigated the association between brain responses and the concentration of several cytokines in the plasma by using positron emission tomography (PET) recordings when an autographic memory was evoked in participants by asking them to smell an odor that was nostalgic to them. Participants experienced positive emotions and autobiographic memories when nostalgic odors were presented to them. The levels of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines, such as the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ), were significantly reduced after experiencing odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Subtraction analysis of PET images indicated that the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were significantly activated during experiences of odor-evoked autobiographic memory. Furthermore, a correlation analysis indicated that activities of the mOFC and precuneus/PCC were negatively correlated with IFN-γ concentration. These results indicate that the neural networks including the precuneus/PCC and mOFC might regulate the secretion of peripheral proinflammatory cytokines during the experience of odor-evoked autobiographic memories accompanied with positive emotions. PMID:23977312

  8. Auditory evoked field measurement using magneto-impedance sensors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, K., E-mail: o-kabou@echo.nuee.nagoya-u.ac.jp; Tajima, S.; Song, D.; Uchiyama, T. [Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya (Japan); Hamada, N.; Cai, C. [Aichi Steel Corporation, Tokai (Japan)

    2015-05-07

    The magnetic field of the human brain is extremely weak, and it is mostly measured and monitored in the magnetoencephalography method using superconducting quantum interference devices. In this study, in order to measure the weak magnetic field of the brain, we constructed a Magneto-Impedance sensor (MI sensor) system that can cancel out the background noise without any magnetic shield. Based on our previous studies of brain wave measurements, we used two MI sensors in this system for monitoring both cerebral hemispheres. In this study, we recorded and compared the auditory evoked field signals of the subject, including the N100 (or N1) and the P300 (or P3) brain waves. The results suggest that the MI sensor can be applied to brain activity measurement.

  9. Objective measures of binaural masking level differences and comodulation masking release based on late auditory evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Epp, Bastian; Yasin, Ifat; Verhey, Jesko L.

    2013-01-01

    at a fixed physical intensity is varied by introducing auditory cues of (i) interaural target signal phase disparity and (ii) coherent masker level fluctuations in different frequency regions. In agreement with previous studies, psychoacoustical experiments showed that both stimulus manipulations result......The audibility of important sounds is often hampered due to the presence of other masking sounds. The present study investigates if a correlate of the audibility of a tone masked by noise is found in late auditory evoked potentials measured from human listeners. The audibility of the target sound...... in a masking release (i: binaural masking level difference; ii: comodulation masking release) compared to a condition where those cues are not present. Late auditory evoked potentials (N1, P2) were recorded for the stimuli at a constant masker level, but different signal levels within the same set of listeners...

  10. Combining task-evoked and spontaneous activity to improve pre-operative brain mapping with fMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Michael D.; Qian, Tianyi; Madsen, Joseph R.; Wang, Danhong; Li, Meiling; Ge, Manling; Zuo, Huan-cong; Groppe, David M.; Mehta, Ashesh D.; Hong, Bo; Liu, Hesheng

    2016-01-01

    Noninvasive localization of brain function is used to understand and treat neurological disease, exemplified by pre-operative fMRI mapping prior to neurosurgical intervention. The principal approach for generating these maps relies on brain responses evoked by a task and, despite known limitations, has dominated clinical practice for over 20 years. Recently, pre-operative fMRI mapping based on correlations in spontaneous brain activity has been demonstrated, however this approach has its own limitations and has not seen widespread clinical use. Here we show that spontaneous and task-based mapping can be performed together using the same pre-operative fMRI data, provide complimentary information relevant for functional localization, and can be combined to improve identification of eloquent motor cortex. Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of our approach are quantified through comparison with electrical cortical stimulation mapping in eight patients with intractable epilepsy. Broad applicability and reproducibility of our approach is demonstrated through prospective replication in an independent dataset of six patients from a different center. In both cohorts and every individual patient, we see a significant improvement in signal to noise and mapping accuracy independent of threshold, quantified using receiver operating characteristic curves. Collectively, our results suggest that modifying the processing of fMRI data to incorporate both task-based and spontaneous activity significantly improves functional localization in pre-operative patients. Because this method requires no additional scan time or modification to conventional pre-operative data acquisition protocols it could have widespread utility. PMID:26408860

  11. Assessing the Quality of Steady-state Visual-evoked Potentials for Moving Humans Using a Mobile Electroencephalogram Headset

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan-Pin eLin

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Recent advances in mobile electroencephalogram (EEG systems, featuring non-prep dry electrodes and wireless telemetry, have urged the needs of mobile brain-computer interfaces (BCIs for applications in our daily life. Since the brain may behave differently while people are actively situated in ecologically-valid environments versus highly-controlled laboratory environments, it remains unclear how well the current laboratory-oriented BCI demonstrations can be translated into operational BCIs for users with naturalistic movements. Understanding inherent links between natural human behaviors and brain activities is the key to ensuring the applicability and stability of mobile BCIs. This study aims to assess the quality of steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEPs, which is one of promising channels for functioning BCI systems, recorded using a mobile EEG system under challenging recording conditions, e.g., walking. To systemati-cally explore the effects of walking locomotion on the SSVEPs, this study instructed subjects to stand or walk on a treadmill running at speeds of 1, 2, and 3 mile (s per hour (MPH while con-currently perceiving visual flickers (11 and 12 Hz. Empirical results of this study showed that the SSVEP amplitude tended to deteriorate when subjects switched from standing to walking. Such SSVEP suppression could be attributed to the walking locomotion, leading to distinctly deteriorated SSVEP detectability from standing (84.87±13.55% to walking (1 MPH: 83.03±13.24%, 2 MPH: 79.47±13.53%, and 3 MPH: 75.26±17.89%. These findings not only demonstrated the applicability and limitations of SSVEPs recorded from freely behaving humans in realistic environments, but also provide useful methods and techniques for boosting the translation of the BCI technology from laboratory demonstrations to practical applications.

  12. [Evoked potentials N200/P300 disorders and clinical phenotype in Cuban families with paranoid schizophrenia: a family-based association study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerra López, Seidel; Martín Reyes, Migdyrai; Pedroso Rodríguez, María de Los Ángeles; Reyes Berazain, Adnelys; Mendoza Quiñones, Raúl; Bravo Collazo, Tania Martha; Días de Villarvilla, Thais; Machado Cano, María Julia; Bobés León, María Antonieta

    2015-04-01

    N200 and P300 event-related evoked potentials provide sensitive measurements of sensory and cognitive function and have been used to study information processing in patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected first-degree relatives. Reduced amplitude and increased latency of N200 and P300 potentials have been consistently reported in schizophrenia. Thus, event-related evoked potentials abnormalities are promising possible biological markers for genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. To assess the association of changes in latency, amplitude and topographic distribution of potentials N200 and P300 of patients with paranoid schizophrenia and their healthy first-degree relatives, in families with schizophrenia multiplex. We measured latency and amplitude of the N200 and P300 component of evoked potentials using an auditory odd-ball paradigm in 25 schizophrenic patients (probands) from 60 families multiply affected with paranoid schizophrenia, 23 of their non-schizophrenic first-degree relatives and 25 unrelated healthy controls, through a study of family association. Schizophrenic patients and their relatives showed significant latency prolongation and amplitude reduction of the N200 and P300 waves compared to controls. Left-temporal as compared to right-temporal N200 and P300 were significantly smaller in schizophrenic patients and their non-schizophrenic first-degree relatives than in controls. Our results suggest that event-related evoked potentials abnormalities may serve as markers of genetic vulnerability in schizophrenia. Confirming results of other researchers, this present study suggests that latency prolongation and amplitude reduction of the N200 and P300 waves and an altered topography at temporal sites may be a trait “marker” of paranoid schizophrenia.

  13. Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials in Bilateral Vestibulopathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sally M. Rosengren

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP is a chronic condition in which patients have a reduction or absence of vestibular function in both ears. BVP is characterized by bilateral reduction of horizontal canal responses; however, there is increasing evidence that otolith function can also be affected. Cervical and ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs/oVEMPs are relatively new tests of otolith function that can be used to test the saccule and utricle of both ears independently. Studies to date show that cVEMPs and oVEMPs are often small or absent in BVP but are in the normal range in a significant proportion of patients. The variability in otolith function is partly due to the heterogeneous nature of BVP but is also due to false negative and positive responses that occur because of the large range of normal VEMP amplitudes. Due to their variability, VEMPs are not part of the diagnosis of BVP; however, they are helpful complementary tests that can provide information about the extent of disease within the labyrinth. This article is a review of the use of VEMPs in BVP, summarizing the available data on VEMP abnormalities in patients and discussing the limitations of VEMPs in diagnosing bilateral loss of otolith function.

  14. Functional brain activity changes after four weeks supplementation with a multi-vitamin/mineral combination: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial exploring functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials during working memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David J White

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study explored the neurocognitive effects of four weeks daily supplementation with a multivitamin and mineral combination (MVM in healthy adults (aged 18-40 years. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, participants underwent assessments of brain activity using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI; n=32, 16 females and Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential recordings (SSVEP; n=39, 20 females during working memory and continuous performance tasks at baseline and following four weeks of active MVM treatment or placebo. There were several treatment-related effects suggestive of changes in functional brain activity associated with MVM administration. SSVEP data showed latency reductions across centro-parietal regions during the encoding period of a spatial working memory task following four weeks of active MVM treatment. Complementary results were observed with the fMRI data, in which a subset of those completing fMRI assessment after SSVEP assessment (n=16 demonstrated increased BOLD response during completion of the Rapid Visual Information Processing task (RVIP within regions of interest including bilateral parietal lobes. No treatment-related changes in fMRI data were observed in those who had not first undergone SSVEP assessment, suggesting these results may be most evident under conditions of fatigue. Performance on the working memory and continuous performance tasks did not significantly differ between treatment groups at follow-up. In addition, within the fatigued fMRI sample, increased RVIP BOLD response was correlated with the change in number of target detections as part of the RVIP task. This study provides preliminary evidence of changes in functional brain activity during working memory associated with four weeks of daily treatment with a multivitamin and mineral combination in healthy adults, using two distinct but complementary measures of functional brain activity.

  15. Identification of causal relations between haemodynamic variables, auditory evoked potentials and isoflurane by means of fuzzy logic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, E W; Nebot, A; Caminal, P

    1999-01-01

    The aim of this study was to identify a possible relationship between haemodynamic variables, auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and inspired fraction of isoflurane (ISOFl). Two different models (isoflurane and mean arterial pressure) were identified using the fuzzy inductive reasoning (FIR...

  16. Rivalry of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions: Dehydration attenuates olfactory disgust and its neural correlates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Lea; Friedrich, Hergen; Federspiel, Andrea; Jann, Kay; Morishima, Yosuke; Landis, Basile Nicolas; Wiest, Roland; Strik, Werner; Dierks, Thomas

    2015-07-01

    Neural correlates have been described for emotions evoked by states of homeostatic imbalance (e.g. thirst, hunger, and breathlessness) and for emotions induced by external sensory stimulation (such as fear and disgust). However, the neurobiological mechanisms of their interaction, when they are experienced simultaneously, are still unknown. We investigated the interaction on the neurobiological and the perceptional level using subjective ratings, serum parameters, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a situation of emotional rivalry, when both a homeostatic and a sensory-evoked emotion were experienced at the same time. Twenty highly dehydrated male subjects rated a disgusting odor as significantly less repulsive when they were thirsty. On the neurobiological level, we found that this reduction in subjective disgust during thirst was accompanied by a significantly reduced neural activity in the insular cortex, a brain area known to be considerably involved in processing of disgust. Furthermore, during the experience of disgust in the satiated condition, we observed a significant functional connectivity between brain areas responding to the disgusting odor, which was absent during the stimulation in the thirsty condition. These results suggest interference of conflicting emotions: an acute homeostatic imbalance can attenuate the experience of another emotion evoked by the sensory perception of a potentially harmful external agent. This finding offers novel insights with regard to the behavioral relevance of biologically different types of emotions, indicating that some types of emotions are more imperative for behavior than others. As a general principle, this modulatory effect during the conflict of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions may function to safeguard survival. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Lifting the veil on the dynamics of neuronal activities evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bingshuo; Virtanen, Juha P; Oeltermann, Axel; Schwarz, Cornelius; Giese, Martin A; Ziemann, Ulf

    2017-01-01

    Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used non-invasive tool to study and modulate human brain functions. However, TMS-evoked activity of individual neurons has remained largely inaccessible due to the large TMS-induced electromagnetic fields. Here, we present a general method providing direct in vivo electrophysiological access to TMS-evoked neuronal activity 0.8–1 ms after TMS onset. We translated human single-pulse TMS to rodents and unveiled time-grained evoked activities of motor cortex layer V neurons that show high-frequency spiking within the first 6 ms depending on TMS-induced current orientation and a multiphasic spike-rhythm alternating between excitation and inhibition in the 6–300 ms epoch, all of which can be linked to various human TMS responses recorded at the level of spinal cord and muscles. The advance here facilitates a new level of insight into the TMS-brain interaction that is vital for developing this non-invasive tool to purposefully explore and effectively treat the human brain. PMID:29165241

  18. Video outside versus video inside the web: do media setting and image size have an impact on the emotion-evoking potential of video?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verleur, R.; Verhagen, Pleunes Willem; Crawford, Margaret; Simonson, Michael; Lamboy, Carmen

    2001-01-01

    To explore the educational potential of video-evoked affective responses in a Web-based environment, the question was raised whether video in a Web-based environment is experienced differently from video in a traditional context. An experiment was conducted that studied the affect-evoking power of

  19. [Prospective study with auditory evoked potentials of the brain stem in children at risk].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro Rivero, B; González Díaz, E; Marrero Santos, L; Martínez Toledano, I; Murillo Díaz, M J; Valiño Colás, M J

    1999-04-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate methods of hypoacusis screening. The early detection of audition problems is vital for quick rehabilitation. For this reason, resting on the criteria of the Comisión Española para la Detección Precoz de la Hipoacusia (Spanish Commission for the Early Detection of Hypoacusis), we have carried out a prospective study, from January to May 1998, evaluating patients at risk of suffering from hypoacusis. The study included 151 patients with ages between birth and 14 years. Medical records and brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER) were carried out. The most common reason for requesting a consultation for the 151 patients included in our study was the suspicion of hypoacusis. Seventy-one (47%) presented pathological BAER, 37 of them were bilateral. In most cases the loss of audition was of cochlear origin, with 11 patients having a serious deafness, 4 with bilateral affection (3 suspicious of hypoacusis and 1 of hyperbilirubinemia) and 7 unilateral deafness. BAER is a good screening method for children at risk. It is an innocuous, objective and specific test that does not require the patient's collaboration. The level of positives is high (47%).

  20. Acute stress evokes sexually dimorphic, stressor-specific patterns of neural activation across multiple limbic brain regions in adult rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sood, Ankit; Chaudhari, Karina; Vaidya, Vidita A

    2018-03-01

    Stress enhances the risk for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Stress responses vary across sex and may underlie the heightened vulnerability to psychopathology in females. Here, we examined the influence of acute immobilization stress (AIS) and a two-day short-term forced swim stress (FS) on neural activation in multiple cortical and subcortical brain regions, implicated as targets of stress and in the regulation of neuroendocrine stress responses, in male and female rats using Fos as a neural activity marker. AIS evoked a sex-dependent pattern of neural activation within the cingulate and infralimbic subdivisions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), lateral septum (LS), habenula, and hippocampal subfields. The degree of neural activation in the mPFC, LS, and habenula was higher in males. Female rats exhibited reduced Fos positive cell numbers in the dentate gyrus hippocampal subfield, an effect not observed in males. We addressed whether the sexually dimorphic neural activation pattern noted following AIS was also observed with the short-term stress of FS. In the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the amygdala, FS similar to AIS resulted in robust increases in neural activation in both sexes. The pattern of neural activation evoked by FS was distinct across sexes, with a heightened neural activation noted in the prelimbic mPFC subdivision and hippocampal subfields in females and differed from the pattern noted with AIS. This indicates that the sex differences in neural activation patterns observed within stress-responsive brain regions are dependent on the nature of stressor experience.

  1. The impact of several craniotomies on transcranial motor evoked potential monitoring during neurosurgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomio, Ryosuke; Akiyama, Takenori; Toda, Masahiro; Ohira, Takayuki; Yoshida, Kazunari

    2017-09-01

    OBJECTIVE Transcranial motor evoked potential (tMEP) monitoring is popular in neurosurgery; however, the accuracy of tMEP can be impaired by craniotomy. Each craniotomy procedure and changes in the CSF levels affects the current spread. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of several craniotomies on tMEP monitoring by using C3-4 transcranial electrical stimulation (TES). METHODS The authors used the finite element method to visualize the electric field in the brain, which was generated by TES, using realistic 3D head models developed from T1-weighted MR images. Surfaces of 5 layers of the head (brain, CSF, skull, subcutaneous fat, and skin layer) were separated as accurately as possible. The authors created 5 models of the head, as follows: normal head; frontotemporal craniotomy; parietal craniotomy; temporal craniotomy; and occipital craniotomy. The computer simulation was investigated by finite element methods, and clinical recordings of the stimulation threshold level of upper-extremity tMEP (UE-tMEP) during neurosurgery were also studied in 30 patients to validate the simulation study. RESULTS Bone removal during the craniotomy positively affected the generation of the electric field in the motor cortex if the motor cortex was just under the bone at the margin of the craniotomy window. This finding from the authors' simulation study was consistent with clinical reports of frontotemporal craniotomy cases. A major decrease in CSF levels during an operation had a significantly negative impact on the electric field when the motor cortex was exposed to air. The CSF surface level during neurosurgery depends on the body position and location of the craniotomy. The parietal craniotomy and temporal craniotomy were susceptible to the effect of the changing CSF level, based on the simulation study. A marked increase in the threshold following a decrease in CSF was actually recorded in clinical reports of the UE-tMEP threshold from a temporal craniotomy

  2. Chromatic spatial contrast sensitivity estimated by visual evoked cortical potential and psychophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barboni, M.T.S.; Gomes, B.D.; Souza, G.S.; Rodrigues, A.R.; Ventura, D.F.; Silveira, L.C.L.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to measure contrast sensitivity to equiluminant gratings using steady-state visual evoked cortical potential (ssVECP) and psychophysics. Six healthy volunteers were evaluated with ssVECPs and psychophysics. The visual stimuli were red-green or blue-yellow horizontal sinusoidal gratings, 5° × 5°, 34.3 cd/m2 mean luminance, presented at 6 Hz. Eight spatial frequencies from 0.2 to 8 cpd were used, each presented at 8 contrast levels. Contrast threshold was obtained by extrapolating second harmonic amplitude values to zero. Psychophysical contrast thresholds were measured using stimuli at 6 Hz and static presentation. Contrast sensitivity was calculated as the inverse function of the pooled cone contrast threshold. ssVECP and both psychophysical contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs) were low-pass functions for red-green gratings. For electrophysiology, the highest contrast sensitivity values were found at 0.4 cpd (1.95 ± 0.15). ssVECP CSF was similar to dynamic psychophysical CSF, while static CSF had higher values ranging from 0.4 to 6 cpd (P chromatic functions showed no specific tuning shape; however, at high spatial frequencies the evoked potentials showed higher contrast sensitivity than the psychophysical methods (P chromatic red-green CSFs in agreement with psychophysical thresholds, mainly if the same temporal properties are applied to the stimulus. For blue-yellow CSF, correlation between electrophysiology and psychophysics was poor at high spatial frequency, possibly due to a greater effect of chromatic aberration on this kind of stimulus. PMID:23369980

  3. Bilateral somatosensory evoked potentials following intermittent theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Premji, Azra; Ziluk, Angela; Nelson, Aimee J

    2010-08-05

    Intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation that may alter cortical excitability in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). The present study investigated the effects of iTBS on subcortical and early cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) recorded over left, iTBS stimulated SI and the right-hemisphere non-stimulated SI. SEPs were recorded before and at 5, 15, and 25 minutes following iTBS. Compared to pre-iTBS, the amplitude of cortical potential N20/P25 was significantly increased for 5 minutes from non-stimulated SI and for 15 to 25 minutes from stimulated SI. Subcortical potentials recorded bilaterally remained unaltered following iTBS. We conclude that iTBS increases the cortical excitability of SI bilaterally and does not alter thalamocortical afferent input to SI. ITBS may provide one avenue to induce cortical plasticity in the somatosensory cortex.

  4. Vestibular myogenic and acoustical brainstem evoked potentials in neurological practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. S. Korepina

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Along with the inspection of acoustical cortex and brainstem EP in neurologic, otoneurologic and audiologic practice recently start to use so-called vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP. It is shown, that at ear stimulation by a loud sound and record of sterno-cleidomastoid contraction is possible to estimate function of the inferior vestibular nerve and vestibulospinal pathways, a sacculo-cervical reflex. In article some methodical and clinical questions of application of these kinds are presented. Combine research acoustic brainstem EP and VEMP allows to confirm effectively lesions of acoustical and vestibular ways at brainstem. The conclusion becomes, that this kind of inspection is important for revealing demielinisation and defeats in vestibulospinal tract, that quite often happens at MS, and at estimation of efficiency of treatment

  5. Transient attenuation of visual evoked potentials during focal status epilepticus in a patient with occipital lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Meng-Han; Hsu, Shih-Pin; Huang, Chi-Ren; Chang, Chen-Sheng; Chuang, Yao-Chung

    2010-06-01

    Seizures originating in the occipital areas are relatively uncommon. They are usually characterized by visual hallucinations and illusions or other symptoms related to the eyes and vision. In a 54-year-old woman with occipital lobe epilepsy, complex visual hallucinations, illusions, and migraine-like headache constitute the major clinical manifestations. During focal status epilepticus, ictal electroencephalography revealed rhythmic focal spikes in the right occipital region, rapidly propagating to the right parietal and contralateral occipital areas. Ictal brain single-photon emission computed topography revealed hyperperfusion of the right occipital region. Using a full-field pattern-shift visual evoked potential (VEP) study, we found that the P100 responses on both sides were markedly attenuated in amplitude during occipital focal status epilepticus, whereas the latencies of the VEPs were normal. The amplitude and morphology of P100 responses on both sides, however, returned to the normal range 7 days after cessation of the seizures. In addition to clinical seizure semiology, scalp EEG, SPECT and neuroimaging studies, VEP studies may be used as a supplementary examination tool to provide further information in the patients with occipital lobe seizures or epilepsies.

  6. A 3D Learning Playground for Potential Attention Training in ADHD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ali, Abdulla; Puthusserypady, Sadasivan

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a novel brain-computerinterface (BCI) system that could potentially be used for enhancing the attention ability of subjects with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It employs the steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm. The developed system consists...

  7. Acute Exposure to Perchlorethylene alters Rat Visual Evoked Potentials in Relation to Brain Concentration

    Science.gov (United States)

    These experiments sought to establish a dose-effect relationship between the concentration of perchloroethylene (PCE) in brain tissue and concurrent changes in visual function. A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was implemented to predict concentrations of PCE ...

  8. Comparison of auditory evoked potentials and the A-line ARX Index for monitoring the hypnotic level during sevoflurane and propofol induction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Litvan, H; Jensen, E W; Revuelta, M

    2002-01-01

    Extraction of the middle latency auditory evoked potentials (AEP) by an auto regressive model with exogenous input (ARX) enables extraction of the AEP within 1.7 s. In this way, the depth of hypnosis can be monitored at almost real-time. However, the identification and the interpretation of the a......Extraction of the middle latency auditory evoked potentials (AEP) by an auto regressive model with exogenous input (ARX) enables extraction of the AEP within 1.7 s. In this way, the depth of hypnosis can be monitored at almost real-time. However, the identification and the interpretation...

  9. Clinical application of fiber tracking technique for neuronavigation in brain tumor surgery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamada, Kyousuke; Aoki, Shigeki; Masutani, Yoshitaka; Ino, Kenji; Todo, Tomoki; Kawai, Kensuke; Ota, Takahiro; Saito, Nobuhito

    2007-01-01

    Preserving brain functions while maximizing tumor resection is the basic strategy to prolong survival of patients with brain tumors while maintaining their quality of life. In order for better preoperative planning and direct application to intraoperative procedures, we achieved accurate co-registration of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) -based tractography and anatomical MRI, and imported the combined images to a neuronavigation system (functional neuronavigation). Forty patients with brain lesions adjacent to the corticospinal tract (CST; n=32) and optic radiation (OR; n=8) were studied. During surgery, direct fiber stimulation was used to evoke the motor responses to confirm the accuracy of CST depicted on the functional neuronavigation. Cortical visual evoked potentials (VEPs) with flash stimulation were continuously monitored. In 25 patients, stimulation of the supposed CST led to elicitation of expected motor-evoked potentials. In the seven, stimulation at resection borders more than 1.5 cm apart from the supposed CST showed no motor responses. When the resection reached the OR on the functional neuronavigation, the cortical VEP suddenly diminished in two of 8 patients. Integration of DTI-based tractography information into a traditional neuronavigation system allowed demonstration of spatial relationships between lesions and the CST, leading to avoidance of tract injury during lesion resection. (author)

  10. Music matters: preattentive musicality of the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koelsch, Stefan; Schroger, Erich; Gunter, Thomas C

    2002-01-01

    During listening to a musical piece, unexpected harmonies may evoke brain responses that are reflected electrically as an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) and a late frontal negativity (N5). In the present study we demonstrate that these components of the event-related potential can be evoked preattentively, that is, even when a musical stimulus is ignored. Both ERAN and N5 differed in amplitude as a function of music-theoretical principles. Participants had no special musical expertise; results thus provide evidence for an automatic processing of musical information in onmusicians."

  11. Combining task-evoked and spontaneous activity to improve pre-operative brain mapping with fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fox, Michael D; Qian, Tianyi; Madsen, Joseph R; Wang, Danhong; Li, Meiling; Ge, Manling; Zuo, Huan-Cong; Groppe, David M; Mehta, Ashesh D; Hong, Bo; Liu, Hesheng

    2016-01-01

    Noninvasive localization of brain function is used to understand and treat neurological disease, exemplified by pre-operative fMRI mapping prior to neurosurgical intervention. The principal approach for generating these maps relies on brain responses evoked by a task and, despite known limitations, has dominated clinical practice for over 20years. Recently, pre-operative fMRI mapping based on correlations in spontaneous brain activity has been demonstrated, however this approach has its own limitations and has not seen widespread clinical use. Here we show that spontaneous and task-based mapping can be performed together using the same pre-operative fMRI data, provide complimentary information relevant for functional localization, and can be combined to improve identification of eloquent motor cortex. Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of our approach are quantified through comparison with electrical cortical stimulation mapping in eight patients with intractable epilepsy. Broad applicability and reproducibility of our approach are demonstrated through prospective replication in an independent dataset of six patients from a different center. In both cohorts and every individual patient, we see a significant improvement in signal to noise and mapping accuracy independent of threshold, quantified using receiver operating characteristic curves. Collectively, our results suggest that modifying the processing of fMRI data to incorporate both task-based and spontaneous activity significantly improves functional localization in pre-operative patients. Because this method requires no additional scan time or modification to conventional pre-operative data acquisition protocols it could have widespread utility. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  12. [Value of condensation and rarefaction click evoked action potential latency difference in the diagnosis of Meniere's disease].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Z; Shao, X; Yan, W; Lin, H

    2000-06-01

    To study the value of condensation and rarefaction clicks evoked action potential (AP) latency difference (LD) in diagnosis of Meniere's disease. AP was recorded with ECochG in controls (50 ears) and patients with Meniere's disease(90 ears) and sensorineural hearing loss(SNHL) of other origins(60 ears). LD was calculated and analyzed. LD in patients with Meniere's disease was (0.30 +/- 0.15) ms, which was significantly larger than that of controls(0.18 +/- 0.07) ms and of patients with SNHL of other origins(0.20 +/- 0.10) ms (P curve was larger than those with flat auditory sensation curve(P rarefaction click evoked AP latency difference can be an objective parameter in diagnosis of Meniere's disease.

  13. Prior Expectations Evoke Stimulus Templates in the Primary Visual Cortex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kok, P.; Failing, F.M.; de Lange, F.P.

    2014-01-01

    Exposure to rhythmic stimulation results in facilitated responses to events that appear in-phase with the rhythm and modulation of anticipatory and target-evoked brain activity, presumably reflecting "exogenous," unintentional temporal expectations. However, the extent to which this effect is

  14. Color vision in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a pilot visual evoked potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Soyeon; Banaschewski, Tobias; Tannock, Rosemary

    2015-01-01

    Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are reported to manifest visual problems (including ophthalmological and color perception, particularly for blue-yellow stimuli), but findings are inconsistent. Accordingly, this study investigated visual function and color perception in adolescents with ADHD using color Visual Evoked Potentials (cVEP), which provides an objective measure of color perception. Thirty-one adolescents (aged 13-18), 16 with a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD, and 15 healthy peers, matched for age, gender, and IQ participated in the study. All underwent an ophthalmological exam, as well as electrophysiological testing color Visual Evoked Potentials (cVEP), which measured the latency and amplitude of the neural P1 response to chromatic (blue-yellow, red-green) and achromatic stimuli. No intergroup differences were found in the ophthalmological exam. However, significantly larger P1 amplitude was found for blue and yellow stimuli, but not red/green or achromatic stimuli, in the ADHD group (particularly in the medicated group) compared to controls. Larger amplitude in the P1 component for blue-yellow in the ADHD group compared to controls may account for the lack of difference in color perception tasks. We speculate that the larger amplitude for blue-yellow stimuli in early sensory processing (P1) might reflect a compensatory strategy for underlying problems including compromised retinal input of s-cones due to hypo-dopaminergic tone. Copyright © 2014 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  15. Bilateral somatosensory evoked potentials following intermittent theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ziluk Angela

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation that may alter cortical excitability in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI. The present study investigated the effects of iTBS on subcortical and early cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs recorded over left, iTBS stimulated SI and the right-hemisphere non-stimulated SI. SEPs were recorded before and at 5, 15, and 25 minutes following iTBS. Results Compared to pre-iTBS, the amplitude of cortical potential N20/P25 was significantly increased for 5 minutes from non-stimulated SI and for 15 to 25 minutes from stimulated SI. Subcortical potentials recorded bilaterally remained unaltered following iTBS. Conclusion We conclude that iTBS increases the cortical excitability of SI bilaterally and does not alter thalamocortical afferent input to SI. ITBS may provide one avenue to induce cortical plasticity in the somatosensory cortex.

  16. Cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials during spine surgery in patients with neuromuscular and idiopathic scoliosis under propofol-remifentanil anaesthesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermanns, H.; Lipfert, P.; Meier, S.; Jetzek-Zader, M.; Krauspe, R.; Stevens, M. F.

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Intraoperative monitoring of the spinal cord via cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEP) is a routine during spinal surgery. However, especially in neuromuscular scoliosis, the reliability of cortical SSEP has been questioned. Therefore, we compared the feasibility of cortical

  17. [Possibilities of magnetic-laser therapy in comprehensive treatment of patients with brain concussion in acute period].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zubkova, O V; Samosiuk, I Z; Polishchuk, O V; Shul'ga, N M; Samosiuk, N I

    2012-01-01

    The efficacy of magnetic-laser therapy used according to the method developed by us was studied in patients having the brain concussion (BC) in an acute period. The study was based on the dynamics of values of the evoked vestibular potentials and the disease clinical course. It was shown that following the magnetic-laser therapy in combination with traditional pharmacotherapy in BC acute period, the statistically significant positive changes were registered in the quantitative characteristics of the evoked vestibular brain potentials that correlated with the dynamics of the disease clinical course. The data obtained substantiate the possibility of using the magnetic-laser therapy in patients with a mild craniocereblal injury in an acute period.

  18. Longitudinal changes in task-evoked brain responses in Parkinson’s disease patients with and without mild cognitive impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urban eEkman

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease. Previous cross-sectional research has demonstrated a link between cognitive impairments and fronto-striatal dopaminergic dysmodulation. However, longitudinal studies that link disease progression with altered task-evoked brain activity are lacking. Therefore, our objective was to longitudinally evaluate working-memory related brain activity changes in Parkinson’s disease patients with and without mild cognitive impairment.Patients were recruited within a longitudinal cohort study of incident patients with idiopathic parkinsonism. We longitudinally (at baseline examination and at 12-months follow-up compared 28 patients with Parkinson’s disease without mild cognitive impairment with 11 patients with Parkinson’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. Functional MRI blood oxygen level dependent signal was measured during a verbal two-back working-memory task. Patients with mild cognitive impairment under-recruited bilateral medial prefrontal cortex, right putamen, and lateral parietal cortex at both time-points (main effect of group: p<0.001, uncorrected. Critically, a significant group-by-time interaction effect (p<0.001, uncorrected was found in the right fusiform gyrus, indicating that working-memory related activity decreased for patients with Parkinson’s disease and mild cognitive impairment between baseline and follow-up, while patients without mild cognitive impairment were stable across time-points. The functional connectivity between right fusiform gyrus and bilateral caudate nucleus was stronger for patients without MCI relative to patients with MCI.Our findings support the view that deficits in working-memory updating are related to persistent fronto-striatal under-recruitments in patients with early phase Parkinson’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. The longitudinal evolution of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease translates into additional task-evoked

  19. Objective measures of binaural masking level differences and comodulation masking release based on late auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epp, Bastian; Yasin, Ifat; Verhey, Jesko L

    2013-12-01

    The audibility of important sounds is often hampered due to the presence of other masking sounds. The present study investigates if a correlate of the audibility of a tone masked by noise is found in late auditory evoked potentials measured from human listeners. The audibility of the target sound at a fixed physical intensity is varied by introducing auditory cues of (i) interaural target signal phase disparity and (ii) coherent masker level fluctuations in different frequency regions. In agreement with previous studies, psychoacoustical experiments showed that both stimulus manipulations result in a masking release (i: binaural masking level difference; ii: comodulation masking release) compared to a condition where those cues are not present. Late auditory evoked potentials (N1, P2) were recorded for the stimuli at a constant masker level, but different signal levels within the same set of listeners who participated in the psychoacoustical experiment. The data indicate differences in N1 and P2 between stimuli with and without interaural phase disparities. However, differences for stimuli with and without coherent masker modulation were only found for P2, i.e., only P2 is sensitive to the increase in audibility, irrespective of the cue that caused the masking release. The amplitude of P2 is consistent with the psychoacoustical finding of an addition of the masking releases when both cues are present. Even though it cannot be concluded where along the auditory pathway the audibility is represented, the P2 component of auditory evoked potentials is a candidate for an objective measure of audibility in the human auditory system. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Can a finding of cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials contribute to vestibular migraine diagnostics?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tihana Vešligaj

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Aim To investigate differences in vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP results with patients suffering from vestibular migraine and healthy people, taking into consideration values of threshold and latency of occurrence of the characteristic wave complex, size of amplitude, and interaural amplitude ratio. According to the results, determine the importance and usefulness of VEMP in vestibular migraine diagnostics. Methods A total number of 62 subjects were included in the study, 32 of them belonging to a group of patients suffering from vestibular migraine (VM, while other 30 were in a control group of healthy subjects. Information was collected during the diagnostic evaluation. General and otoneurological history of patients and bedside tests, audiological results, videonystagmography and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP were made. Results There was a difference in an interaural ratio of amplitudes in the experimental and control groups, but it was not found to be clinically significant. By ToneBurst 500 Hz method, the interaural amplitude ratio higher than 35% was measured in 46.97% subjects, while the response was totally unilaterally missing in 28.8% patients. Conclusion Even the sophisticated method as cVEMP does not give the ultimate result confirming the vestibular migraine diagnosis, and neither do other diagnostic methods. cVEMP result can contribute to the completion of full mosaic of vestibular migraine diagnostics.

  1. Predictive value of neurological examination for early cortical responses to somatosensory evoked potentials in patients with postanoxic coma

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouwes, Aline; Binnekade, Jan M.; Verbaan, Bart W.; Zandbergen, Eveline G. J.; Koelman, Johannes H. T. M.; Weinstein, Henry C.; Hijdra, Albert; Horn, Janneke

    2012-01-01

    Bilateral absence of cortical N20 responses of median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) predicts poor neurological outcome in postanoxic coma after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Although SEP is easy to perform and available in most hospitals, it is worthwhile to know how

  2. Ryanodine receptors contribute to the induction of nociceptive input-evoked long-term potentiation in the rat spinal cord slice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Zhi-Qi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Our previous study demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO contributes to long-term potentiation (LTP of C-fiber-evoked field potentials by tetanic stimulation of the sciatic nerve in the spinal cord in vivo. Ryanodine receptor (RyR is a downstream target for NO. The present study further explored the role of RyR in synaptic plasticity of the spinal pain pathway. Results By means of field potential recordings in the adult male rat in vivo, we showed that RyR antagonist reduced LTP of C-fiber-evoked responses in the spinal dorsal horn by tetanic stimulation of the sciatic nerve. Using spinal cord slice preparations and field potential recordings from superficial dorsal horn, high frequency stimulation of Lissauer's tract (LT stably induced LTP of field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs. Perfusion of RyR antagonists blocked the induction of LT stimulation-evoked spinal LTP, while Ins(1,4,5P3 receptor (IP3R antagonist had no significant effect on LTP induction. Moreover, activation of RyRs by caffeine without high frequency stimulation induced a long-term potentiation in the presence of bicuculline methiodide and strychnine. Further, in patch-clamp recordings from superficial dorsal horn neurons, activation of RyRs resulted in a large increase in the frequency of miniature EPSCs (mEPSCs. Immunohistochemical study showed that RyRs were expressed in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG neurons. Likewise, calcium imaging in small DRG neurons illustrated that activation of RyRs elevated [Ca2+]i in small DRG neurons. Conclusions These data indicate that activation of presynaptic RyRs play a crucial role in the induction of LTP in the spinal pain pathway, probably through enhancement of transmitter release.

  3. Paired-pulse flash-visual evoked potentials: new methods revive an old test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantello, Roberto; Strigaro, Gionata; Prandi, Paolo; Varrasi, Claudia; Mula, Marco; Monaco, Francesco

    2011-08-01

    We aimed at reviving with modern technology the paired flash-visual evoked potential (F-VEP) testing of the visual system excitability. In the 1960s, methodological problems hindered this test, which was expected to provide important physiologic information. We studied 22 consenting healthy subjects (10 men). We recorded F-VEPs from electrodes over occipital and central brain regions. We delivered single flashes, mixed at random to flash pairs at the interstimulus interval (ISI) of 333, 125, 62.5, 50, 33, and 16.5 ms, (i.e. an internal frequency (IF) of 3, 8, 16, 20, 30, and 60 Hz). Recordings were performed with the subject's eyes closed and opened. The F-VEP was split into a "main complex" and an "afterdischarge", which we analyzed statistically in relation to the eye state (closed or open) and to the changes due to paired stimulation. The eye state affected the single F-VEP size, latency and shape significantly (p<0.05). On paired stimulation, the test (second) F-VEP exhibited significant (p<0.05), ISI-dependent size changes, such as a progressive decrease for ISIs from 62.5 to 16.5 ms (IFs of 16-60 Hz), whose timing/amount varied significantly (p<0.05) according to the eye state and to the F-VEP epoch considered. Suppression of the test F-VEP was never complete, even for the shortest ISI (ISI=16.5 ms, IF=60 Hz). The eye state (closed or open) must be considered meticulously when studying F-VEPs. F-VEP changes on paired stimulation express neural inhibition within the visual system, which can be depicted as ISI-dependent curves. Modern equipment and simplified measures render this an easy test, with statistical validity, providing specific information on the excitability properties of the visual system. Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Modeling the Developmental Patterns of Auditory Evoked Magnetic Fields in Children

    OpenAIRE

    Kotecha, Rupesh; Pardos, Maria; Wang, Yingying; Wu, Ting; Horn, Paul; Brown, David; Rose, Douglas; deGrauw, Ton; Xiang, Jing

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: As magnetoencephalography (MEG) is of increasing utility in the assessment of deficits and development delays in brain disorders in pediatrics, it becomes imperative to fully understand the functional development of the brain in children. METHODOLOGY: The present study was designed to characterize the developmental patterns of auditory evoked magnetic responses with respect to age and gender. Sixty children and twenty adults were studied with a 275-channel MEG system. CONCLUSIONS:...

  5. Guanfacine potentiates the activation of prefrontal cortex evoked by warning signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clerkin, Suzanne M; Schulz, Kurt P; Halperin, Jeffrey M; Newcorn, Jeffrey H; Ivanov, Iliyan; Tang, Cheuk Y; Fan, Jin

    2009-08-15

    Warning signals evoke an alert state of readiness that prepares for a rapid response by priming a thalamo-frontal-striatal network that includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Animal models indicate that noradrenergic input is essential for this stimulus-driven activation of DLPFC, but the precise mechanisms involved have not been determined. We tested the role that postsynaptic alpha(2A) adrenoceptors play in the activation of DLPFC evoked by warning cues using a placebo-controlled challenge with the alpha(2A) agonist guanfacine. Sixteen healthy young adults were scanned twice with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), while performing a simple cued reaction time (RT) task following administration of a single dose of oral guanfacine (1 mg) and placebo in counterbalanced order. The RT task temporally segregates the neural effects of warning cues and motor responses and minimizes mnemonic demands. Warning cues produced a marked reduction in RT accompanied by significant activation in a distributed thalamo-frontal-striatal network, including bilateral DLPFC. Guanfacine selectively increased the cue-evoked activation of the left DLPFC and right anterior cerebellum, although this increase was not accompanied by further reductions in RT. The effects of guanfacine on DLPFC activation were specifically associated with the warning cue and were not seen for visual- or target-related activation. Guanfacine produced marked increases in the cue-evoked activation of DLPFC that correspond to the well-described actions of postsynaptic alpha(2) adrenoceptor stimulation. The current procedures provide an opportunity to test postsynaptic alpha(2A) adrenoceptor function in the prefrontal cortex in the pathophysiology of several psychiatric disorders.

  6. Light scattering changes follow evoked potentials from hippocampal Schaeffer collateral stimulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rector, D M; Poe, G R; Kristensen, Morten Pilgaard

    1997-01-01

    , concurrently with larger population postsynaptic potentials. Optical signals occurred over a time course similar to that for electrical signals and increased with larger stimulation amplitude to a maximum, then decreased with further increases in stimulation current. Camera images revealed a topographic......We assessed relationships of evoked electrical and light scattering changes from cat dorsal hippocampus following Schaeffer collateral stimulation. Under anesthesia, eight stimulating electrodes were placed in the left hippocampal CA field and an optic probe, coupled to a photodiode or a charge....... Electrode recordings and photodiode output were simultaneously acquired at 2.4 kHz during single biphasic pulse stimuli 0.5 ms in duration with 0.1-Hz intervals. Camera images were digitized at 100 Hz. An average of 150 responses was calculated for each of six stimulating current levels. Stimuli elicited...

  7. Non-invasive brain-to-brain interface (BBI: establishing functional links between two brains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seung-Schik Yoo

    Full Text Available Transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS is capable of modulating the neural activity of specific brain regions, with a potential role as a non-invasive computer-to-brain interface (CBI. In conjunction with the use of brain-to-computer interface (BCI techniques that translate brain function to generate computer commands, we investigated the feasibility of using the FUS-based CBI to non-invasively establish a functional link between the brains of different species (i.e. human and Sprague-Dawley rat, thus creating a brain-to-brain interface (BBI. The implementation was aimed to non-invasively translate the human volunteer's intention to stimulate a rat's brain motor area that is responsible for the tail movement. The volunteer initiated the intention by looking at a strobe light flicker on a computer display, and the degree of synchronization in the electroencephalographic steady-state-visual-evoked-potentials (SSVEP with respect to the strobe frequency was analyzed using a computer. Increased signal amplitude in the SSVEP, indicating the volunteer's intention, triggered the delivery of a burst-mode FUS (350 kHz ultrasound frequency, tone burst duration of 0.5 ms, pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz, given for 300 msec duration to excite the motor area of an anesthetized rat transcranially. The successful excitation subsequently elicited the tail movement, which was detected by a motion sensor. The interface was achieved at 94.0±3.0% accuracy, with a time delay of 1.59±1.07 sec from the thought-initiation to the creation of the tail movement. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of a computer-mediated BBI that links central neural functions between two biological entities, which may confer unexplored opportunities in the study of neuroscience with potential implications for therapeutic applications.

  8. Effect of higher frequency on the classification of steady-state visual evoked potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Won, Dong-Ok; Hwang, Han-Jeong; Dähne, Sven; Müller, Klaus-Robert; Lee, Seong-Whan

    2016-02-01

    Objective. Most existing brain-computer interface (BCI) designs based on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) primarily use low frequency visual stimuli (e.g., visual fatigue and no stimulus-related seizures. The fundamental objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on the usability of an SSVEP-based BCI system. Approach. We developed an SSVEP-based BCI speller using multiple LEDs flickering with low frequencies (6-14.9 Hz) with a duty-cycle of 50%, or higher frequencies (26-34.7 Hz) with duty-cycles of 50%, 60%, and 70%. The four different experimental conditions were tested with 26 subjects in order to investigate the impact of stimulation frequency and duty-cycle on performance and visual fatigue, and evaluated with a questionnaire survey. Resting state alpha powers were utilized to interpret our results from the neurophysiological point of view. Main results. The stimulation method employing higher frequencies not only showed less visual fatigue, but it also showed higher and more stable classification performance compared to that employing relatively lower frequencies. Different duty-cycles in the higher frequency stimulation conditions did not significantly affect visual fatigue, but a duty-cycle of 50% was a better choice with respect to performance. The performance of the higher frequency stimulation method was also less susceptible to resting state alpha powers, while that of the lower frequency stimulation method was negatively correlated with alpha powers. Significance. These results suggest that the use of higher frequency visual stimuli is more beneficial for performance improvement and stability as time passes when developing practical SSVEP-based BCI applications.

  9. Optimization of visual evoked potential (VEP) recording systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karanjia, Rustum; Brunet, Donald G; ten Hove, Martin W

    2009-01-01

    To explore the influence of environmental conditions on pattern visual evoked potential (VEP) recordings. Fourteen subjects with no known ocular pathology were recruited for the study. In an attempt to optimize the recording conditions, VEP recordings were performed in both the seated and recumbent positions. Comparisons were made between recordings using either LCD or CRT displays and recordings obtained in silence or with quiet background music. Paired recordings (in which only one variable was changed) were analyzed for changes in P100 latency, RMS noise, and variability. Baseline RMS noise demonstrated a significant decrease in the variability during the first 50msec accompanied by a 73% decrease in recording time for recumbent position when compared to the seated position (pmusic did not affect the amount of RMS noise during the first 50msec of the recordings. This study demonstrates that the use of the recumbent position increases patient comfort and improves the signal to noise ratio. In contrast, the addition of background music to relax the patient did not improve the recording signal. Furthermore, the study illustrates the importance of avoiding low-contrast visual stimulation patterns obtained with LCD as they lead to higher latencies resulting in false positive recordings. These findings are important when establishing or modifying a pattern VEP recording protocol.

  10. Discrepancy between perceived pain and cortical processing: A voxel-based morphometry and contact heat evoked potential study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, J L K; Jutzeler, C R; Haefeli, J; Curt, A; Freund, P

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if local gray and white matter volume variations between subjects could account for variability in responses to CHEP stimulation. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was used to perform voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of gray and white matter in 30 neurologically healthy subjects. Contact heat stimulation was performed on the dorsum of the right hand at the base of the thumb. Evoked potentials were acquired from a vertex-recording electrode referenced to linked ears. Controlling for age, total intracranial volume, and skull/scalp thickness, CHEP amplitude and pain rating were not significantly correlated between subjects. A VBM region of interest approach demonstrated a significant interaction between pain rating and N2 amplitude in the right insular cortex (ppain rating. This finding suggests that the discrepancy between pain ratings and the amplitude of evoked potentials is not solely related to measurement artifact, but rather attributable, in part, to anatomical differences between subjects. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Electroencephalographic brain dynamics of memory encoding in emotionally arousing context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Enrique eUribe

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Emotional content/context enhances declarative memory through modulation of encoding and retrieval mechanisms. At encoding, neurophysiological data have consistently demonstrated the subsequent memory effect in theta and gamma oscillations. Yet, the existing studies were focused on the emotional content effect and let the emotional context effect unexplored. We hypothesized that theta and gamma oscillations show higher evoked/induced activity during the encoding of visual stimuli when delivered in an emotionally arousing context. Twenty-five healthy volunteers underwent evoked potentials recordings using a 21 scalp electrodes montage. They attended to an audiovisual test of emotional declarative memory being randomly assigned to either emotionally arousing or neutral context. Visual stimulus presentation was used as the time-locking event. Grand-averages of the evoked potentials and evoked spectral perturbations were calculated for each volunteer. Evoked potentials showed a higher negative deflection from 80 to 140 ms for the emotional condition. Such effect was observed over central, frontal and prefrontal locations bilaterally. Evoked theta power was higher in left parietal, central, frontal and prefrontal electrodes from -50 to 300 ms in the emotional condition. Evoked gamma power was higher in the emotional condition with a spatial distribution that overlapped at some points with the theta topography. The early theta power increase could be related to expectancy induced by auditory information processing that facilitates visual encoding in emotional contexts. Together, our results suggest that declarative memory enhancement for both emotional content and emotional context are supported by similar neural mechanisms at encoding, and offer new evidence about the brain processing of relevant environmental stimuli.

  12. Complex sparse spatial filter for decoding mixed frequency and phase coded steady-state visually evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morikawa, Naoki; Tanaka, Toshihisa; Islam, Md Rabiul

    2018-07-01

    Mixed frequency and phase coding (FPC) can achieve the significant increase of the number of commands in steady-state visual evoked potential-based brain-computer interface (SSVEP-BCI). However, the inconsistent phases of the SSVEP over channels in a trial and the existence of non-contributing channels due to noise effects can decrease accurate detection of stimulus frequency. We propose a novel command detection method based on a complex sparse spatial filter (CSSF) by solving ℓ 1 - and ℓ 2,1 -regularization problems for a mixed-coded SSVEP-BCI. In particular, ℓ 2,1 -regularization (aka group sparsification) can lead to the rejection of electrodes that are not contributing to the SSVEP detection. A calibration data based canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and CSSF with ℓ 1 - and ℓ 2,1 -regularization cases were demonstrated for a 16-target stimuli with eleven subjects. The results of statistical test suggest that the proposed method with ℓ 1 - and ℓ 2,1 -regularization significantly achieved the highest ITR. The proposed approaches do not need any reference signals, automatically select prominent channels, and reduce the computational cost compared to the other mixed frequency-phase coding (FPC)-based BCIs. The experimental results suggested that the proposed method can be usable implementing BCI effectively with reduce visual fatigue. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Timing of the brain events underlying access to consciousness during the attentional blink.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sergent, Claire; Baillet, Sylvain; Dehaene, Stanislas

    2005-10-01

    In the phenomenon of attentional blink, identical visual stimuli are sometimes fully perceived and sometimes not detected at all. This phenomenon thus provides an optimal situation to study the fate of stimuli not consciously perceived and the differences between conscious and nonconscious processing. We correlated behavioral visibility ratings and recordings of event-related potentials to study the temporal dynamics of access to consciousness. Intact early potentials (P1 and N1) were evoked by unseen words, suggesting that these brain events are not the primary correlates of conscious perception. However, we observed a rapid divergence around 270 ms, after which several brain events were evoked solely by seen words. Thus, we suggest that the transition toward access to consciousness relates to the optional triggering of a late wave of activation that spreads through a distributed network of cortical association areas.

  14. Mapping cell-specific functional connections in the mouse brain using ChR2-evoked hemodynamics (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Adam Q.; Kraft, Andrew; Baxter, Grant A.; Bruchas, Michael; Lee, Jin-Moo; Culver, Joseph P.

    2017-02-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has transformed our understanding of the brain's functional organization. However, mapping subunits of a functional network using hemoglobin alone presents several disadvantages. Evoked and spontaneous hemodynamic fluctuations reflect ensemble activity from several populations of neurons making it difficult to discern excitatory vs inhibitory network activity. Still, blood-based methods of brain mapping remain powerful because hemoglobin provides endogenous contrast in all mammalian brains. To add greater specificity to hemoglobin assays, we integrated optical intrinsic signal(OIS) imaging with optogenetic stimulation to create an Opto-OIS mapping tool that combines the cell-specificity of optogenetics with label-free, hemoglobin imaging. Before mapping, titrated photostimuli determined which stimulus parameters elicited linear hemodynamic responses in the cortex. Optimized stimuli were then scanned over the left hemisphere to create a set of optogenetically-defined effective connectivity (Opto-EC) maps. For many sites investigated, Opto-EC maps exhibited higher spatial specificity than those determined using spontaneous hemodynamic fluctuations. For example, resting-state functional connectivity (RS-FC) patterns exhibited widespread ipsilateral connectivity while Opto-EC maps contained distinct short- and long-range constellations of ipsilateral connectivity. Further, RS-FC maps were usually symmetric about midline while Opto-EC maps displayed more heterogeneous contralateral homotopic connectivity. Both Opto-EC and RS-FC patterns were compared to mouse connectivity data from the Allen Institute. Unlike RS-FC maps, Thy1-based maps collected in awake, behaving mice closely recapitulated the connectivity structure derived using ex vivo anatomical tracer methods. Opto-OIS mapping could be a powerful tool for understanding cellular and molecular contributions to network dynamics and processing in the mouse brain.

  15. Neural responses to nostalgia-evoking music modeled by elements of dynamic musical structure and individual differences in affective traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, Frederick S; Janata, Petr

    2016-10-01

    Nostalgia is an emotion that is most commonly associated with personally and socially relevant memories. It is primarily positive in valence and is readily evoked by music. It is also an idiosyncratic experience that varies between individuals based on affective traits. We identified frontal, limbic, paralimbic, and midbrain brain regions in which the strength of the relationship between ratings of nostalgia evoked by music and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal was predicted by affective personality measures (nostalgia proneness and the sadness scale of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales) that are known to modulate the strength of nostalgic experiences. We also identified brain areas including the inferior frontal gyrus, substantia nigra, cerebellum, and insula in which time-varying BOLD activity correlated more strongly with the time-varying tonal structure of nostalgia-evoking music than with music that evoked no or little nostalgia. These findings illustrate one way in which the reward and emotion regulation networks of the brain are recruited during the experiencing of complex emotional experiences triggered by music. These findings also highlight the importance of considering individual differences when examining the neural responses to strong and idiosyncratic emotional experiences. Finally, these findings provide a further demonstration of the use of time-varying stimulus-specific information in the investigation of music-evoked experiences. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Frontal Fibers Connecting the Superior Frontal Gyrus to Broca Area: A Corticocortical Evoked Potential Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ookawa, Satoshi; Enatsu, Rei; Kanno, Aya; Ochi, Satoko; Akiyama, Yukinori; Kobayashi, Tamaki; Yamao, Yukihiro; Kikuchi, Takayuki; Matsumoto, Riki; Kunieda, Takeharu; Mikuni, Nobuhiro

    2017-11-01

    The frontal aslant tract is a deep frontal pathway connecting the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) to Broca area. This fiber is assumed to be associated with language functions, especially speech initiation and spontaneity. The aim of this study was to electrophysiologically investigate this network using corticocortical evoked potentials (CCEPs). This study enrolled 8 patients with brain tumors or medically intractable focal epilepsies who underwent frontal craniotomy over the language-dominant side. All patients underwent CCEP recordings during tumor resection or during invasive evaluation for epilepsy surgery. Alternating 1-Hz electrical stimuli were delivered to pars opercularis (pO) and pars triangularis (pT), corresponding to Broca area, and SFG via the subdural grid electrodes with intensity of 10 mA. Electrocorticograms from SFG and pO/pT time-locked to 50 stimuli were averaged in each trial to obtain CCEP responses. In all patients, stimulation of pO/pT induced CCEP responses in SFG. CCEP responses were recorded in lateral SFG in 5 patients and in supplementary motor areas in 4 patients. Reciprocality was observed in 7 patients in the stimulation of SFG. CCEP responses were significantly faster at SFG from pO/pT than at pO/pT from SFG (Wilcoxon signed rank test, P = 0.028). The present study demonstrated a corticocortical network connecting Broca areas and SFG in a reciprocal manner. Our findings might provide new insight into language and motor integration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Visual evoked potentials and selective attention to points in space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Voorhis, S.; Hillyard, S. A.

    1977-01-01

    Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded to sequences of flashes delivered to the right and left visual fields while subjects responded promptly to designated stimuli in one field at a time (focused attention), in both fields at once (divided attention), or to neither field (passive). Three stimulus schedules were used: the first was a replication of a previous study (Eason, Harter, and White, 1969) where left- and right-field flashes were delivered quasi-independently, while in the other two the flashes were delivered to the two fields in random order (Bernoulli sequence). VEPs to attended-field stimuli were enhanced at both occipital (O2) and central (Cz) recording sites under all stimulus sequences, but different components were affected at the two scalp sites. It was suggested that the VEP at O2 may reflect modality-specific processing events, while the response at Cz, like its auditory homologue, may index more general aspects of selective attention.

  18. Dipolar sources of the early scalp somatosensory evoked potentials to upper limb stimulation. Effect of increasing stimulus rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valeriani, M; Restuccia, D; Di Lazzaro, V; Le Pera, D; Barba, C; Tonali, P; Mauguiere, F

    1998-06-01

    Brain electrical source analysis (BESA) of the scalp electroencephalographic activity is well adapted to distinguish neighbouring cerebral generators precisely. Therefore, we performed dipolar source modelling in scalp medium nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) recorded at 1.5-Hz stimulation rate, where all the early components should be identifiable. We built a four-dipole model, which was issued from the grand average, and applied it also to recordings from single individuals. Our model included a dipole at the base of the skull and three other perirolandic dipoles. The first of the latter dipoles was tangentially oriented and was active at the same latencies as the N20/P20 potential and, with opposite polarity, the P24/N24 response. The second perirolandic dipole showed an initial peak of activity slightly earlier than that of the N20/P20 dipolar source and, later, it was active at the same latency as the central P22 potential. Lastly, the third perirolandic dipole explaining the fronto-central N30 potential scalp distribution was constantly more posterior than the first one. In order to evaluate the effect of an increasing repetition frequency on the activity of SEP dipolar sources, we applied the model built from 1.5-Hz SEPs to traces recorded at 3-Hz and 10-Hz repetition rates. We found that the 10-Hz stimulus frequency reduced selectively the later of the two activity phases of the first perirolandic dipole. The decrement in strength of this dipolar source can be explained if we assume that: (a) the later activity of the first perirolandic dipole can represent the inhibitory phase of a "primary response"; (b) two different clusters of cells generate the opposite activities of the tangential perirolandic dipole. An additional finding in our model was that two different perirolandic dipoles contribute to the centro-parietal N20 potential generation.

  19. Cortical neurons and networks are dormant but fully responsive during isoelectric brain state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altwegg-Boussac, Tristan; Schramm, Adrien E; Ballestero, Jimena; Grosselin, Fanny; Chavez, Mario; Lecas, Sarah; Baulac, Michel; Naccache, Lionel; Demeret, Sophie; Navarro, Vincent; Mahon, Séverine; Charpier, Stéphane

    2017-09-01

    A continuous isoelectric electroencephalogram reflects an interruption of endogenously-generated activity in cortical networks and systematically results in a complete dissolution of conscious processes. This electro-cerebral inactivity occurs during various brain disorders, including hypothermia, drug intoxication, long-lasting anoxia and brain trauma. It can also be induced in a therapeutic context, following the administration of high doses of barbiturate-derived compounds, to interrupt a hyper-refractory status epilepticus. Although altered sensory responses can be occasionally observed on an isoelectric electroencephalogram, the electrical membrane properties and synaptic responses of individual neurons during this cerebral state remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to characterize the intracellular correlates of a barbiturate-induced isoelectric electroencephalogram and to analyse the sensory-evoked synaptic responses that can emerge from a brain deprived of spontaneous electrical activity. We first examined the sensory responsiveness from patients suffering from intractable status epilepticus and treated by administration of thiopental. Multimodal sensory responses could be evoked on the flat electroencephalogram, including visually-evoked potentials that were significantly amplified and delayed, with a high trial-to-trial reproducibility compared to awake healthy subjects. Using an analogous pharmacological procedure to induce prolonged electro-cerebral inactivity in the rat, we could describe its cortical and subcortical intracellular counterparts. Neocortical, hippocampal and thalamo-cortical neurons were all silent during the isoelectric state and displayed a flat membrane potential significantly hyperpolarized compared with spontaneously active control states. Nonetheless, all recorded neurons could fire action potentials in response to intracellularly injected depolarizing current pulses and their specific intrinsic

  20. Auditory Evoked Potentials and Hand Preference in 6-Month-Old Infants: Possible Gender-Related Differences in Cerebral Organization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shucard, Janet L.; Shucard, David W.

    1990-01-01

    Verbal and musical stimuli were presented to infants in a study of the relations of evoked potential left-right amplitude asymmetries to gender and hand preference. There was a relation between asymmetry and hand preference, and for girls, between asymmetry and stimulus condition. Results suggest a gender difference in cerebral hemisphere…

  1. Visual evoked potentials in overt hypothyroid patients before and after achievement of euthyroidism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aprajita

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Visual evoked potential (VEP measures the time taken for visual stimulus to travel from the eye to the occipital cortex. Hypothyroidism affects the central nervous system (CNS through its role in gene expression, myelin production, axonal transportation, and neurotransmitters. Delay in the conduction of impulses results in abnormal VEP. Objective: Correlate the electrophysiological findings of VEP in newly diagnosed treatment-naive hypothyroid patients before and after 3 months of treatment and to find the correlation with serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH levels. Materials and Methods: VEP was measured using Recorders and Medicare Systems Electromyograph Evoked Potential Mark II machine in 30 patients (serum TSH ≥10 mIU/L between 18 and 50 years of age who were followed up after 3 months of treatment. Results: The mean age (±standard deviation of the patients was 31.8 (±8.3 years. There was prolongation of VEP latencies which tends to decrease following hormone replacement therapy. It was found to be most significant for P100 (ms waveform (P < 0.001. The amplitude (P100-N75 mV which was decreased in hypothyroid patients showed improvement following achievement of euthyroidism. Significant positive correlation was found between P100, N75 latency and pretreatment serum TSH levels. Conclusion: Hypothyroid patients may have changes in the latencies and the amplitude of VEP which are reversible to a great extent with thyroxine replacement therapy. VEP thus acts as a dependable marker for CNS affection in thyroid diseases to detect subtle early changes and to assess the response to treatment in correlation with the clinical improvement.

  2. The potential of neural transplantation for brain repair and regeneration following traumatic brain injury

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Dong Sun

    2016-01-01

    Traumatic brain injury is a major health problem worldwide. Currently, there is no effective treatment to improve neural structural repair and functional recovery of patients in the clinic. Cell transplantation is a potential strategy to repair and regenerate the injured brain. This review article summarized recent de-velopment in cell transplantation studies for post-traumatic brain injury brain repair with varying types of cell sources. It also discussed the potential of neural transplantation to repair/promote recovery of the injured brain following traumatic brain injury.

  3. Cervical and ocular vestibular evoked potentials in Machado-Joseph disease: Functional involvement of otolith pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro, Rodrigo Souza; Pereira, Melissa Marques; Pedroso, José Luiz; Braga-Neto, Pedro; Barsottini, Orlando Graziani Povoas; Manzano, Gilberto Mastrocola

    2015-11-15

    Machado-Joseph disease is defined as an autosomal dominant ataxic disorder caused by degeneration of the cerebellum and its connections and is associated with a broad range of clinical symptoms. The involvement of the vestibular system is responsible for several symptoms and signs observed in the individuals affected by the disease. We measured cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in a sample of Machado-Joseph disease patients in order to assess functional pathways involved. Bilateral measures of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP and oVEMP) were obtained from 14 symptomatic patients with genetically proven Machado-Joseph disease and compared with those from a control group of 20 healthy subjects. Thirteen (93%) patients showed at least one abnormal test result; oVEMP and cVEMP responses were absent in 17/28 (61%) and 11/28 (39%) measures, respectively; and prolonged latency of cVEMP was found in 3/28 (11%) measures. Of the 13 patients with abnormal responses, 9/13 (69%) patients showed discordant abnormal responses: four with absent oVEMP and present cVEMP, two with absent cVEMP and present oVEMP, and three showed unilateral prolonged cVEMP latencies. Both otolith-related vestibulocollic and vestibulo-ocular pathways are severely affected in Machado-Joseph disease patients evaluated by VEMPs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Spatial adaptation of the cortical visual evoked potential of the cat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonds, A B

    1984-06-01

    Adaptation that is spatially specific for the adapting pattern has been seen psychophysically in humans. This is indirect evidence for independent analyzers (putatively single units) that are specific for orientation and spatial frequency in the human visual system, but it is unclear how global adaptation characteristics may be related to single unit performance. Spatially specific adaptation was sought in the cat visual evoked potential (VEP), with a view towards relating this phenomenon with what we know of cat single units. Adaptation to sine-wave gratings results in a temporary loss of cat VEP amplitude, with induction and recovery similar to that seen in human psychophysical experiments. The amplitude loss was specific for both the spatial frequency and orientation of the adapting pattern. The bandwidth of adaptation was not unlike the average selectivity of a population of cat single units.

  5. Possible Long Term Effects of Chemical Warfare Using Visual Evoked Potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbas Riazi

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Some studies have already addressed the effects of occupational organic solvent exposure on the visually evoked potentials (VEPs. Visual system is an important target for Sulphur Mustard (SM toxicity. A number of Iranian victims of Sulphur Mustard (SM agent were apprehensive about the delay effect of SM on their vision and a possible delay effect of SM on their visual cortex. This investigation was performed on 34 individuals with a history of chemical exposure and a control group of 15 normal people. The Toennies electro-diagnosis device was used and its signals were saved as the latencies. The mean of N75, N140 and P100 of victims of chemical warfare (VCWs and control group indicated no significant results (P>0.05. The VCWs did not show any visual symptoms and there was no clear deficit in their VEPs.

  6. Effect of epidural 0.25% bupivacaine on somatosensory evoked potentials to dermatomal stimulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, C; Hansen, O B; Kehlet, H

    1989-01-01

    The effect of lumbar epidural analgesia with similar volumes (about 25 ml) of 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine on early (less than 0.5 seconds) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to electrical stimulation of the S1, L1, and T10 dermatomes was examined in two groups of ten patients. Level of sensory...... analgesia to pinprick was T5.7 +/- 0.8 and T6.4 +/- 0.7 in the 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine group, respectively. Motor blockade was more pronounced in the 0.5% bupivacaine group (p less than 0.05). Despite similar analgesia to pinprick, SEPs were more reduced during 0.5% bupivacaine than during 0...

  7. Intrinsic resting-state activity predicts working memory brain activation and behavioral performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Qihong; Ross, Thomas J; Gu, Hong; Geng, Xiujuan; Zuo, Xi-Nian; Hong, L Elliot; Gao, Jia-Hong; Stein, Elliot A; Zang, Yu-Feng; Yang, Yihong

    2013-12-01

    Although resting-state brain activity has been demonstrated to correspond with task-evoked brain activation, the relationship between intrinsic and evoked brain activity has not been fully characterized. For example, it is unclear whether intrinsic activity can also predict task-evoked deactivation and whether the rest-task relationship is dependent on task load. In this study, we addressed these issues on 40 healthy control subjects using resting-state and task-driven [N-back working memory (WM) task] functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected in the same session. Using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) as an index of intrinsic resting-state activity, we found that ALFF in the middle frontal gyrus and inferior/superior parietal lobules was positively correlated with WM task-evoked activation, while ALFF in the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, superior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus was negatively correlated with WM task-evoked deactivation. Further, the relationship between the intrinsic resting-state activity and task-evoked activation in lateral/superior frontal gyri, inferior/superior parietal lobules, superior temporal gyrus, and midline regions was stronger at higher WM task loads. In addition, both resting-state activity and the task-evoked activation in the superior parietal lobule/precuneus were significantly correlated with the WM task behavioral performance, explaining similar portions of intersubject performance variance. Together, these findings suggest that intrinsic resting-state activity facilitates or is permissive of specific brain circuit engagement to perform a cognitive task, and that resting activity can predict subsequent task-evoked brain responses and behavioral performance. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Influence of visual angle on pattern reversal visual evoked potentials

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    Ruchi Kothari

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this study was to find whether the visual evoked potential (VEP latencies and amplitude are altered with different visual angles in healthy adult volunteers or not and to determine the visual angle which is the optimum and most appropriate among a wide range of check sizes for the reliable interpretation of pattern reversal VEPs (PRVEPs. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on 40 healthy volunteers. The subjects were divided into two groups. One group consisted of 20 individuals (nine males and 11 females in the age range of 25-57 years and they were exposed to checks subtending a visual angle of 90, 120, and 180 minutes of arc. Another group comprised of 20 individuals (10 males and 10 females in the age range of 36-60 years and they were subjected to checks subtending a visual angle of 15, 30, and 120 minutes of arc. The stimulus configuration comprised of the transient pattern reversal method in which a black and white checker board is generated (full field on a VEP Monitor by an Evoked Potential Recorder (RMS EMG. EPMARK II. The statistical analysis was done by One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA using EPI INFO 6. Results: In Group I, the maximum (max. P100 latency of 98.8 ± 4.7 and the max. P100 amplitude of 10.05 ± 3.1 μV was obtained with checks of 90 minutes. In Group II, the max. P100 latency of 105.19 ± 4.75 msec as well as the max. P100 amplitude of 8.23 ± 3.30 μV was obtained with 15 minutes. The min. P100 latency in both the groups was obtained with checks of 120 minutes while the min. P100 amplitude was obtained with 180 minutes. A statistically significant difference was derived between means of P100 latency for 15 and 30 minutes with reference to its value for 120 minutes and between the mean value of P100 amplitude for 120 minutes and that of 90 and 180 minutes. Conclusion: Altering the size of stimulus (visual angle has an effect on the PRVEP parameters. Our study found that the 120

  9. Attenuation of insulin-evoked responses in brain networks controlling appetite and reward in insulin resistance: the cerebral basis for impaired control of food intake in metabolic syndrome?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anthony, Karen; Reed, Laurence J; Dunn, Joel T; Bingham, Emma; Hopkins, David; Marsden, Paul K; Amiel, Stephanie A

    2006-11-01

    The rising prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes is a global challenge. A possible mechanism linking insulin resistance and weight gain would be attenuation of insulin-evoked responses in brain areas relevant to eating in systemic insulin resistance. We measured brain glucose metabolism, using [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, in seven insulin-sensitive (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-IR] = 1.3) and seven insulin-resistant (HOMA-IR = 6.3) men, during suppression of endogenous insulin by somatostatin, with and without an insulin infusion that elevated insulin to 24.6 +/- 5.2 and 23.2 +/- 5.8 mU/l (P = 0.76), concentrations similar to fasting levels of the resistant subjects and approximately threefold above those of the insulin-sensitive subjects. Insulin-evoked change in global cerebral metabolic rate for glucose was reduced in insulin resistance (+7 vs. +17.4%, P = 0.033). Insulin was associated with increased metabolism in ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex and with decreased metabolism in right amygdala/hippocampus and cerebellar vermis (P reward. Diminishing the link be-tween control of food intake and energy balance may contribute to development of obesity in insulin resistance.

  10. Musical Brains. A study of evoked musical sensations without external auditory stimuli. Preliminary report of three cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goycoolea, Marcos V; Mena, Ismael; Neubauer, Sonia G; Levy, Raquel G.; Fernandez Grez, Margarita; Berger, Claudia G

    2006-01-01

    Background: There are individuals, usually musicians, who are seemingly able to evoke musical sensations without external auditory stimuli. However, to date there is no available evidence to determine if it is feasible to have musical sensations without using external sensory receptors nor if there is a biological substrate to these sensations. Study design: Two single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) evaluations with [99mTc]-HMPAO were conducted in each of three female musicians. One was done under basal conditions (without evoking) and the other one while evoking these sensations. Results: In the NeuroSPECT studies of the musicians who were tested while evoking a musical composition, there was a significant increase in perfusion above the normal mean in the right and left hemispheres in Brodmann's areas 9 and 8 (frontal executive area) and in areas 40 on the left side (auditory center). However, under basal conditions there was no hyper perfusion of areas 9, 8, 39 and 40. In one case hyper perfusion was found under basal conditions in area 45, however it was less than when she was evoking. Conclusions: These findings are suggestive of a biological substrate to the process of evoking musical sensations (au)

  11. Semi-supervised adaptation in ssvep-based brain-computer interface using tri-training

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bender, Thomas; Kjaer, Troels W.; Thomsen, Carsten E.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a novel and computationally simple tri-training based semi-supervised steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI). It is implemented with autocorrelation-based features and a Naïve-Bayes classifier (NBC). The system uses nine characters...

  12. Functional mapping of the sensorimotor cortex: combined use of magnetoencephalography, functional MRI, and motor evoked potentials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morioka, T.; Fujii, K.; Fukui, M.; Mizushima, A.; Matsumoto, S.; Hasuo, K.; Yamamoto, T.; Tobimatsu, S.

    1995-01-01

    Combined use of magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) was carried out on one patient in an attempt to localise precisely a structural lesion to the central sulcus. A small cyst in the right frontoparietal region was thought to be the cause of generalised seizures in an otherwise asymptomatic woman. First the primary sensory cortex was identified with magnetic source imaging (MSI) of somatosensory evoked magnetic fields using MEG and MRI. Second, the motor area of the hand was identified using f-MRI during handsqueezing. Then transcranial magnetic stimulation localised the hand motor area on the scalp, which was mapped onto the MRI. There was a good agreement between MSI, f-MRI and MEP as to the location of the sensorimotor cortex and its relationship to the lesion. Multimodality mapping techniques may thus prove useful in the precise localisation of cortical lesions, and in the preoperative determination of the best treatment for peri-rolandic lesions. (orig.)

  13. Functional mapping of the sensorimotor cortex: combined use of magnetoencephalography, functional MRI, and motor evoked potentials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morioka, T. [Dept. of Neurosurgery, Neurological Inst., Kyshu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan); Fujii, K. [Dept. of Neurosurgery, Neurological Inst., Kyshu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan); Fukui, M. [Dept. of Neurosurgery, Neurological Inst., Kyshu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan); Mizushima, A. [Dept. of Radiology, Kyushu Univ. Fukuoka (Japan); Matsumoto, S. [Dept. of Radiology, Kyushu Univ. Fukuoka (Japan); Hasuo, K. [Dept. of Radiology, Kyushu Univ. Fukuoka (Japan); Yamamoto, T. [Dept. of Otolaryngology, Kyushu Univ. Fukuoka (Japan); Tobimatsu, S. [Dept. of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Inst., Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka (Japan)

    1995-10-01

    Combined use of magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) was carried out on one patient in an attempt to localise precisely a structural lesion to the central sulcus. A small cyst in the right frontoparietal region was thought to be the cause of generalised seizures in an otherwise asymptomatic woman. First the primary sensory cortex was identified with magnetic source imaging (MSI) of somatosensory evoked magnetic fields using MEG and MRI. Second, the motor area of the hand was identified using f-MRI during handsqueezing. Then transcranial magnetic stimulation localised the hand motor area on the scalp, which was mapped onto the MRI. There was a good agreement between MSI, f-MRI and MEP as to the location of the sensorimotor cortex and its relationship to the lesion. Multimodality mapping techniques may thus prove useful in the precise localisation of cortical lesions, and in the preoperative determination of the best treatment for peri-rolandic lesions. (orig.)

  14. Scent-evoked nostalgia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reid, Chelsea A; Green, Jeffrey D; Wildschut, Tim; Sedikides, Constantine

    2015-01-01

    Can scents evoke nostalgia; what might be the psychological implications of such an evocation? Participants sampled 12 scents and rated the extent to which each scent was familiar, arousing and autobiographically relevant, as well as the extent to which each scent elicited nostalgia. Participants who were high (compared to low) in nostalgia proneness reported more scent-evoked nostalgia, and scents elicited greater nostalgia to the extent that they were arousing, familiar and autobiographically relevant. Scent-evoked nostalgia predicted higher levels of positive affect, self-esteem, self-continuity, optimism, social connectedness and meaning in life. In addition, scent-evoked nostalgia was characterised by more positive emotions than either non-nostalgic autobiographical memories or non-nostalgic non-autobiographical memories. Finally, scent-evoked nostalgia predicted in-the-moment feelings of personal (general or object-specific) nostalgia. The findings represent a foray into understanding the triggers and affective signature of scent-evoked nostalgia.

  15. Various ketogenic diets can differently support brain resistance against experimentally evoked seizures and seizure-induced elemental anomalies of hippocampal formation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chwiej, J; Patulska, A; Skoczen, A; Matusiak, K; Janeczko, K; Ciarach, M; Simon, R; Setkowicz, Z

    2017-07-01

    In this paper the influence of two different ketogenic diets (KDs) on the seizure-evoked elemental anomalies of hippocampal formation was examined. To achieve this purpose normal and pilocarpine treated rats previously fed with one of the two high fat and carbohydrate restricted diets were compared with animals on standard laboratory diet. The ketogenic ratios of the examined KDs were equal to 5:1 (KD1) and 9:1 (KD2). KD1 and standard diet fed animals presented similar patterns of seizure-evoked elemental changes in hippocampal formation. Also the analysis of behavioral data recorded after pilocarpine injection did not show any significant differences in intensity and duration of seizures between KD1 and standard diet fed animals. Higher ketogenic ratio KD2 introduced in the normal hippocampal formation prolonged changes in the accumulation of P, K, Zn and Ca. Despite this, both the intensity and duration of seizures were significantly reduced in rats fed with KD2 which suggests that its saving action on the nerve tissue may protect brain from seizure propagation. Also seizure-evoked elemental anomalies in KD2 animals were different than those observed for rats both on KD1 and standard diets. The comparison of seizure experiencing and normal rats on KD2, did not show any statistically significant differences in elemental composition of CA1 and H hippocampal areas whilst in CA3 area only Zn level changed as a result of seizures. DG was the area mostly affected by seizures in KD2 fed rats but areal densities of all examined elements increased in this hippocampal region. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  16. Effects of levothyroxine on visual evoked potential impairment following local injections of lysolecithin into the rat optic chiasm

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    Cobra Payghani

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system which has no any known definitive treatment. Studies have shown that thyroid hormones (THs in addition to their roles in the development of the nervous system and the production of myelin have important roles in the adult's brain function. Since the only way to treat MS is the restoration of myelin, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of levothyroxine on visual evoked potential (VEP impairment following local injections of lysolecithin into the rat optic chiasm. Methods: To induce demyelination, lysolecithin was injected into the optic chiasm of male Wistar rats. VEP recording was used to evaluate demyelination and remyelination before and 10, 17, and 24 days after the lysolecithin injection. The rats received an intraperitoneal injection of levothyroxine with doses 20, 50, and 100 μg/kg in different experimental groups. Results: VEP latency and amplitude showed demyelination at 10 and 17 days after an induced lesion in MS group which was reversed at day 24. Levothyroxine prevented these impairments, especially in high doses. Conclusions: According to the results, lysolecithin-induced demyelination at optic chiasm and VEP impairments can be restored by administration of levothyroxine. Therefore, THs probably have positive effects in demyelinating diseases.

  17. Roles of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors during the sensory stimulation-evoked field potential responses in mouse cerebellar cortical molecular layer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yin-Hua; Zhang, Guang-Jian; Zhao, Jing-Tong; Chu, Chun-Ping; Li, Yu-Zi; Qiu, De-Lai

    2017-11-01

    The functions of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in cerebellar cortex have been widely studied under in vitro condition, but their roles during the sensory stimulation-evoked responses in the cerebellar cortical molecular layer in living animals are currently unclear. We here investigated the roles of NMDARs during the air-puff stimulation on ipsilateral whisker pad-evoked field potential responses in cerebellar cortical molecular layer in urethane-anesthetized mice by electrophysiological recording and pharmacological methods. Our results showed that cerebellar surface administration of NMDA induced a dose-dependent decrease in amplitude of the facial stimulation-evoked inhibitory responses (P1) in the molecular layer, accompanied with decreases in decay time, half-width and area under curve (AUC) of P1. The IC 50 of NMDA induced inhibition in amplitude of P1 was 46.5μM. In addition, application of NMDA induced significant increases in the decay time, half-width and AUC values of the facial stimulation-evoked excitatory responses (N1) in the molecular layer. Application of an NMDAR blocker, D-APV (250μM) abolished the facial stimulation-evoked P1 in the molecular layer. These results suggested that NMDARs play a critical role during the sensory information processing in cerebellar cortical molecular layer in vivo in mice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Potencial evocado miogênico vestibular a baixas frequências de estimulação Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials using low frequency stimuli

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    Aline Cabral de Oliveira

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Os potenciais evocados miogênicos vestibulares são reflexos vestíbulo-cervicais, decorrentes da estimulação do sáculo com sons de forte intensidade. São necessários parâmetros de normalidade para indivíduos jovens normais, utilizando-se estímulos a baixas frequências, as quais configuram a região de maior sensibilidade desse órgão sensorial. OBJETIVO: Realizar normatização do potencial evocado miogênico vestibular para baixas frequências de estimulação. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Captou-se o potencial evocado miogênico vestibular em 160 orelhas, no músculo esternocleidomastoideo, de forma ipsilateral, por meio da promediação de 200 tone bursts, frequência de 250 Hz, intensidade de 95 dB NAn. FORMA DE ESTUDO: Estudo de coorte contemporânea com corte transversal. RESULTADOS: Aplicando-se o teste T de Student ou o Teste de Mann-Whitney, não foi constatada diferença significativa para parâmetros do potencial evocado miogênico vestibular entre os gêneros, para p Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials are vestibulocervical reflexes resulting from sacculus stimulation with strong intensity sounds. Normality parameters are necessary for young normal individuals, using low frequency stimuli, which configure the most sensitive region of this sensory organ. AIM: To establish vestibular evoked myogenic potential standards for low frequency stimulation. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Vestibular evoked myogenic potential was captured from 160 ears, in the ipsilateral sternocleidomastoid muscle, using 200 averaged tone-burst stimuli, at 250 Hz, with an intensity of 95 dB NAn. CASE STUDY: Clinical observational cross-sectional. RESULTS: Neither the student's t-test nor the Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference in latency or vestibular evoked myogenic potential amplitudes, for p <; 0.05. Irrespective of gender, we found latencies of p13-n23 and p13-n23 interpeaks of 13.84 ms (± 1.41, 23.81 ms (±1.99 and 10.62 ms (± 6.56, respectively

  19. Timing of potential and metabolic brain energy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korf, Jakob; Gramsbergen, Jan Bert

    2007-01-01

    functions. We introduce the concepts of potential and metabolic brain energy to distinguish trans-membrane gradients of ions or neurotransmitters and the capacity to generate energy from intra- or extra-cerebral substrates, respectively. Higher brain functions, such as memory retrieval, speaking......The temporal relationship between cerebral electro-physiological activities, higher brain functions and brain energy metabolism is reviewed. The duration of action potentials and transmission through glutamate and GABA are most often less than 5 ms. Subjects may perform complex psycho......-physiological tasks within 50 to 200 ms, and perception of conscious experience requires 0.5 to 2 s. Activation of cerebral oxygen consumption starts after at least 100 ms and increases of local blood flow become maximal after about 1 s. Current imaging technologies are unable to detect rapid physiological brain...

  20. Quantification of the proportion of motor neurons recruited by transcranial electrical stimulation during intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsutsui, Shunji; Yamada, Hiroshi; Hashizume, Hiroshi; Minamide, Akihito; Nakagawa, Yukihiro; Iwasaki, Hiroshi; Yoshida, Munehito

    2013-12-01

    Transcranial motor evoked potentials (TcMEPs) are widely used to monitor motor function during spinal surgery. However, they are much smaller and more variable in amplitude than responses evoked by maximal peripheral nerve stimulation, suggesting that a limited number of spinal motor neurons to the target muscle are excited by transcranial stimulation. The aim of this study was to quantify the proportion of motor neurons recruited during TcMEP monitoring under general anesthesia. In twenty patients who underwent thoracic and/or lumbar spinal surgery with TcMEP monitoring, the triple stimulation technique (TST) was applied to the unilateral upper arm intraoperatively. Total intravenous anesthesia was employed. Trains of four stimuli were delivered with maximal intensity and an inter-pulse interval of 1.5 ms. TST responses were recorded from the abductor digiti minimi muscle, and the negative peak amplitude and area were measured and compared between the TST test (two collisions between transcranial and proximal and distal peripheral stimulation) and control response (two collisions between two proximal and one distal peripheral stimulation). The highest degree of superimposition of the TST test and control responses was chosen from several trials per patient. The average ratios (test:control) were 17.1 % (range 1.8-38 %) for the amplitudes and 21.6 % (range 2.9-40 %) for the areas. The activity of approximately 80 % of the motor units to the target muscle cannot be detected by TcMEP monitoring. Therefore, changes in evoked potentials must be interpreted cautiously when assessing segmental motor function with TcMEP monitoring.

  1. [Maturation of cerebral somatosensory evoked potentials].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadilhac, J; Zhu, Y; Georgesco, M; Echenne, B; Rodiere, M

    1985-07-01

    Cerebral somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were elicited by stimulation of the median nerve and/or posterior tibial nerve in 117 children of 1 day to 16 years old. A major negative wave (N) was consistently recorded from the parietal region of the scalp when the arm was stimulated. The peak latency, the onset latency, the rising time and the duration of H wave are closely correlated with age and body length. The latencies are shortest in the subjects of 1-3 years old. SEPs to lower extremity stimulation were inconstant in the infants before the age of one. The major positive wave (P) has a variable topographic distribution along the middle line, over the scalp. The latencies are also very variable in the different subjects of the same age as well as in the same subject with different locations of active electrode. Among the parameters studied as for N wave, only the rising time of P wave is significantly correlated with age. The latencies of P wave have the shortest value in the subjects of 1-3 years old. The comparison of SEPs to upper and to lower limb stimulations shows that there is no relationship between them in respect to their morphology and amplitude. The minimum value of the latencies of N and P waves was observed at the same age but the difference between the peak latencies of P and N waves in the same subject increases considerably after 2 years of age and reaches the adult value after 5 years of age. These resultats indicate that the maturation of the peripheral somatosensory pathways proceeds at a higher rate than that of the central somatosensory pathways, that the maturation of the somatosensory pathways of the upper limb precedes that of the lower limb, and that the rising time of N or P waves is a good index of cortical maturation. The clinical utility of these SEPs in pediatrics is discussed.

  2. Brainstem auditory-evoked potential in Boxer dogs

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    Mariana Isa Poci Palumbo

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Brainstem auditory-evoked potential (BAEP has been widely used for different purposes in veterinary practice and is commonly used to identify inherited deafness and presbycusis. In this study, 43 Boxer dogs were evaluated using the BAEP. Deafness was diagnosed in 3 dogs (2 bilateral and 1 unilateral allowing the remaining 40 Boxers to be included for normative data analysis including an evaluation on the influence of age on the BAEP. The animals were divided into 2 groups of 20 Boxers each based on age. The mean age was 4.54 years (range, 1-8 in group I, and 9.83 years (range, 8.5-12 in group II. The mean latency for I, III, and V waves were 1.14 (±0.07, 2.64 (±0.11, and 3.48 (±0.10 ms in group I, and 1.20 (±0.12, 2.73 (±0.15, and 3.58 (±0.22 ms in group II, respectively. The mean inter-peak latencies for the I-III, III-V and I-V intervals were 1.50 (±0.15, 0.84 (±0.15, and 2.34 (±0.11 ms in group I, and 1.53 (±0.16, 0.85 (±0.15, and 2.38 (±0.19 ms in group II, respectively. Latencies of waves I and III were significant different between group I and II. For the I-III, III-V and I-V intervals, no significant differences were observed between the 2 groups. As far as we know, this is the first normative study of BAEP obtained from Boxer dogs.

  3. Pudendal somatosensory evoked potentials in normal women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geraldo A. Cavalcanti

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP is an electrophysiological test used to evaluate sensory innervations in peripheral and central neuropathies. Pudendal SSEP has been studied in dysfunctions related to the lower urinary tract and pelvic floor. Although some authors have already described technical details pertaining to the method, the standardization and the influence of physiological variables in normative values have not yet been established, especially for women. The aim of the study was to describe normal values of the pudendal SSEP and to compare technical details with those described by other authors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clitoral sensory threshold and pudendal SSEP latency was accomplished in 38 normal volunteers. The results obtained from stimulation performed on each side of the clitoris were compared to ages, body mass index (BMI and number of pregnancies. RESULTS: The values of clitoral sensory threshold and P1 latency with clitoral left stimulation were respectively, 3.64 ± 1.01 mA and 37.68 ± 2.60 ms. Results obtained with clitoral right stimulation were 3.84 ± 1.53 mA and 37.42 ± 3.12 ms, respectively. There were no correlations between clitoral sensory threshold and P1 latency with age, BMI or height of the volunteers. A significant difference was found in P1 latency between nulliparous women and volunteers who had been previously submitted to cesarean section. CONCLUSIONS: The SSEP latency represents an accessible and reproducible method to investigate the afferent pathways from the genitourinary tract. These results could be used as normative values in studies involving genitourinary neuropathies in order to better clarify voiding and sexual dysfunctions in females.

  4. The motor evoked potential in aids and HAM/TSP State of the evidence El potencial evocado motor en SIDA y HAM/PET

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    Fidias E. Leon-Sarmiento

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: We aimed to better understand the involvement of the corticospinal tract, assessed by non-invasive transcranial stimulation, in order to determine the actual involvement of the motor system in patients with HAM/TSP and AIDS. METHOD: An exhaustive MEDLINE search for the period of 1985 to 2008 for all articles cross-referenced for "HTLV-I, HTLV-II, HTLV-III and HIV, HIV1, HIV2, evoked potential, motor evoked potential, high voltage electrical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetic stimulation, corticomotor physiology, motor pathways, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS, SIDA, tropical spastic paraparesis, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy, HAM, TSP, and HAM/TSP" were selected and analysed. RESULTS: Eighteen papers published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Japanese were identified. Only the central motor conduction time has been analyzed in seropositive patients to human retroviruses. The investigations done on HAM/TSP support the involvement of the pyramidal tract mainly at lower levels, following a centripetal pattern; in AIDS, such an involvement seems to be more prominent at brain levels following a centrifugal pattern. CONCLUSION: The central motor conduction time abnormalities and involvement differences of the corticospinal tract of patients with AIDS and HAM/TSP dissected here would allow to re-orient early neurorehabilitation measures in these retroviruses-associated neurodegenerative disorders. Besides this, more sophisticated and sensitive non-invasive corticospinal stimulation measures that detect early changes in thalamocortical-basal ganglia circuitry will be needed in both clinically established as well as asymptomatic patients at times when the fastest corticospinal fibers remain uninvolved.OBJETIVO: Investigar el compromiso del tracto piramidal, evaluado por estimulación trascranial no invasiva, en pacientes afectados por SIDA y HAM/TSP. MÉTODO: Se realizó una búsqueda en la base de

  5. The intra-individual reproducibility of flash-evoked potentials in a sample of children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schellberg, D; Gasser, T; Köhler, W

    1987-07-01

    Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to flash stimuli were recorded twice from 26 children aged 10-13 years, with an intersession interval of about 10 months. Test-retest reliability was poor for recordings taken from scalp locations overlying non-specific cortex and somewhat better for specific cortex. The size of consistency coefficients (i.e. correlations within session) showed that noise and artefacts were not the decisive factors which lower reliability. A comparison with retest correlations of broad band parameters of the EEG at rest for the same sample showed, to our surprise, smaller retest reliability for VEP parameters. Variability of the VEP in children over time seems to be a substantial as its well-known inter-individual variability.

  6. Automated single-trial assessment of laser-evoked potentials as an objective functional diagnostic tool for the nociceptive system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatem, S M; Hu, L; Ragé, M; Gierasimowicz, A; Plaghki, L; Bouhassira, D; Attal, N; Iannetti, G D; Mouraux, A

    2012-12-01

    To assess the clinical usefulness of an automated analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs). Nociceptive laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) and non-nociceptive somatosensory electrically-evoked potentials (SEPs) were recorded in 37 patients with syringomyelia and 21 controls. LEP and SEP peak amplitudes and latencies were estimated using a single-trial automated approach based on time-frequency wavelet filtering and multiple linear regression, as well as a conventional approach based on visual inspection. The amplitudes and latencies of normal and abnormal LEP and SEP peaks were identified reliably using both approaches, with similar sensitivity and specificity. Because the automated approach provided an unbiased solution to account for average waveforms where no ERP could be identified visually, it revealed significant differences between patients and controls that were not revealed using the visual approach. The automated analysis of ERPs characterized reliably and objectively LEP and SEP waveforms in patients. The automated single-trial analysis can be used to characterize normal and abnormal ERPs with a similar sensitivity and specificity as visual inspection. While this does not justify its use in a routine clinical setting, the technique could be useful to avoid observer-dependent biases in clinical research. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Long-latency auditory evoked potentials with verbal and nonverbal stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oppitz, Sheila Jacques; Didoné, Dayane Domeneghini; Silva, Débora Durigon da; Gois, Marjana; Folgearini, Jordana; Ferreira, Geise Corrêa; Garcia, Michele Vargas

    2015-01-01

    Long-latency auditory evoked potentials represent the cortical activity related to attention, memory, and auditory discrimination skills. Acoustic signal processing occurs differently between verbal and nonverbal stimuli, influencing the latency and amplitude patterns. To describe the latencies of the cortical potentials P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3, as well as P3 amplitude, with different speech stimuli and tone bursts, and to classify them in the presence and absence of these data. A total of 30 subjects with normal hearing were assessed, aged 18-32 years old, matched by gender. Nonverbal stimuli were used (tone burst; 1000Hz - frequent and 4000Hz - rare); and verbal (/ba/ - frequent; /ga/, /da/, and /di/ - rare). Considering the component N2 for tone burst, the lowest latency found was 217.45ms for the BA/DI stimulus; the highest latency found was 256.5ms. For the P3 component, the shortest latency with tone burst stimuli was 298.7 with BA/GA stimuli, the highest, was 340ms. For the P3 amplitude, there was no statistically significant difference among the different stimuli. For latencies of components P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, there were no statistical differences among them, regardless of the stimuli used. There was a difference in the latency of potentials N2 and P3 among the stimuli employed but no difference was observed for the P3 amplitude. Copyright © 2015 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  8. Long-latency auditory evoked potentials with verbal and nonverbal stimuli,

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheila Jacques Oppitz

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Long-latency auditory evoked potentials represent the cortical activity related to attention, memory, and auditory discrimination skills. Acoustic signal processing occurs differently between verbal and nonverbal stimuli, influencing the latency and amplitude patterns. OBJECTIVE: To describe the latencies of the cortical potentials P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3, as well as P3 amplitude, with different speech stimuli and tone bursts, and to classify them in the presence and absence of these data. METHODS: A total of 30 subjects with normal hearing were assessed, aged 18-32 years old, matched by gender. Nonverbal stimuli were used (tone burst; 1000 Hz - frequent and 4000 Hz - rare; and verbal (/ba/ - frequent; /ga/, /da/, and /di/ - rare. RESULTS: Considering the component N2 for tone burst, the lowest latency found was 217.45 ms for the BA/DI stimulus; the highest latency found was 256.5 ms. For the P3 component, the shortest latency with tone burst stimuli was 298.7 with BA/GA stimuli, the highest, was 340 ms. For the P3 amplitude, there was no statistically significant difference among the different stimuli. For latencies of components P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, there were no statistical differences among them, regardless of the stimuli used. CONCLUSION: There was a difference in the latency of potentials N2 and P3 among the stimuli employed but no difference was observed for the P3 amplitude.

  9. Corticobulbar motor evoked potentials from tongue muscles used as a control in cervical spinal surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong-Gun Kim

    Full Text Available Objective: Motor evoked potentials (MEPs changes might be caused to the non-surgically induced factors during cervical spinal surgery. Therefore, control MEPs recorded cranially to the exit of the C5 root are highly recommendable in cervical spinal surgery. We studied whether corticobulbar MEPs (C-MEPs from tongue muscle could be used as a control MEPs in cervical spinal surgery. Methods: Twenty-five consecutive cervical spinal surgeries were analyzed. Stimulation of motor area for tongue was done by subcutaneous electrodes placed at C3/C4 (10–20 EEG System, and recording was done from both sides of tongue. Results: C-MEPs were recorded successfully 24 out of the 25 (96% tested patients. Forty-six out of fifty MEPs (92% from tongue muscles were monitorable from the baseline. In two patients, we could obtain only unilateral C-MEPs. Mean MEPs latencies obtained from the left and right side of the tongue were 11.5 ± 1 ms and 11.5 ± 0.8 ms, respectively. Conclusions: Monitoring C-MEPs from tongue muscles might be useful control in cervical spinal surgery. They were easily elicited and relatively free from phenomenon of peripheral stimulation of the hypoglossal nerves. Significance: This is first study to identify the usefulness of C-MEPs as a control of cervical spinal surgery. Keywords: Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, Motor-evoked potential, Corticospinal tract, Corticobulbar MEPs, Hypoglossal nerve

  10. Study of the correlation of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging in children with spastic cerebral palsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fobe, Lisete Pessoa de Oliveira

    1999-01-01

    Central auditory evaluation in 21 children with cerebral palsy was done with brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) and correlated with brain magnetic resonance imaging findings (MRI); 12 boys and 9 girls between 5 and 12 years old were studied. All children had follow-up at the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology of Hospital das Clinicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo. The control group was done with 17 children, 10 boys and 7 girls (mean age 8.06 years, SD 2.27 years). The BAEP abnormalities were: decrease of latency of wave V; decrease of latency III-V and I-IV intervals at the right side. All patients has MRI supratentorial abnormalities and 11 had brainstem atrophy. The MRI pathologic findings were: ventricular enlargement (n=17 or 80.95%), cortical/subcortical atrophy (n=15 or 71.42%), left brainstem atrophy (n=11 or 52.38%), periventricular leukomalacia (n=10 or 47.61%), infarction in the left middle cerebral artery territory (n=6 or 28.57%), and malformations such as schizencephaly and colpocephaly (n=5 or 23.80%). The findings of the decrease latencies in children with cerebral palsy suggest the contribution of decussating auditory fibers at the lower and upper pons and midbrain, the lack of homogeneity of the surrounding volume of the conductor fibres and the presence of several concurrently active potential generators sources, should be facilitating mechanisms for the nervous input to brainstem. (author)

  11. Study of the correlation of brainstem auditory evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging in children with spastic cerebral palsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fobe, Lisete Pessoa de Oliveira [Sao Paulo Univ., SP (Brazil). Faculdade de Medicina]. E-mail: lispessoa@yahoo.com

    1999-12-01

    Central auditory evaluation in 21 children with cerebral palsy was done with brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) and correlated with brain magnetic resonance imaging findings (MRI); 12 boys and 9 girls between 5 and 12 years old were studied. All children had follow-up at the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology of Hospital das Clinicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo. The control group was done with 17 children, 10 boys and 7 girls (mean age 8.06 years, SD 2.27 years). The BAEP abnormalities were: decrease of latency of wave V; decrease of latency III-V and I-IV intervals at the right side. All patients has MRI supratentorial abnormalities and 11 had brainstem atrophy. The MRI pathologic findings were: ventricular enlargement (n=17 or 80.95%), cortical/subcortical atrophy (n=15 or 71.42%), left brainstem atrophy (n=11 or 52.38%), periventricular leukomalacia (n=10 or 47.61%), infarction in the left middle cerebral artery territory (n=6 or 28.57%), and malformations such as schizencephaly and colpocephaly (n=5 or 23.80%). The findings of the decrease latencies in children with cerebral palsy suggest the contribution of decussating auditory fibers at the lower and upper pons and midbrain, the lack of homogeneity of the surrounding volume of the conductor fibres and the presence of several concurrently active potential generators sources, should be facilitating mechanisms for the nervous input to brainstem. (author)

  12. Clinical application of multifocal visual evoked potentials in children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yukawa, Eiichi; Kim, Yeong-Jin; Kawasaki, Kensuke; Yoshii, Toshiaki; Hara, Yoshiaki

    2006-01-01

    We investigated whether visual field defects could be objectively evaluated using multifocal visual evoked potential (m-VEP) in two children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease in whom it was difficult to measure the visual field. To determine normal waves in m-VEP, recording was performed using a visual evoked response imaging system (VERIS) Junior Science program (Mayo, Aichi, Japan) in 20 healthy children (20 eyes) peak latency and amplitude were used for assessment. In the two children with epilepsy, m-VEPs were recorded, and compared with the results of static perimetry or the lesions observed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In the 20 healthy children, there was no significant difference in the peak latency or amplitude among 4 quadrants by one-way analysis of variance. m-VEP in the children with epilepsy showed abnormal waves, corresponding to the visual field defects in the static perimetry or the lesions observed by MRI. Objective evaluation of visual field defects using m-VEP may be useful in children with epilepsy caused by intracranial disease in whom kinetic/static perimetry as a subjective examination is difficult. (author)

  13. A brain electrophysiological correlate of depth perception

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akay, Ahmet; Celebi, Gurbuz

    2009-01-01

    To investigate brain electrical activity accompanying depth perception using random-dot stereograms. Additional experiments were conducted to ascertain the specificity of this potential to depth perception. In the present study, we performed 3 different and independent experiments on 34 subjects to establish the relationship between depth perception and its cortical electrophysiological correlate. Visual evoked potentials in response to visual stimulation by random-dot stereograms were recorded. To achieve this goal, a data acquisition and analysis system, different from common visual evoked potential recording systems, consisting of 2 personal computers, was used. One of the computers was used to generate the visual stimulus patterns and the other to record and digitally average the potentials evoked by the stimuli. This study was carried out at the Department of Biophysics of Ege University Medical School, Izmir, Turkey, from April to December, 2006. A negative potential component, which is thought to arise in association with depth perception, was recorded from the occipital region from 30 of the 34 subjects. Typically, it had a mean latency of 211.46 ms and 6.40 micron V amplitude. The negative potential is related to depth perception, as this component is present in the responses to stimulus, which carries disparity information but is absent when the stimulus is switched to no disparity information. Additional experiments also showed that the specificity of this component to depth perception becomes evident beyond doubt. (author)

  14. Comparison of a new composite index based on midlatency auditory evoked potentials and electroencephalographic parameters with bispectral index (BIS) during moderate propofol sedation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadzidiakos, D; Petersen, S; Baars, J; Herold, K; Rehberg, B

    2006-11-01

    Derived parameters of the electroencephalogram and auditory evoked potentials can be used to determine depth of anaesthesia and sedation. However, it is not known whether any parameter can identify the occurrence of awareness in individual patients. We have compared the performance of bispectral index and a new composite index derived from auditory evoked potentials and the electroencephalogram (AAI 1.61) in predicting consciousness, explicit and implicit memory during moderate sedation with propofol. Twenty-one patients with spinal anaesthesia received intraoperatively propofol at the age-corrected C(50) for loss of consciousness and were presented test words via headphones. Bispectral index and AAI 1.61 (auditory evoked potentials, AEP-Monitor2) were recorded in parallel as well as the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation-score. Postoperatively, testing for explicit and implicit memory formation was performed. Bispectral index and AAI 1.61 correlated well with loss of consciousness defined by an Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation-score of 2 (identical P(K) of 0.87), but did not allow a prediction of postoperative explicit or implicit recall. Both bispectral index and AAI may be indices of depth of sedation rather than indicators of memory formation, which persists during propofol sedation even after loss of consciousness.

  15. Pattern visual evoked potentials elicited by organic electroluminescence screen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, Celso Soiti; Shinoda, Kei; Matsumoto, Harue; Funada, Hideaki; Sasaki, Kakeru; Minoda, Haruka; Iwata, Takeshi; Mizota, Atsushi

    2014-01-01

    To determine whether organic electroluminescence (OLED) screens can be used as visual stimulators to elicit pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (p-VEPs). Checkerboard patterns were generated on a conventional cathode-ray tube (S710, Compaq Computer Co., USA) screen and on an OLED (17 inches, 320 × 230 mm, PVM-1741, Sony, Tokyo, Japan) screen. The time course of the luminance changes of each monitor was measured with a photodiode. The p-VEPs elicited by these two screens were recorded from 15 eyes of 9 healthy volunteers (22.0 ± 0.8 years). The OLED screen had a constant time delay from the onset of the trigger signal to the start of the luminescence change. The delay during the reversal phase from black to white for the pattern was 1.0 msec on the cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen and 0.5 msec on the OLED screen. No significant differences in the amplitudes of P100 and the implicit times of N75 and P100 were observed in the p-VEPs elicited by the CRT and the OLED screens. The OLED screen can be used as a visual stimulator to elicit p-VEPs; however the time delay and the specific properties in the luminance change must be taken into account.

  16. Changes in vestibular evoked myogenic potentials after Meniere attacks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Shih-Wei; Yang, Ting-Hua; Young, Yi-Ho

    2005-09-01

    The aim of this study was to apply videonystagmography (VNG) and vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) tests to patients with Meniere attacks, to explore the mechanics of where saccular disorders may affect the semicircular canals. From January 2001 to December 2003, 12 consecutive patients with unilateral definite Meniere's disease with vertiginous attacks underwent VNG for recording spontaneous nystagmus, as well as VEMP tests. At the very beginning of the Meniere attack, the spontaneous nystagmus beat toward the lesion side in 5 patients (42%) and toward the healthy side in 7 patients (58%). Twenty-four hours later, only 6 patients (50%) showed spontaneous nystagmus beating toward the healthy side. Nevertheless, spontaneous nystagmus subsided in all patients within 48 hours. The VEMP test was performed within 24 hours of a Meniere attack; the VEMPs were normal in 4 patients and abnormal in 8 patients (67%). After 48 hours, 4 patients with initially abnormal VEMPs had resolution and return to normal VEMPs, and the other 4 patients still had absent VEMPs. Most patients (67%) with Meniere attacks revealed abnormal VEMPs, indicating that the saccule participates in a Meniere attack. This is an important idea that stimulates consideration of the mechanism of Meniere attacks.

  17. The influence of caffeine on calorics and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs).

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNerney, Kathleen; Coad, Mary Lou; Burkard, Robert

    2014-03-01

    Prior to undergoing vestibular function testing, it is not uncommon for clinicians to request that patients abstain from caffeine 24 hr prior to the administration of the tests. However, there is little evidence that caffeine affects vestibular function. To evaluate whether the results from two tests commonly used in a clinical setting to assess vestibular function (i.e., calorics and the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential [cVEMP]) are affected by caffeine. Subjects were tested with and without consuming a moderate amount of caffeine prior to undergoing calorics and cVEMPs. Thirty young healthy controls (mean = 23.28 yr; females = 21). Subjects were excluded if they reported any history of vestibular/balance impairment. The Variotherm Plus Caloric Irrigator was used to administer the water, while the I-Portal VNG software was used to collect and analyze subjects' eye movements. The TECA Evoked Potential System was used for the cVEMP stimulus presentation as well as for the data collection. During cVEMP collection, subjects were asked to monitor their sternocleidomastoid muscle contraction with a Delsys EMG monitor. IBM SPSS Statistics 20 was used to statistically analyze the results via paired t-tests. Analysis of the data revealed that ingestion of caffeine did not significantly influence the results of either test of vestibular function. The results revealed that a moderate amount of caffeine does not have a clinically significant effect on the results from caloric and cVEMP tests in young healthy adults. Future research is necessary to determine whether similar results would be obtained from individuals with a vestibular impairment, as well as older adults. American Academy of Audiology.

  18. Demonstration of brain noise on human EEG signals in perception of bistable images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grubov, Vadim V.; Runnova, Anastasiya E.; Kurovskaya, Maria K.; Pavlov, Alexey N.; Koronovskii, Alexey A.; Hramov, Alexander E.

    2016-03-01

    In this report we studied human brain activity in the case of bistable visual perception. We proposed a new approach for quantitative characterization of this activity based on analysis of EEG oscillatory patterns and evoked potentials. Accordingly to theoretical background, obtained experimental EEG data and results of its analysis we studied a characteristics of brain activity during decision-making. Also we have shown that decisionmaking process has the special patterns on the EEG data.

  19. Supervised dictionary learning for inferring concurrent brain networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Shijie; Han, Junwei; Lv, Jinglei; Jiang, Xi; Hu, Xintao; Zhao, Yu; Ge, Bao; Guo, Lei; Liu, Tianming

    2015-10-01

    Task-based fMRI (tfMRI) has been widely used to explore functional brain networks via predefined stimulus paradigm in the fMRI scan. Traditionally, the general linear model (GLM) has been a dominant approach to detect task-evoked networks. However, GLM focuses on task-evoked or event-evoked brain responses and possibly ignores the intrinsic brain functions. In comparison, dictionary learning and sparse coding methods have attracted much attention recently, and these methods have shown the promise of automatically and systematically decomposing fMRI signals into meaningful task-evoked and intrinsic concurrent networks. Nevertheless, two notable limitations of current data-driven dictionary learning method are that the prior knowledge of task paradigm is not sufficiently utilized and that the establishment of correspondences among dictionary atoms in different brains have been challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel supervised dictionary learning and sparse coding method for inferring functional networks from tfMRI data, which takes both of the advantages of model-driven method and data-driven method. The basic idea is to fix the task stimulus curves as predefined model-driven dictionary atoms and only optimize the other portion of data-driven dictionary atoms. Application of this novel methodology on the publicly available human connectome project (HCP) tfMRI datasets has achieved promising results.

  20. Brain-Computer Interface Controlled Cyborg: Establishing a Functional Information Transfer Pathway from Human Brain to Cockroach Brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Guangye; Zhang, Dingguo

    2016-01-01

    An all-chain-wireless brain-to-brain system (BTBS), which enabled motion control of a cyborg cockroach via human brain, was developed in this work. Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) based brain-computer interface (BCI) was used in this system for recognizing human motion intention and an optimization algorithm was proposed in SSVEP to improve online performance of the BCI. The cyborg cockroach was developed by surgically integrating a portable microstimulator that could generate invasive electrical nerve stimulation. Through Bluetooth communication, specific electrical pulse trains could be triggered from the microstimulator by BCI commands and were sent through the antenna nerve to stimulate the brain of cockroach. Serial experiments were designed and conducted to test overall performance of the BTBS with six human subjects and three cockroaches. The experimental results showed that the online classification accuracy of three-mode BCI increased from 72.86% to 78.56% by 5.70% using the optimization algorithm and the mean response accuracy of the cyborgs using this system reached 89.5%. Moreover, the results also showed that the cyborg could be navigated by the human brain to complete walking along an S-shape track with the success rate of about 20%, suggesting the proposed BTBS established a feasible functional information transfer pathway from the human brain to the cockroach brain.

  1. In-vitro characterization of a cochlear implant system for recording of evoked compound action potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Modern cochlear implants have integrated recording systems for measuring electrically evoked compound action potentials of the auditory nerve. The characterization of such recording systems is important for establishing a reliable basis for the interpretation of signals acquired in vivo. In this study we investigated the characteristics of the recording system integrated into the MED-EL PULSARCI100 cochlear implant, especially its linearity and resolution, in order to develop a mathematical model describing the recording system. Methods In-vitro setup: The cochlear implant, including all attached electrodes, was fixed in a tank of physiologic saline solution. Sinusoidal signals of the same frequency but with different amplitudes were delivered via a signal generator for measuring and recording on a single electrode. Computer simulations: A basic mathematical model including the main elements of the recording system, i.e. amplification and digitalization stage, was developed. For this, digital output for sinusoidal input signals of different amplitudes were calculated using in-vitro recordings as reference. Results Using an averaging of 100 measurements the recording system behaved linearly down to approximately -60 dB of the input signal range. Using the same method, a system resolution of 10 μV was determined for sinusoidal signals. The simulation results were in very good agreement with the results obtained from in-vitro experiments. Conclusions The recording system implemented in the MED-EL PULSARCI100 cochlear implant for measuring the evoked compound action potential of the auditory nerve operates reliably. The developed mathematical model provides a good approximation of the recording system. PMID:22531599

  2. Low luminance/eyes closed and monochromatic stimulations reduce variability of flash visual evoked potential latency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Senthil Kumar Subramanian

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: Visual evoked potentials are useful in investigating the physiology and pathophysiology of the human visual system. Flash visual evoked potential (FVEP, though technically easier, has less clinical utility because it shows great variations in both latency and amplitude for normal subjects. Aim: To study the effect of eye closure, low luminance, and monochromatic stimulation on the variability of FVEPs. Subjects and Methods: Subjects in self-reported good health in the age group of 18-30 years were divided into three groups. All participants underwent FVEP recording with eyes open and with white light at 0.6 J luminance (standard technique. Next recording was done in group 1 with closed eyes, group 2 with 1.2 and 20 J luminance, and group 3 with red and blue lights, while keeping all the other parameters constant. Two trials were given for each eye, for each technique. The same procedure was repeated at the same clock time on the following day. Statistical Analysis: Variation in FVEP latencies between the individuals (interindividual variability and the variations within the same individual for four trials (intraindividual variability were assessed using coefficient of variance (COV. The technique with lower COV was considered the better method. Results: Recording done with closed eyes, 0.6 J luminance, and monochromatic light (blue > red showed lower interindividual and intraindividual variability in P2 and N2 as compared to standard techniques. Conclusions: Low luminance flash stimulations and monochromatic light will reduce FVEP latency variability and may be clinically useful modifications of FVEP recording technique.

  3. Pattern reversal visual evoked potentials in migraine subjects without aura

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro F. Moreira Filho

    1994-12-01

    Full Text Available Twenty seven patients with migraine without aura were investigated. The age was between 12 and 54 years; 5 were men and 22 women. The diagnosis of migraine was made according to the classification proposed by the International Headache Society. The method of visual evoked potential was performed with pattern reversal (VEP-PR, with monocular stimulation. The stimulation was performed with pattern reversal with 4x4 cm black and white and red and green squared screen placed 1 meter from the nasion at stimulus frequency 1/s; 128 individual trials were analysed. The VEP-PR with black/white and red/green study showed a significant increase of value of the P-100 latency in 10 migraine patients. In 8 cases the LP100 in VEP-PR black/white was normal but in VEP-PR red/green the LP100 showed increase. Specifically in 1 of our cases, LP100 were normal in VEP-PR black/white but in the red/green there were no reproductice waves. On basis of these observations we consider that the method of VEP-PR is an useful instrument for investigation of migraine patients without aura.

  4. Evaluation of an automated analysis for pain-related evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wulf Michael

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents initial steps towards an auto-mated analysis for pain-related evoked potentials (PREP to achieve a higher objectivity and non-biased examination as well as a reduction in the time expended during clinical daily routines. While manually examining, each epoch of an en-semble of stimulus-locked EEG signals, elicited by electrical stimulation of predominantly intra-epidermal small nerve fibers and recorded over the central electrode (Cz, is in-spected for artifacts before calculating the PREP by averag-ing the artifact-free epochs. Afterwards, specific peak-latencies (like the P0-, N1 and P1-latency are identified as certain extrema in the PREP’s waveform. The proposed automated analysis uses Pearson’s correlation and low-pass differentiation to perform these tasks. To evaluate the auto-mated analysis’ accuracy its results of 232 datasets were compared to the results of the manually performed examina-tion. Results of the automated artifact rejection were compa-rable to the manual examination. Detection of peak-latencies was more heterogeneous, indicating some sensitivity of the detected events upon the criteria used during data examina-tion.

  5. Pressure-induced basilar membrane position shifts and the stimulus-evoked potentials in the low-frequency region of the guinea pig cochlea

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fridberger, A; vanMaarseveen, JTPW; Scarfone, E; Ulfendahl, M; Flock, B; Flock, A

    1997-01-01

    We have used the guinea pig isolated temporal bone preparation to investigate changes in the nonlinear properties of the tone-evoked cochlear potentials during reversible step displacements of the basilar membrane towards either the scala tympani or the scala vestibuli. The position shifts were

  6. Two Sides of the Same Coin: ERP and Wavelet Analyses of Visual Potentials Evoked and Induced by Task-Relevant Faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van der Lubbe, Rob H J; Szumska, Izabela; Fajkowska, Małgorzata

    2016-01-01

    New analysis techniques of the electroencephalogram (EEG) such as wavelet analysis open the possibility to address questions that may largely improve our understanding of the EEG and clarify its relation with related potentials (ER Ps). Three issues were addressed. 1) To what extent can early ERERP components be described as transient evoked oscillations in specific frequency bands? 2) Total EEG power (TP) after a stimulus consists of pre-stimulus baseline power (BP), evoked power (EP), and induced power (IP), but what are their respective contributions? 3) The Phase Reset model proposes that BP predicts EP, while the evoked model holds that BP is unrelated to EP; which model is the most valid one? EEG results on NoGo trials for 123 individuals that took part in an experiment with emotional facial expressions were examined by computing ERPs and by performing wavelet analyses on the raw EEG and on ER Ps. After performing several multiple regression analyses, we obtained the following answers. First, the P1, N1, and P2 components can by and large be described as transient oscillations in the α and θ bands. Secondly, it appears possible to estimate the separate contributions of EP, BP, and IP to TP, and importantly, the contribution of IP is mostly larger than that of EP. Finally, no strong support was obtained for either the Phase Reset or the Evoked model. Recent models are discussed that may better explain the relation between raw EEG and ERPs.

  7. The brain in time: insights from neuromagnetic recordings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hari, Riitta; Parkkonen, Lauri; Nangini, Cathy

    2010-03-01

    The millisecond time resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) is instrumental for investigating the brain basis of sensory processing, motor planning, cognition, and social interaction. We review the basic principles, recent progress, and future potential of MEG in noninvasive tracking of human brain activity. Cortical activation sequences from tens to hundreds of milliseconds can be followed during, e.g., perception, motor action, imitation, and language processing by recording both spontaneous and evoked brain signals. Moreover, tagging of sensory input can be used to reveal neuronal mechanisms of binaural interaction and perception of ambiguous images. The results support the emerging ideas of multiple, hierarchically organized temporal scales in human brain function. Instrumentation and data analysis methods are rapidly progressing, enabling attempts to decode the four-dimensional spatiotemporal signal patterns to reveal correlates of behavior and mental contents.

  8. Contribution to the study of the radioprotective effect of serotonin on brain spontaneous and evoked electrical activities in the adult rabbit following whole-body lethal $gamma$-irradiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fatome, M; Court, L

    1973-11-01

    Thesis. Submitted to Paris Univ., (France). A 1 to 12 mg/kg serotonin- creatine-sulfate intravenous injection seems to act only slightly on the chronic implanted rabbit CNS except for an increase in latencies and delays of the fast components of evoked potentials and a generalized decrease in the total energy of the signal occurring 20 to 60 min after the injection. The CNS is given a real protection by a 10 mg/kg serotonin injec, tion 20 min before a 650 R whole-body exposure, the spontaneous or induced electrical activity being slightly disturbed. In the hours following irradiation the total energy increase is less important than in the unprotected animal, and there is no clear variation towards the low frequencies. Serotonin could act on the brain structures and the total energy of the signal through its depressing effect. Its radioprotective effect could act, at least partly, through the CNS. (auth)

  9. Relationship between median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials and spinal cord injury levels in patients with quadriplegia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Arruda Serra Gaspar, M I F; Cliquet, A; Fernandes Lima, V M; de Abreu, D C C

    2009-05-01

    Cross-sectional study. To observe if there is a relationship between the level of injury by the American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) and cortical somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) recordings of the median nerve in patients with quadriplegia. Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic at the university hospital in Brazil. Fourteen individuals with quadriplegia and 8 healthy individuals were evaluated. Electrophysiological assessment of the median nerve was performed by evoked potential equipment. The injury level was obtained by ASIA. N(9), N(13) and N(20) were analyzed based on the presence or absence of responses. The parameters used for analyzing these responses were the latency and the amplitude. Data were analyzed using mixed-effect models. N(9) responses were found in all patients with quadriplegia with a similar latency and amplitude observed in healthy individuals; N(13) responses were not found in any patients with quadriplegia. N(20) responses were not found in C5 patients with quadriplegia but it was present in C6 and C7 patients. Their latencies were similar to healthy individuals (P>0.05) but the amplitudes were decreased (P<0.05). This study suggests that the SSEP responses depend on the injury level, considering that the individuals with C6 and C7 injury levels, both complete and incomplete, presented SSEP recordings in the cortical area. It also showed a relationship between the level of spinal cord injury assessed by ASIA and the median nerve SSEP responses, through the latency and amplitude recordings.

  10. Pattern Visual Evoked Potentials Elicited by Organic Electroluminescence Screen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Celso Soiti Matsumoto

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. To determine whether organic electroluminescence (OLED screens can be used as visual stimulators to elicit pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (p-VEPs. Method. Checkerboard patterns were generated on a conventional cathode-ray tube (S710, Compaq Computer Co., USA screen and on an OLED (17 inches, 320 × 230 mm, PVM-1741, Sony, Tokyo, Japan screen. The time course of the luminance changes of each monitor was measured with a photodiode. The p-VEPs elicited by these two screens were recorded from 15 eyes of 9 healthy volunteers (22.0 ± 0.8 years. Results. The OLED screen had a constant time delay from the onset of the trigger signal to the start of the luminescence change. The delay during the reversal phase from black to white for the pattern was 1.0 msec on the cathode-ray tube (CRT screen and 0.5 msec on the OLED screen. No significant differences in the amplitudes of P100 and the implicit times of N75 and P100 were observed in the p-VEPs elicited by the CRT and the OLED screens. Conclusion. The OLED screen can be used as a visual stimulator to elicit p-VEPs; however the time delay and the specific properties in the luminance change must be taken into account.

  11. Changes of Transient Visual Evoked Potentials in Dyslexic Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ka Yan Leung

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: To investigate the characteristics of Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP in dyslexics. Methods: Fourteen children, 7 dyslexics and 7 control, aged 7 to 8 years were recruited. All dyslexic subjects were diagnosed by clinical psychologist. All subjects are from mainstream primary schools in Hong Kong, using Chinese and Cantonese as their primary written and spoken language, having normal visual acuity and IQ. Children with reported emotional or behavioral problems or binocular vision problem were excluded. All the subjects participated in pattern-reversal VEP measurements binocularly with 1000msec recording time. Four conditions of stimulations (checkersize: 180 min of arc were applied. (15-Hz at 15% contrast (25-Hz at 1% contrast (315-Hz at 15% contrast (415-Hz at 1% contrast Results: At 15% contrast stimulus, dyslexic subjects showed smaller amplitudes in both frequencies compared with the control group, especially in higher frequency. At 1% contrast stimulus, dyslexic subjects also showed smaller amplitudes in both frequencies and obvious reduction was observed at the later part of the recording period. No observable difference was showed in the latency of both contrast conditions. Conclusion: The attenuated VEP responses in higher frequency at low contrast condition in dyslexic group showed the changes of the transient visual response and this implies an abnormality in magnocellular pathway in dyslexia.

  12. Action potential-evoked calcium release is impaired in single skeletal muscle fibers from heart failure patients.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marino DiFranco

    Full Text Available Exercise intolerance in chronic heart failure (HF has been attributed to abnormalities of the skeletal muscles. Muscle function depends on intact excitation-contraction coupling (ECC, but ECC studies in HF models have been inconclusive, due to deficiencies in the animal models and tools used to measure calcium (Ca2+ release, mandating investigations in skeletal muscle from HF patients. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Ca2+ release is significantly impaired in the skeletal muscle of HF patients in whom exercise capacity is severely diminished compared to age-matched healthy volunteers.Using state-of-the-art electrophysiological and optical techniques in single muscle fibers from biopsies of the locomotive vastus lateralis muscle, we measured the action potential (AP-evoked Ca2+ release in 4 HF patients and 4 age-matched healthy controls. The mean peak Ca2+ release flux in fibers obtained from HF patients (10±1.2 µM/ms was markedly (2.6-fold and significantly (p<0.05 smaller than in fibers from healthy volunteers (28±3.3 µM/ms. This impairment in AP-evoked Ca2+ release was ubiquitous and was not explained by differences in the excitability mechanisms since single APs were indistinguishable between HF patients and healthy volunteers.These findings prove the feasibility of performing electrophysiological experiments in single fibers from human skeletal muscle, and offer a new approach for investigations of myopathies due to HF and other diseases. Importantly, we have demonstrated that one step in the ECC process, AP-evoked Ca2+ release, is impaired in single muscle fibers in HF patients.

  13. Transmitter modulation of spike-evoked calcium transients in arousal related neurons

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kohlmeier, Kristi Anne; Leonard, Christopher S

    2006-01-01

    Nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-containing cholinergic neurons in the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) influence behavioral and motivational states through their projections to the thalamus, ventral tegmental area and a brainstem 'rapid eye movement (REM)-induction' site. Action potential-evoked intracel......Nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-containing cholinergic neurons in the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) influence behavioral and motivational states through their projections to the thalamus, ventral tegmental area and a brainstem 'rapid eye movement (REM)-induction' site. Action potential......-evoked intracellular calcium transients dampen excitability and stimulate NO production in these neurons. In this study, we investigated the action of several arousal-related neurotransmitters and the role of specific calcium channels in these LDT Ca(2+)-transients by simultaneous whole-cell recording and calcium...... of cholinergic LDT neurons and that inhibition of spike-evoked Ca(2+)-transients is a common action of neurotransmitters that also activate GIRK channels in these neurons. Because spike-evoked calcium influx dampens excitability, our findings suggest that these 'inhibitory' transmitters could boost firing rate...

  14. Non-decussating retinal-fugal fibre syndrome. An inborn achiasmatic malformation associated with visuotopic misrouting, visual evoked potential ipsilateral asymmetry and nystagmus

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Apkarian, P.; Bour, L. J.; Barth, P. G.; Wenniger-Prick, L.; Verbeeten, B.

    1995-01-01

    We report a newly identified syndrome in which nasal retinal fibres fail to decussate due to the inborn absence of an optic chiasm. Visual evoked potential (VEP) assessment and neuro-opththalmic evaluation in two unrelated, non-albino children revealed the unusual visual pathway anomaly in the form

  15. Direct electrical stimulation of human cortex evokes high gamma activity that predicts conscious somatosensory perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller, Leah; Rolston, John D.; Fox, Neal P.; Knowlton, Robert; Rao, Vikram R.; Chang, Edward F.

    2018-04-01

    Objective. Direct electrical stimulation (DES) is a clinical gold standard for human brain mapping and readily evokes conscious percepts, yet the neurophysiological changes underlying these percepts are not well understood. Approach. To determine the neural correlates of DES, we stimulated the somatosensory cortex of ten human participants at frequency-amplitude combinations that both elicited and failed to elicit conscious percepts, meanwhile recording neural activity directly surrounding the stimulation site. We then compared the neural activity of perceived trials to that of non-perceived trials. Main results. We found that stimulation evokes distributed high gamma activity, which correlates with conscious perception better than stimulation parameters themselves. Significance. Our findings suggest that high gamma activity is a reliable biomarker for perception evoked by both natural and electrical stimuli.

  16. Auditory evoked potentials to abrupt pitch and timbre change of complex tones: electrophysiological evidence of 'streaming'?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, S J; Longe, O; Vaz Pato, M

    1998-03-01

    Examination of the cortical auditory evoked potentials to complex tones changing in pitch and timbre suggests a useful new method for investigating higher auditory processes, in particular those concerned with 'streaming' and auditory object formation. The main conclusions were: (i) the N1 evoked by a sudden change in pitch or timbre was more posteriorly distributed than the N1 at the onset of the tone, indicating at least partial segregation of the neuronal populations responsive to sound onset and spectral change; (ii) the T-complex was consistently larger over the right hemisphere, consistent with clinical and PET evidence for particular involvement of the right temporal lobe in the processing of timbral and musical material; (iii) responses to timbral change were relatively unaffected by increasing the rate of interspersed changes in pitch, suggesting a mechanism for detecting the onset of a new voice in a constantly modulated sound stream; (iv) responses to onset, offset and pitch change of complex tones were relatively unaffected by interfering tones when the latter were of a different timbre, suggesting these responses must be generated subsequent to auditory stream segregation.

  17. EEG Classification for Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface Using a Tensor Based Multiclass Multimodal Analysis Scheme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Hongfei; Li, Jie; Lu, Rongrong; Gu, Rong; Cao, Lei; Gong, Xiaoliang

    2016-01-01

    Electroencephalogram- (EEG-) based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems usually utilize one type of changes in the dynamics of brain oscillations for control, such as event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS), steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), and P300 evoked potentials. There is a recent trend to detect more than one of these signals in one system to create a hybrid BCI. However, in this case, EEG data were always divided into groups and analyzed by the separate processing procedures. As a result, the interactive effects were ignored when different types of BCI tasks were executed simultaneously. In this work, we propose an improved tensor based multiclass multimodal scheme especially for hybrid BCI, in which EEG signals are denoted as multiway tensors, a nonredundant rank-one tensor decomposition model is proposed to obtain nonredundant tensor components, a weighted fisher criterion is designed to select multimodal discriminative patterns without ignoring the interactive effects, and support vector machine (SVM) is extended to multiclass classification. Experiment results suggest that the proposed scheme can not only identify the different changes in the dynamics of brain oscillations induced by different types of tasks but also capture the interactive effects of simultaneous tasks properly. Therefore, it has great potential use for hybrid BCI.

  18. Theta Burst Stimulation of the Cerebellum Modifies the TMS-Evoked N100 Potential, a Marker of GABA Inhibition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allanah Harrington

    Full Text Available Theta burst stimulation (TBS of the cerebellum, a potential therapy for neurological disease, can modulate corticospinal excitability via the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway, but it is uncertain whether its effects are mediated via inhibitory or facilitatory networks. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 30Hz cerebellar TBS on the N100 waveform of the TMS-evoked potential (TEP, a marker of intracortical GABAB-mediated inhibition. 16 healthy participants (aged 18-30 years; 13 right handed and 3 left handed received 30Hz intermittent TBS (iTBS, continuous TBS (cTBS or sham stimulation over the right cerebellum, in three separate sessions. The first 8 participants received TBS at a stimulus intensity of 80% of active motor threshold (AMT, while the remainder received 90% of AMT. Motor evoked potentials (MEP and TEP were recorded before and after each treatment, by stimulating the first dorsal interosseus area of the left motor cortex. Analysis of the 13 right handed participants showed that iTBS at 90% of AMT increased the N100 amplitude compared to sham and cTBS, without significantly altering MEP amplitude. cTBS at 80% of active motor threshold decreased the N100 amplitude and cTBS overall reduced resting MEP amplitude. The study demonstrates effects of 30Hz cerebellar TBS on inhibitory cortical networks that may be useful for treatment of neurological conditions associated with dysfunctional intracortical inhibition.

  19. Right hemispheric dominance of visual phenomena evoked by intracerebral stimulation of the human visual cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonas, Jacques; Frismand, Solène; Vignal, Jean-Pierre; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Koessler, Laurent; Vespignani, Hervé; Rossion, Bruno; Maillard, Louis

    2014-07-01

    Electrical brain stimulation can provide important information about the functional organization of the human visual cortex. Here, we report the visual phenomena evoked by a large number (562) of intracerebral electrical stimulations performed at low-intensity with depth electrodes implanted in the occipito-parieto-temporal cortex of 22 epileptic patients. Focal electrical stimulation evoked primarily visual hallucinations with various complexities: simple (spot or blob), intermediary (geometric forms), or complex meaningful shapes (faces); visual illusions and impairments of visual recognition were more rarely observed. With the exception of the most posterior cortical sites, the probability of evoking a visual phenomenon was significantly higher in the right than the left hemisphere. Intermediary and complex hallucinations, illusions, and visual recognition impairments were almost exclusively evoked by stimulation in the right hemisphere. The probability of evoking a visual phenomenon decreased substantially from the occipital pole to the most anterior sites of the temporal lobe, and this decrease was more pronounced in the left hemisphere. The greater sensitivity of the right occipito-parieto-temporal regions to intracerebral electrical stimulation to evoke visual phenomena supports a predominant role of right hemispheric visual areas from perception to recognition of visual forms, regardless of visuospatial and attentional factors. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Evoking prescribed spike times in stochastic neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doose, Jens; Lindner, Benjamin

    2017-09-01

    Single cell stimulation in vivo is a powerful tool to investigate the properties of single neurons and their functionality in neural networks. We present a method to determine a cell-specific stimulus that reliably evokes a prescribed spike train with high temporal precision of action potentials. We test the performance of this stimulus in simulations for two different stochastic neuron models. For a broad range of parameters and a neuron firing with intermediate firing rates (20-40 Hz) the reliability in evoking the prescribed spike train is close to its theoretical maximum that is mainly determined by the level of intrinsic noise.

  1. The effects of ultraviolet-A radiation on visual evoked potentials in the young human eye

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanford, B.E.; Beacham, S.; Hanifin, J.P.; Hannon, P.; Streletz, L.; Sliney, D.; Brainard, G.C.

    1996-01-01

    A recent study from this laboratory using visual evoked potentials (VEPs) demonstrated that children's eyes are capable of detecting ultraviolet radiation. The aim of this study was to compare dose-response relationships in two age groups, 6-10 years (n=10) and 20-25 years (n=10). Under photopic viewing conditions (550 lux), exposures of monochromatic UV-A (339 nm) and visible radiation (502 nm) were correlated to VEPs. The results demonstrate that monochromatic UV-A can elicit age and dose dependent responses in the human visual system, suggesting that the eyes of children are more responsive to UV stimuli than the eyes of young adults. (au) 17 refs

  2. Sex-specific automatic responses to infant cries: TMS reveals greater excitability in females than males in motor evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene eMessina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging reveals that infant cries activate parts of the premotor cortical system. To validate this effect in a more direct way, we used event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS. Here, we investigated the presence and the time course of modulation of motor cortex excitability in young adults who listened to infant cries. Specifically, we recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs from the biceps brachii (BB and interosseus dorsalis primus (ID1 muscles as produced by TMS delivered from 0 to 250 ms from sound onset in six steps of 50 ms in 10 females and 10 males. We observed an excitatory modulation of MEPs at 100 ms from the onset of the infant cry specific to females and to the ID1 muscle. We regard this modulation as a response to natural cry sounds because it was delayed, attenuated to stimuli increasingly different from natural cry, and was absent in a separate group of females who listened to non-cry stimuli physically matched to natural infant cries. Furthermore, the 100-ms latency of this modulation is not compatible with a voluntary reaction to the stimulus but suggests an automatic, bottom-up audiomotor association. The brains of adult females appear to be tuned to respond to infant cries with automatic motor excitation. This effect may reflect the greater and longstanding burden on females in caregiving infants.

  3. The functional neuroanatomy of odor evoked autobiographical memories cued by odors and words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arshamian, Artin; Iannilli, Emilia; Gerber, Johannes C; Willander, Johan; Persson, Jonas; Seo, Han-Seok; Hummel, Thomas; Larsson, Maria

    2013-01-01

    Behavioral evidence indicates that odor evoked autobiographical memories (OEAMs) are older, more emotional, less thought of and induce stronger time traveling characteristics than autobiographical memories (AMs) evoked by other modalities. The main aim of this study was to explore the neural correlates of AMs evoked by odors as a function of retrieval cue. Participants were screened for specific OEAMs and later presented with the odor cue and its verbal referent in an fMRI paradigm. Because the same OEAM was retrieved across both cue formats (odor and word), potential cue dependent brain activations were investigated. The overall results showed that odor and word cued OEAMs activated regions typically associated with recollection of autobiographical information. Although no odors were presented, a verbal cuing of the OEAMs activated areas associated with olfactory perception (e.g., piriform cortex). However, relative to word cuing, an odor cuing of OEAMs resulted in more activity in MTL regions such as the parahippocampus, and areas involved in visual vividness (e.g., occipital gyrus and precuneus). Furthermore, odor cues activated areas related to emotional processing, such as limbic and tempopolar regions significantly more. In contrast, word cues relative to odor cues recruited a more widespread and bilateral prefrontal activity. Hippocampus activity did not vary as function of the remoteness of the memory, but recollection of OEAMs from the 1(st) vs the 2(nd) decade of life showed specific activation in the right OFC, whereas the 2(nd) reflected a higher activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Bilateral theta-burst magnetic stimulation influence on event-related brain potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, Nuno; Duarte, Marta; Gonçalves, Helena; Silva, Ricardo; Gama, Jorge; Pato, Maria Vaz

    2018-01-01

    Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) can be a non-invasive technique to modulate cognitive functions, with promising therapeutic potential, but with some contradictory results. Event related potentials are used as a marker of brain deterioration and can be used to evaluate TBS-related cognitive performance, but its use remains scant. This study aimed to study bilateral inhibitory and excitatory TBS effects upon neurocognitive performance of young healthy volunteers, using the auditory P300' results. Using a double-blind sham-controlled study, 51 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to five different groups, two submitted to either excitatory (iTBS) or inhibitory (cTBS) stimulation over the left dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC), two other actively stimulated the right DLPFC and finally a sham stimulation group. An oddball based auditory P300 was performed just before a single session of iTBS, cTBS or sham stimulation and repeated immediately after. P300 mean latency comparison between the pre- and post-TBS stimulation stages revealed significantly faster post stimulation latencies only when iTBS was performed on the left hemisphere (p = 0.003). Right and left hemisphere cTBS significantly delayed P300 latency (right p = 0.026; left p = 0.000). Multiple comparisons for N200 showed slower latencies after iTBS over the right hemisphere. No significant difference was found in amplitude variation. TBS appears to effectively influence neural networking involved in P300 formation, but effects seem distinct for iTBS vs cTBS and for the right or the left hemisphere. P300 evoked potentials can be an effective and practical tool to evaluate transcranial magnetic stimulation related outcomes.

  5. Effects of stimulus duration on gustatory evoked potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rotvel, Camilla Arndal; Møller, Stine; Kivisaar, Kätlin

    The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of tastant stimulus duration on the brain response. The brain response was measured by electroencephalography (EEG) which measures neural processes with high temporal resolution and may therefore complement sensory panel assessments...

  6. Effect of practicing yoga on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shambhu, Tejaswini; Kumar, Shubhaganga Dhrruva; Prabhu, Prashanth

    2017-10-01

    The present study attempted to determine the effect of practicing yoga on functioning of sacculo-collic pathway using cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP). cVEMP was recorded from 40 participants (20 who practice yoga regularly and 20 who do not practice yoga regularly). The differences in amplitude of P1, N1, P1-N1 complex, asymmetry ratio and latencies of P1 and N1 of cVEMP were compared between both the groups. The results of the study showed that there was a significant increase (p yoga was significantly lower (Mean = 6.73) compared to the control group (Mean = 19.13). Multivariate regression analyses suggested that the number of years of yoga practice significantly predicted the amplitude of P1-N1 complex (β = 0.70, p yoga improves postural control and strengthens the muscles and vestibular system leading to enhanced cVEMP responses. The plastic changes in the vestibular system and increased muscular strength because of constant practicing of yoga could have led to changes in cVEMP responses. However, further studies on a larger group of individuals are essential for better clinical applicability of the results.

  7. Activation of serotonin 2A receptors underlies the psilocybin-induced effects on α oscillations, N170 visual-evoked potentials, and visual hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kometer, Michael; Schmidt, André; Jäncke, Lutz; Vollenweider, Franz X

    2013-06-19

    Visual illusions and hallucinations are hallmarks of serotonergic hallucinogen-induced altered states of consciousness. Although the serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin activates multiple serotonin (5-HT) receptors, recent evidence suggests that activation of 5-HT2A receptors may lead to the formation of visual hallucinations by increasing cortical excitability and altering visual-evoked cortical responses. To address this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of psilocybin (215 μg/kg vs placebo) on both α oscillations that regulate cortical excitability and early visual-evoked P1 and N170 potentials in healthy human subjects. To further disentangle the specific contributions of 5-HT2A receptors, subjects were additionally pretreated with the preferential 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin (50 mg vs placebo). We found that psilocybin strongly decreased prestimulus parieto-occipital α power values, thus precluding a subsequent stimulus-induced α power decrease. Furthermore, psilocybin strongly decreased N170 potentials associated with the appearance of visual perceptual alterations, including visual hallucinations. All of these effects were blocked by pretreatment with the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin, indicating that activation of 5-HT2A receptors by psilocybin profoundly modulates the neurophysiological and phenomenological indices of visual processing. Specifically, activation of 5-HT2A receptors may induce a processing mode in which stimulus-driven cortical excitation is overwhelmed by spontaneous neuronal excitation through the modulation of α oscillations. Furthermore, the observed reduction of N170 visual-evoked potentials may be a key mechanism underlying 5-HT2A receptor-mediated visual hallucinations. This change in N170 potentials may be important not only for psilocybin-induced states but also for understanding acute hallucinatory states seen in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.

  8. Neither retinal nor brain atrophy can be shown in patients with isolated unilateral optic neuritis at the time of presentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kallenbach, Klaus; Sander, Birgit; Tsakiri, Anna

    2011-01-01

    were calculated based on MRI. Additionally, visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded. RESULTS: Neither OCT measurements nor brain volume measures revealed signs of localized or generalized atrophy in patients compared with healthy volunteers. Stratification of patients into high risk based...

  9. Normative findings of electrically evoked compound action potential measurements using the neural response telemetry of the Nucleus CI24M cochlear implant system.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cafarelli-Dees, D.; Dillier, N.; Lai, W.K.; Wallenberg, E. von; Dijk, B. van; Akdas, F.; Aksit, M.; Batman, C.; Beynon, A.J.; Burdo, S.; Chanal, J.M.; Collet, L.; Conway, M.; Coudert, C.; Craddock, L.; Cullington, H.; Deggouj, N.; Fraysse, B.; Grabel, S.; Kiefer, J.; Kiss, J.G.; Lenarz, T.; Mair, A.; Maune, S.; Muller-Deile, J.; Piron, J.P.; Razza, S.; Tasche, C.; Thai-Van, H.; Toth, F.; Truy, E.; Uziel, A.; Smoorenburg, G.F.

    2005-01-01

    One hundred and forty-seven adult recipients of the Nucleus 24 cochlear implant system, from 13 different European countries, were tested using neural response telemetry to measure the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP), according to a standardised postoperative measurement

  10. Is the auditory evoked P2 response a biomarker of learning?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly eTremblay

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Even though auditory training exercises for humans have been shown to improve certain perceptual skills of individuals with and without hearing loss, there is a lack of knowledge pertaining to which aspects of training are responsible for the perceptual gains, and which aspects of perception are changed. To better define how auditory training impacts brain and behavior, electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography have been used to determine the time course and coincidence of cortical modulations associated with different types of training. Here we focus on P1-N1-P2 auditory evoked responses (AEP, as there are consistent reports of gains in P2 amplitude following various types of auditory training experiences; including music and speech-sound training. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the auditory evoked P2 response is a biomarker of learning. To do this, we taught native English speakers to identify a new pre-voiced temporal cue that is not used phonemically in the English language so that coinciding changes in evoked neural activity could be characterized. To differentiate possible effects of repeated stimulus exposure and a button-pushing task from learning itself, we examined modulations in brain activity in a group of participants who learned to identify the pre-voicing contrast and compared it to participants, matched in time, and stimulus exposure, that did not. The main finding was that the amplitude of the P2 auditory evoked response increased across repeated EEG sessions for all groups, regardless of any change in perceptual performance. What’s more, these effects were retained for months. Changes in P2 amplitude were attributed to changes in neural activity associated with the acquisition process and not the learned outcome itself. A further finding was the expression of a late negativity (LN wave 600-900 ms post-stimulus onset, post-training, exclusively for the group that learned to identify the pre

  11. New Perspectives on Spontaneous Brain Activity: Dynamic Networks and Energy Matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tozzi, Arturo; Zare, Marzieh; Benasich, April A

    2016-01-01

    Spontaneous brain activity has received increasing attention as demonstrated by the exponential rise in the number of published article on this topic over the last 30 years. Such "intrinsic" brain activity, generated in the absence of an explicit task, is frequently associated with resting-state or default-mode networks (DMN)s. The focus on characterizing spontaneous brain activity promises to shed new light on questions concerning the structural and functional architecture of the brain and how they are related to "mind". However, many critical questions have yet to be addressed. In this review, we focus on a scarcely explored area, specifically the energetic requirements and constraints of spontaneous activity, taking into account both thermodynamical and informational perspectives. We argue that the "classical" definitions of spontaneous activity do not take into account an important feature, that is, the critical thermodynamic energetic differences between spontaneous and evoked brain activity. Spontaneous brain activity is associated with slower oscillations compared with evoked, task-related activity, hence it exhibits lower levels of enthalpy and "free-energy" (i.e., the energy that can be converted to do work), thus supporting noteworthy thermodynamic energetic differences between spontaneous and evoked brain activity. Increased spike frequency during evoked activity has a significant metabolic cost, consequently, brain functions traditionally associated with spontaneous activity, such as mind wandering, require less energy that other nervous activities. We also review recent empirical observations in neuroscience, in order to capture how spontaneous brain dynamics and mental function can be embedded in a non-linear dynamical framework, which considers nervous activity in terms of phase spaces, particle trajectories, random walks, attractors and/or paths at the edge of the chaos. This takes us from the thermodynamic free-energy, to the realm of "variational

  12. The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on contrast sensitivity and visual evoked potential amplitude in adults with amblyopia

    OpenAIRE

    Ding, Zhaofeng; Li, Jinrong; Spiegel, Daniel P.; Chen, Zidong; Chan, Lily; Luo, Guangwei; Yuan, Junpeng; Deng, Daming; Yu, Minbin; Thompson, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of vision that occurs when the visual cortex receives decorrelated inputs from the two eyes during an early critical period of development. Amblyopic eyes are subject to suppression from the fellow eye, generate weaker visual evoked potentials (VEPs) than fellow eyes and have multiple visual deficits including impairments in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Primate models and human psychophysics indicate that stronger suppression is associated...

  13. Adverse Weather Evokes Nostalgia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Tilburg, Wijnand A P; Sedikides, Constantine; Wildschut, Tim

    2018-03-01

    Four studies examined the link between adverse weather and the palliative role of nostalgia. We proposed and tested that (a) adverse weather evokes nostalgia (Hypothesis 1); (b) adverse weather causes distress, which predicts elevated nostalgia (Hypothesis 2); (c) preventing nostalgia exacerbates weather-induced distress (Hypothesis 3); and (d) weather-evoked nostalgia confers psychological benefits (Hypothesis 4). In Study 1, participants listened to recordings of wind, thunder, rain, and neutral sounds. Adverse weather evoked nostalgia. In Study 2, participants kept a 10-day diary recording weather conditions, distress, and nostalgia. We also obtained meteorological data. Adverse weather perceptions were positively correlated with distress, which predicted higher nostalgia. Also, adverse natural weather was associated with corresponding weather perceptions, which predicted elevated nostalgia. (Results were mixed for rain.) In Study 3, preventing nostalgia (via cognitive load) increased weather-evoked distress. In Study 4, weather-evoked nostalgia was positively associated with psychological benefits. The findings pioneer the relevance of nostalgia as source of comfort in adverse weather.

  14. Light evokes melanopsin-dependent vocalization and neural activation associated with aversive experience in neonatal mice.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anton Delwig

    Full Text Available Melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs are the only functional photoreceptive cells in the eye of newborn mice. Through postnatal day 9, in the absence of functional rods and cones, these ipRGCs mediate a robust avoidance behavior to a light source, termed negative phototaxis. To determine whether this behavior is associated with an aversive experience in neonatal mice, we characterized light-induced vocalizations and patterns of neuronal activation in regions of the brain involved in the processing of aversive and painful stimuli. Light evoked distinct melanopsin-dependent ultrasonic vocalizations identical to those emitted under stressful conditions, such as isolation from the litter. In contrast, light did not evoke the broad-spectrum calls elicited by acute mechanical pain. Using markers of neuronal activation, we found that light induced the immediate-early gene product Fos in the posterior thalamus, a brain region associated with the enhancement of responses to mechanical stimulation of the dura by light, and thought to be the basis for migrainous photophobia. Additionally, light induced the phosphorylation of extracellular-related kinase (pERK in neurons of the central amygdala, an intracellular signal associated with the processing of the aversive aspects of pain. However, light did not activate Fos expression in the spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis, the primary receptive field for painful stimulation to the head. We conclude that these light-evoked vocalizations and the distinct pattern of brain activation in neonatal mice are consistent with a melanopsin-dependent neural pathway involved in processing light as an aversive but not acutely painful stimulus.

  15. Evoked potentials after painful cutaneous electrical stimulation depict pain relief during a conditioned pain modulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Höffken, Oliver; Özgül, Özüm S; Enax-Krumova, Elena K; Tegenthoff, Martin; Maier, Christoph

    2017-08-29

    Conditioned pain modulation (CPM) evaluates the pain modulating effect of a noxious conditioning stimulus (CS) on another noxious test stimulus (TS), mostly based solely on subjective pain ratings. We used painful cutaneous electrical stimulation (PCES) to induce TS in a novel CPM-model. Additionally, to evaluate a more objective parameter, we recorded the corresponding changes of cortical evoked potentials (PCES-EP). We examined the CPM-effect in 17 healthy subjects in a randomized controlled cross-over design during immersion of the non-dominant hand into 10 °C or 24 °C cold water (CS). Using three custom-built concentric surface electrodes, electrical stimuli were applied on the dominant hand, inducing pain of 40-60 on NRS 0-100 (TS). At baseline, during and after CS we assessed the electrically induced pain intensity and electrically evoked potentials recorded over the central electrode (Cz). Only in the 10 °C-condition, both pain (52.6 ± 4.4 (baseline) vs. 30.3 ± 12.5 (during CS)) and amplitudes of PCES-EP (42.1 ± 13.4 μV (baseline) vs. 28.7 ± 10.5 μV (during CS)) attenuated during CS and recovered there after (all p pain ratings during electrical stimulation and amplitudes of PCES-EP correlated significantly with each other (r = 0.5) and with CS pain intensity (r = 0.5). PCES-EPs are a quantitative measure of pain relief, as changes in the electrophysiological response are paralleled by a consistent decrease in subjective pain ratings. This novel CPM paradigm is a feasible method, which could help to evaluate the function of the endogenous pain modulation processes. German Clinical Trials Register DRKS-ID: DRKS00012779 , retrospectively registered on 24 July 2017.

  16. The Involvement of Endogenous Neural Oscillations in the Processing of Rhythmic Input: More Than a Regular Repetition of Evoked Neural Responses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoefel, Benedikt; ten Oever, Sanne; Sack, Alexander T.

    2018-01-01

    It is undisputed that presenting a rhythmic stimulus leads to a measurable brain response that follows the rhythmic structure of this stimulus. What is still debated, however, is the question whether this brain response exclusively reflects a regular repetition of evoked responses, or whether it also includes entrained oscillatory activity. Here we systematically present evidence in favor of an involvement of entrained neural oscillations in the processing of rhythmic input while critically pointing out which questions still need to be addressed before this evidence could be considered conclusive. In this context, we also explicitly discuss the potential functional role of such entrained oscillations, suggesting that these stimulus-aligned oscillations reflect, and serve as, predictive processes, an idea often only implicitly assumed in the literature. PMID:29563860

  17. Nicotine Receptor Subtype-Specific Effects on Auditory Evoked Oscillations and Potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Featherstone, Robert E.; Phillips, Jennifer M.; Thieu, Tony; Ehrlichman, Richard S.; Halene, Tobias B.; Leiser, Steven C.; Christian, Edward; Johnson, Edwin; Lerman, Caryn; Siegel, Steven J.

    2012-01-01

    Background Individuals with schizophrenia show increased smoking rates which may be due to a beneficial effect of nicotine on cognition and information processing. Decreased amplitude of the P50 and N100 auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) is observed in patients. Both measures show normalization following administration of nicotine. Recent studies identified an association between deficits in auditory evoked gamma oscillations and impaired information processing in schizophrenia, and there is evidence that nicotine normalizes gamma oscillations. Although the role of nicotine receptor subtypes in augmentation of ERPs has received some attention, less is known about how these receptor subtypes regulate the effect of nicotine on evoked gamma activity. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined the effects of nicotine, the α7 nicotine receptor antagonist methyllycaconitine (MLA) the α4β4/α4β2 nicotine receptor antagonist dihydro-beta-erythroidine (DHβE), and the α4β2 agonist AZD3480 on P20 and N40 amplitude as well as baseline and event-related gamma oscillations in mice, using electrodes in hippocampal CA3. Nicotine increased P20 amplitude, while DHβE blocked nicotine-induced enhancements in P20 amplitude. Conversely, MLA did not alter P20 amplitude either when presented alone or with nicotine. Administration of the α4β2 specific agonist AZD3480 did not alter any aspect of P20 response, suggesting that DHβE blocks the effects of nicotine through a non-α4β2 receptor specific mechanism. Nicotine and AZD3480 reduced N40 amplitude, which was blocked by both DHβE and MLA. Finally, nicotine significantly increased event-related gamma, as did AZD3480, while DHβE but not MLA blocked the effect of nicotine on event-related gamma. Conclusions/Significance These results support findings showing that nicotine-induced augmentation of P20 amplitude occurs via a DHβE sensitive mechanism, but suggests that this does not occur through activation of α4β2

  18. Effects of memory strategy training on performance and event-related brain potentials of children with ADHD in an episodic memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonkman, Lisa M; Hurks, Petra P; Schleepen, Tamara M J

    2016-10-01

    Evidence for memory problems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accumulating. Attempting to counter such problems, in the present study children with ADHD aged 8-12 years underwent a six-week metacognitive memory strategy training (MST) or one of two other active trainings, either a metacognitive attention-perceptual-motor training (APM) or placebo training consisting of playing board games (PLA). Effects of the training on episodic memory and underlying brain processes were investigated by comparing performance and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) on pre- and post-training sessions in an old/new recognition task between the three training groups. Potential far transfer effects of the memory strategy training were investigated by measuring performance on neuropsychological attention and memory-span tasks and parent-rated ADHD symptoms. The metacognitive memory strategy training led to significantly improved memory performance and enhanced amplitude of left parietal P600 activity associated with the process of memory recollection when compared to PLA, but APM training evoked similar improvements. Memory performance gains were significantly correlated with the memory-related ERP effects. Preliminary far transfer effects of MST training were found on attention and working memory performance and on parent-rated ADHD symptoms, although these results need replication with larger and better IQ-matched groups.

  19. Influência dos contrastes de fala nos potenciais evocados auditivos corticais The influence of speech stimuli contrast in cortical auditory evoked potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kátia de Freitas Alvarenga

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Estudos voltados aos potenciais evocados auditivos com estímulos de fala em indivíduos ouvintes são importantes para compreender como a complexidade do estímulo influencia nas características do potencial cognitivo auditivo gerado. OBJETIVO: Caracterizar o potencial evocado auditivo cortical e o potencial cognitivo auditivo P3 com estímulos de contrastes vocálico e consonantal em indivíduos com audição normal. MÉTODO: Participaram deste estudo 31 indivíduos sem alterações auditivas, neurológicas e de linguagem na faixa etária de 7 a 30 anos. Os potenciais evocados auditivos corticais e cognitivo auditivo P3 foram registrados nos canais ativos Fz e Cz utilizando-se os contrastes de fala consonantal (/ba/-/da/ e vocálico (/i/-/a/. Desenho: Estudo de coorte, transversal e prospectivo. RESULTADOS: Houve diferença entre o contraste de fala utilizado e as latências dos componentes N2 (p = 0,00 e P3 (p = 0,00, assim como entre o canal ativo considerado (Fz/Cz e os valores de latência e amplitude de P3. Estas diferenças não ocorreram para os componentes exógenos N1 e P2. CONCLUSÃO: O contraste do estímulo de fala, vocálico ou consonantal, deve ser considerado na análise do potencial evocado cortical, componente N2, e do potencial cognitivo auditivo P3.Studies about cortical auditory evoked potentials using the speech stimuli in normal hearing individuals are important for understanding how the complexity of the stimulus influences the characteristics of the cortical potential generated. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the cortical auditory evoked potential and the P3 auditory cognitive potential with the vocalic and consonantal contrast stimuli in normally hearing individuals. METHOD: 31 individuals with no risk for hearing, neurologic and language alterations, in the age range between 7 and 30 years, participated in this study. The cortical auditory evoked potentials and the P3 auditory cognitive one were recorded in the Fz and Cz

  20. Vestibular neuritis: three-dimensional videonystagmography and vestibular evoked myogenic potential results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, C W; Young, Y H; Wu, C H

    2000-10-01

    Eight patients diagnosed with vestibular neuritis received the newly developed three-dimensional videonystagmography (3D VNG) and vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) examination in order to localize the lesion site. Two (25%) of the 8 patients exhibited spontaneous nystagmus with 3 components, indicating that both the horizontal semicircular canal (HSCC) and anterior semicircular canal (ASCC) were affected. The remaining 6 patients (75%) displayed only horizontal nystagmus, meaning that only the HSCC was involved. Seven (88%) of the 8 patients had bilateral normal VEMPs, revealing sparing of the posterior semicircular canal (PSCC). In a comparative study, another seven patients with vestibular neuritis 1 year post-treatment also received the caloric test, 3D VNG and VEMP examination. Only one patient exhibited spontaneous nystagmus. An absent caloric response of the lesioned side persisted in 5 (71%) of the 7 patients. However, all patients showed normal VEMPs bilaterally. 3D VNG and VEMP examination indicates that vestibular neuritis mainly affects the superior division of the vestibular nerve, which innervates the HSCC and ASCC. Meanwhile, the function of the PSCC and saccule, innervated by the inferior vestibular nerve, is preserved.

  1. Music evokes vivid autobiographical memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belfi, Amy M; Karlan, Brett; Tranel, Daniel

    2016-08-01

    Music is strongly intertwined with memories-for example, hearing a song from the past can transport you back in time, triggering the sights, sounds, and feelings of a specific event. This association between music and vivid autobiographical memory is intuitively apparent, but the idea that music is intimately tied with memories, seemingly more so than other potent memory cues (e.g., familiar faces), has not been empirically tested. Here, we compared memories evoked by music to those evoked by famous faces, predicting that music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) would be more vivid. Participants listened to 30 songs, viewed 30 faces, and reported on memories that were evoked. Memories were transcribed and coded for vividness as in Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J. F., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. [2002. Aging and autobiographical memory: Dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval. Psychology and Aging, 17, 677-689]. In support of our hypothesis, MEAMs were more vivid than autobiographical memories evoked by faces. MEAMs contained a greater proportion of internal details and a greater number of perceptual details, while face-evoked memories contained a greater number of external details. Additionally, we identified sex differences in memory vividness: for both stimulus categories, women retrieved more vivid memories than men. The results show that music not only effectively evokes autobiographical memories, but that these memories are more vivid than those evoked by famous faces.

  2. Postoperative changes in visual evoked potentials and cognitive function tests following sevoflurane anaesthesia.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Iohom, G

    2012-02-03

    We tested the hypothesis that minor disturbance of the visual pathway persists following general anaesthesia even when clinical discharge criteria are met. To test this, we measured visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in 13 ASA I or II patients who did not receive any pre-anaesthetic medication and underwent sevoflurane anaesthesia. VEPs were recorded on four occasions, before anaesthesia and at 30, 60, and 90 min after emergence from anaesthesia. Patients completed visual analogue scales (VAS) for sedation and anxiety, a Trieger Dot Test (TDT) and a Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) immediately before each VEP recording. These results were compared using Student\\'s t-test. P<0.05 was considered significant. VEP latency was prolonged (P<0.001) and amplitude diminished (P<0.05) at 30, 60, and 90 min after emergence from anaesthesia, when VAS scores for sedation and anxiety, TDT, and DSST had returned to pre-anaesthetic levels.

  3. Sex differences in the jealousy-evoking nature of a rival's body build

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dijkstra, Pieternel; Buunk, Abraham (Bram)

    This study among 185 college students showed that potential rivals with a relatively low waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) evoked more jealousy in women than in men. In contrast, rivals with a relatively high shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR) evoked more jealousy in men than in women, particularly when the rival

  4. Ongoing compound field potentials from octopus brain are labile and vertebrate-like.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, T H

    1984-05-01

    Ongoing electrical activity was recorded from the brain of the virtually intact, semirestrained, unanesthetized octopus by semimicroelectrodes thrust through the cartilage into the optic, vertical or basal lobe. With flexible lead-in wires such electrodes were carried by and moved with the head without causing movement artifacts. Controls suggest that the activity reported comes from the brain; it is reversibly flattened by doses of urethane that do not embarrass respiration. Muscle potentials are only troublesome on occasion. Seen through a wideband filter, neuronal spikes are usually small or below noise level under these conditions; slow waves (1-70 Hz) dominate, with a maximum less than 25 Hz, usually less than 10 Hz and no consistent sharp peaks. The fall in power above ca. 25 Hz is usually slower than in the typical vertebrate EEG but the average power spectrum is much more like those of vertebrate brains than of cerebral ganglia of other invertebrates (insect, crustacean, gastropod). Variance among sample epochs is large, e.g. short spells may have relatively much more low frequency (less than 25 Hz) or more 'hashy' high frequency (greater than 50 Hz) energy; there may be runs of spikes. Fluctuation in the composition of ongoing activity is graphically shown by writing out in parallel the outputs of several narrow band (one octave) filters; this shows irregular low frequency waxing and waning of the amplitude in each band. The envelopes were computed and their peak power is around 1 Hz or lower; the waxing and waning in the several bands is sometimes strongly correlated, especially when the envelope amplitude is large and slow. Optic lobe activity tends usually to be faster, with more small spikey hash than in the vertical lobe. The described electrical activity of the brain is strikingly episodic; it is recorded during seconds or minutes separated by long intervals of nearly electrical silence (10-40 dB lower power; the difference larger at frequencies

  5. touché is required for touch evoked generator potentials within vertebrate sensory neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Low, Sean E.; Ryan, Joel; Sprague, Shawn M.; Hirata, Hiromi; Cui, Wilson W.; Zhou, Weibin; Hume, Richard I.; Kuwada, John Y.; Saint-Amant, Louis

    2010-01-01

    The process by which light-touch in vertebrates is transformed into an electrical response in cutaneous mechanosensitive neurons is a largely unresolved question. To address this question we undertook a forward genetic screen in zebrafish (Danio rerio) to identify mutants exhibiting abnormal touch-evoked behaviors, despite the presence of sensory neurons and peripheral neurites. One family, subsequently named touché, was found to harbor a recessive mutation which produced offspring that were unresponsive to light-touch, but responded to a variety of other sensory stimuli. The optogenetic activation of motor behaviors by touché mutant sensory neurons expressing ChannelRhodopsin-2 suggested that the synaptic output of sensory neurons was intact, consistent with a defect in sensory neuron activation. To explore sensory neuron activation we developed an in vivo preparation permitting the precise placement of a combined electrical and tactile stimulating probe upon eGFP positive peripheral neurites. In wild type larva electrical and tactile stimulation of peripheral neurites produced action potentials detectable within the cell body. In a subset of these sensory neurons an underlying generator potential could be observed in response to subthreshold tactile stimuli. A closer examination revealed that the amplitude of the generator potential was proportional to the stimulus amplitude. When assayed touché mutant sensory neurons also responded to electrical stimulation of peripheral neurites similar to wild type larvae, however tactile stimulation of these neurites failed to uncover a subset of sensory neurons possessing generator potentials. These findings suggest that touché is required for generator potentials, and that generator potentials underlie responsiveness to light-touch in zebrafish. PMID:20631165

  6. The real-time link between person perception and action: brain potential evidence for dynamic continuity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Jonathan B; Ambady, Nalini; Midgley, Katherine J; Holcomb, Phillip J

    2011-01-01

    Using event-related potentials, we investigated how the brain extracts information from another's face and translates it into relevant action in real time. In Study 1, participants made between-hand sex categorizations of sex-typical and sex-atypical faces. Sex-atypical faces evoked negativity between 250 and 550 ms (N300/N400 effects), reflecting the integration of accumulating sex-category knowledge into a coherent sex-category interpretation. Additionally, the lateralized readiness potential revealed that the motor cortex began preparing for a correct hand response while social category knowledge was still gradually evolving in parallel. In Study 2, participants made between-hand eye-color categorizations as part of go/no-go trials that were contingent on a target's sex. On no-go trials, although the hand did not actually move, information about eye color partially prepared the motor cortex to move the hand before perception of sex had finalized. Together, these findings demonstrate the dynamic continuity between person perception and action, such that ongoing results from face processing are immediately and continuously cascaded into the motor system over time. The preparation of action begins based on tentative perceptions of another's face before perceivers have finished interpreting what they just saw. © 2010 Psychology Press, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

  7. Cholinergic Potentiation of Restoration of Visual Function after Optic Nerve Damage in Rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mira Chamoun

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Enhancing cortical plasticity and brain connectivity may improve residual vision following a visual impairment. Since acetylcholine plays an important role in attention and neuronal plasticity, we explored whether potentiation of the cholinergic transmission has an effect on the visual function restoration. To this end, we evaluated for 4 weeks the effect of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil on brightness discrimination, visually evoked potentials, and visual cortex reactivity after a bilateral and partial optic nerve crush in adult rats. Donepezil administration enhanced brightness discrimination capacity after optic nerve crush compared to nontreated animals. The visually evoked activation of the primary visual cortex was not restored, as measured by evoked potentials, but the cortical neuronal activity measured by thallium autometallography was not significantly affected four weeks after the optic nerve crush. Altogether, the results suggest a role of the cholinergic system in postlesion cortical plasticity. This finding agrees with the view that restoration of visual function may involve mechanisms beyond the area of primary damage and opens a new perspective for improving visual rehabilitation in humans.

  8. Effects of Ketamine and Ketamine Metabolites on Evoked Striatal Dopamine Release, Dopamine Receptors, and Monoamine Transporters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Can, Adem; Zanos, Panos; Moaddel, Ruin; Kang, Hye Jin; Dossou, Katinia S. S.; Wainer, Irving W.; Cheer, Joseph F.; Frost, Douglas O.; Huang, Xi-Ping

    2016-01-01

    Following administration at subanesthetic doses, (R,S)-ketamine (ketamine) induces rapid and robust relief from symptoms of depression in treatment-refractory depressed patients. Previous studies suggest that ketamine’s antidepressant properties involve enhancement of dopamine (DA) neurotransmission. Ketamine is rapidly metabolized to (2S,6S)- and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK), which have antidepressant actions independent of N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor inhibition. These antidepressant actions of (2S,6S;2R,6R)-HNK, or other metabolites, as well as ketamine’s side effects, including abuse potential, may be related to direct effects on components of the dopaminergic (DAergic) system. Here, brain and blood distribution/clearance and pharmacodynamic analyses at DA receptors (D1–D5) and the DA, norepinephrine, and serotonin transporters were assessed for ketamine and its major metabolites (norketamine, dehydronorketamine, and HNKs). Additionally, we measured electrically evoked mesolimbic DA release and decay using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry following acute administration of subanesthetic doses of ketamine (2, 10, and 50 mg/kg, i.p.). Following ketamine injection, ketamine, norketamine, and multiple hydroxynorketamines were detected in the plasma and brain of mice. Dehydronorketamine was detectable in plasma, but concentrations were below detectable limits in the brain. Ketamine did not alter the magnitude or kinetics of evoked DA release in the nucleus accumbens in anesthetized mice. Neither ketamine’s enantiomers nor its metabolites had affinity for DA receptors or the DA, noradrenaline, and serotonin transporters (up to 10 μM). These results suggest that neither the side effects nor antidepressant actions of ketamine or ketamine metabolites are associated with direct effects on mesolimbic DAergic neurotransmission. Previously observed in vivo changes in DAergic neurotransmission following ketamine administration are likely indirect. PMID

  9. CT Angiography in the Diagnosis of Brain Death

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sawicki, Marcin; Bohatyrewicz, Romuald; Walecka, Anna; Sołek-Pastuszka, Joanna; Rowiński, Olgierd; Walecki, Jerzy

    2014-01-01

    Summary Brain death is defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the entire brain, including the brainstem. Brain death is principally established using clinical criteria including coma, absence of brainstem reflexes and loss of central drive to breathe assessed with apnea test. In situations in which clinical testing cannot be performed or when uncertainty exists about the reliability of its parts due to confounding conditions ancillary tests (i.a. imaging studies) may be useful. The objective of ancillary tests in the diagnosis of brain death is to demonstrate the absence of cerebral electrical activity (EEG and evoked potentials) or cerebral circulatory arrest. In clinical practice catheter cerebral angiography, perfusion scintigraphy, transcranial Doppler sonography, CT angiography and MR angiography are used. Other methods, like perfusion CT, xenon CT, MR spectroscopy, diffusion weighted MRI and functional MRI are being studied as potentially useful in the diagnosis of brain death. CT angiography has recently attracted attention as a promising alternative to catheter angiography – a reference test in the diagnosis of brain death. Since 1998 several major studies were published and national guidelines were introduced in several countries (e.g. in France, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada). This paper reviews technique, characteristic findings and criteria for the diagnosis of cerebral circulatory arrest in CT angiography

  10. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential in Hypoglossal Nerve Schwannoma: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajasekaran, Aravind Kumar; Savardekar, Amey Rajan; Shivashankar, Nagaraja Rao

    2018-02-01

    Schwannoma of the hypoglossal nerve is rare. This case report documents an atypical abnormality of the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) in a patient with schwannoma of the hypoglossal nerve. The observed abnormality was attributed to the proximity of the hypoglossal nerve to the spinal accessory nerve in the medullary cistern and base of the skull. To report cVEMP abnormality in a patient with hypoglossal nerve schwannoma and provide an anatomical correlation for this abnormality. Case report. A 44-yr-old woman. Pure-tone and speech audiometry, tympanometry, acoustic stapedial reflex, auditory brainstem response, and cVEMP testing were performed. The audiological test results were normal except for the absence of cVEMP on the lesion side (right). A cVEMP abnormality indicating a compromised spinal accessory nerve was observed in a patient with hypoglossal nerve schwannoma. This case report highlights the importance of recording cVEMP in relevant neurological conditions and provides clinical proof for the involvement of the spinal accessory nerve in the vestibulocollic reflex pathway. American Academy of Audiology

  11. [Event-related brain potentials when Russian verbs being conjugated: to the problem of language processing modularity].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dan'ko, S G; Boĭtsova, Iu A; Solov'eva, M L; Chernigovskaia, T V; Medvedev, S V

    2014-01-01

    In the light of alternative conceptions of "two-system" and "single-system" models of language processing the efforts have been undertaken to study brain mechanisnis for generation of regular and irregular forms of Russian verbs. The 19 EEG channels of evoked activity were registered along with casual alternations of speech morphology operations to be compared. Verbs of imperfective aspect in the form of an infinitive, belonging either to a group of productive verbs (default, conventionally regular class), or toan unproductive group of verbs (conventionally irregular class) were presented to healthy subjects. The subjects were requested to produce first person present time forms of these verbs. Results of analysis of event related potentials (ERP) for a group of 22 persons are presented. Statistically reliable ERP amplitude distinctions between the verb groups are found onlyin the latencies 600-850 ms in central and parietal zones of the cortex. In these latencies ERP values associated with a presentation of irregular verbs are negative in relation to ERP values associated with the presentation of regular verbs. The received results are interpreted as a consequence of various complexity of mental work with verbs of these different groups and presumably don't support a hypothesis of universality of the "two-system" brain mechanism for processing of the regular and irregular language forms.

  12. Extendable supervised dictionary learning for exploring diverse and concurrent brain activities in task-based fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Shijie; Han, Junwei; Hu, Xintao; Jiang, Xi; Lv, Jinglei; Zhang, Tuo; Zhang, Shu; Guo, Lei; Liu, Tianming

    2018-06-01

    Recently, a growing body of studies have demonstrated the simultaneous existence of diverse brain activities, e.g., task-evoked dominant response activities, delayed response activities and intrinsic brain activities, under specific task conditions. However, current dominant task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (tfMRI) analysis approach, i.e., the general linear model (GLM), might have difficulty in discovering those diverse and concurrent brain responses sufficiently. This subtraction-based model-driven approach focuses on the brain activities evoked directly from the task paradigm, thus likely overlooks other possible concurrent brain activities evoked during the information processing. To deal with this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel hybrid framework, called extendable supervised dictionary learning (E-SDL), to explore diverse and concurrent brain activities under task conditions. A critical difference between E-SDL framework and previous methods is that we systematically extend the basic task paradigm regressor into meaningful regressor groups to account for possible regressor variation during the information processing procedure in the brain. Applications of the proposed framework on five independent and publicly available tfMRI datasets from human connectome project (HCP) simultaneously revealed more meaningful group-wise consistent task-evoked networks and common intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs). These results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed framework in identifying the diversity of concurrent brain activities in tfMRI datasets.

  13. The Potential of Using Brain Images for Authentication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fanglin Chen

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Biometric recognition (also known as biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their biological or behavioral traits. Examples of biometric traits include fingerprint, palmprint, iris, and face. The brain is the most important and complex organ in the human body. Can it be used as a biometric trait? In this study, we analyze the uniqueness of the brain and try to use the brain for identity authentication. The proposed brain-based verification system operates in two stages: gray matter extraction and gray matter matching. A modified brain segmentation algorithm is implemented for extracting gray matter from an input brain image. Then, an alignment-based matching algorithm is developed for brain matching. Experimental results on two data sets show that the proposed brain recognition system meets the high accuracy requirement of identity authentication. Though currently the acquisition of the brain is still time consuming and expensive, brain images are highly unique and have the potential possibility for authentication in view of pattern recognition.

  14. Near-infrared deep brain stimulation via upconversion nanoparticle–mediated optogenetics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shuo; Weitemier, Adam Z.; Zeng, Xiao; He, Linmeng; Wang, Xiyu; Tao, Yanqiu; Huang, Arthur J. Y.; Hashimotodani, Yuki; Kano, Masanobu; Iwasaki, Hirohide; Parajuli, Laxmi Kumar; Okabe, Shigeo; Teh, Daniel B. Loong; All, Angelo H.; Tsutsui-Kimura, Iku; Tanaka, Kenji F.; Liu, Xiaogang; McHugh, Thomas J.

    2018-02-01

    Optogenetics has revolutionized the experimental interrogation of neural circuits and holds promise for the treatment of neurological disorders. It is limited, however, because visible light cannot penetrate deep inside brain tissue. Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) absorb tissue-penetrating near-infrared (NIR) light and emit wavelength-specific visible light. Here, we demonstrate that molecularly tailored UCNPs can serve as optogenetic actuators of transcranial NIR light to stimulate deep brain neurons. Transcranial NIR UCNP-mediated optogenetics evoked dopamine release from genetically tagged neurons in the ventral tegmental area, induced brain oscillations through activation of inhibitory neurons in the medial septum, silenced seizure by inhibition of hippocampal excitatory cells, and triggered memory recall. UCNP technology will enable less-invasive optical neuronal activity manipulation with the potential for remote therapy.

  15. The Duration of Motor Responses Evoked with Intracortical Microstimulation in Rats Is Primarily Modulated by Stimulus Amplitude and Train Duration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meghan Watson

    Full Text Available Microstimulation of brain tissue plays a key role in a variety of sensory prosthetics, clinical therapies and research applications, however the effects of stimulation parameters on the responses they evoke remain widely unknown. In particular, the effects of parameters when delivered in the form of a stimulus train as opposed to a single pulse are not well understood despite the prevalence of stimulus train use. We aimed to investigate the contribution of each parameter of a stimulus train to the duration of the motor responses they evoke in forelimb muscles. We used constant-current, biphasic, square wave pulse trains in acute terminal experiments under ketamine anaesthesia. Stimulation parameters were systematically tested in a pair-wise fashion in the caudal forelimb region of the motor cortex in 7 Sprague-Dawley rats while motor evoked potential (MEP recordings from the forelimb were used to quantify the influence of each parameter in the train. Stimulus amplitude and train duration were shown to be the dominant parameters responsible for increasing the total duration of the MEP, while interphase interval had no effect. Increasing stimulus frequency from 100-200 Hz or pulse duration from 0.18-0.34 ms were also effective methods of extending response durations. Response duration was strongly correlated with peak time and amplitude. Our findings suggest that motor cortex intracortical microstimulations are often conducted at a higher frequency rate and longer train duration than necessary to evoke maximal response duration. We demonstrated that the temporal properties of the evoked response can be both predicted by certain response metrics and modulated via alterations to the stimulation signal parameters.

  16. A Basic Study on P300 Event-Related Potentials Evoked by Simultaneous Presentation of Visual and Auditory Stimuli for the Communication Interface

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masami Hashimoto

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available We have been engaged in the development of a brain-computer interface (BCI based on the cognitive P300 event-related potentials (ERPs evoked by simultaneous presentation of visual and auditory stimuli in order to assist with the communication in severe physical limitation persons. The purpose of the simultaneous presentation of these stimuli is to give the user more choices as commands. First, we extracted P300 ERPs by either visual oddball paradigm or auditory oddball paradigm. Then amplitude and latency of the P300 ERPs were measured. Second, visual and auditory stimuli were presented simultaneously, we measured the P300 ERPs varying the condition of combinations of these stimuli. In this report, we used 3 colors as visual stimuli and 3 types of MIDI sounds as auditory stimuli. Two types of simultaneous presentations were examined. The one was conducted with random combination. The other was called group stimulation, combining one color, such as red, and one MIDI sound, such as piano, in order to make a group; three groups were made. Each group was presented to users randomly. We evaluated the possibility of BCI using these stimuli from the amplitudes and the latencies of P300 ERPs.

  17. A novel approach for automatic visualization and activation detection of evoked potentials induced by epidural spinal cord stimulation in individuals with spinal cord injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesbah, Samineh; Angeli, Claudia A; Keynton, Robert S; El-Baz, Ayman; Harkema, Susan J

    2017-01-01

    Voluntary movements and the standing of spinal cord injured patients have been facilitated using lumbosacral spinal cord epidural stimulation (scES). Identifying the appropriate stimulation parameters (intensity, frequency and anode/cathode assignment) is an arduous task and requires extensive mapping of the spinal cord using evoked potentials. Effective visualization and detection of muscle evoked potentials induced by scES from the recorded electromyography (EMG) signals is critical to identify the optimal configurations and the effects of specific scES parameters on muscle activation. The purpose of this work was to develop a novel approach to automatically detect the occurrence of evoked potentials, quantify the attributes of the signal and visualize the effects across a high number of scES parameters. This new method is designed to automate the current process for performing this task, which has been accomplished manually by data analysts through observation of raw EMG signals, a process that is laborious and time-consuming as well as prone to human errors. The proposed method provides a fast and accurate five-step algorithms framework for activation detection and visualization of the results including: conversion of the EMG signal into its 2-D representation by overlaying the located signal building blocks; de-noising the 2-D image by applying the Generalized Gaussian Markov Random Field technique; detection of the occurrence of evoked potentials using a statistically optimal decision method through the comparison of the probability density functions of each segment to the background noise utilizing log-likelihood ratio; feature extraction of detected motor units such as peak-to-peak amplitude, latency, integrated EMG and Min-max time intervals; and finally visualization of the outputs as Colormap images. In comparing the automatic method vs. manual detection on 700 EMG signals from five individuals, the new approach decreased the processing time from several

  18. Brain-Computer Interfaces for 1-D and 2-D Cursor Control: Designs Using Volitional Control of the EEG Spectrum or Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trejo, Leonard J.; Matthews, Bryan; Rosipal, Roman

    2005-01-01

    We have developed and tested two EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for users to control a cursor on a computer display. Our system uses an adaptive algorithm, based on kernel partial least squares classification (KPLS), to associate patterns in multichannel EEG frequency spectra with cursor controls. Our first BCI, Target Practice, is a system for one-dimensional device control, in which participants use biofeedback to learn voluntary control of their EEG spectra. Target Practice uses a KF LS classifier to map power spectra of 30-electrode EEG signals to rightward or leftward position of a moving cursor on a computer display. Three subjects learned to control motion of a cursor on a video display in multiple blocks of 60 trials over periods of up to six weeks. The best subject s average skill in correct selection of the cursor direction grew from 58% to 88% after 13 training sessions. Target Practice also implements online control of two artifact sources: a) removal of ocular artifact by linear subtraction of wavelet-smoothed vertical and horizontal EOG signals, b) control of muscle artifact by inhibition of BCI training during periods of relatively high power in the 40-64 Hz band. The second BCI, Think Pointer, is a system for two-dimensional cursor control. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) are triggered by four flickering checkerboard stimuli located in narrow strips at each edge of the display. The user attends to one of the four beacons to initiate motion in the desired direction. The SSVEP signals are recorded from eight electrodes located over the occipital region. A KPLS classifier is individually calibrated to map multichannel frequency bands of the SSVEP signals to right-left or up-down motion of a cursor on a computer display. The display stops moving when the user attends to a central fixation point. As for Target Practice, Think Pointer also implements wavelet-based online removal of ocular artifact; however, in Think Pointer muscle

  19. Brain activity and cognitive transition during childhood: A longitudinal event-related brain potential study.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stauder, J.E.A.; Molenaar, P.C.M.; van der Molen, M.W.

    1998-01-01

    Examined the relation between brain activation and cognitive development using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and a longitudinal design. 5 yr old females performed a visual recognition ('oddball') task and an experimental analogue of the Piagetian conservation of liquid quantity task At three

  20. Combined visual and motor evoked potentials predict multiple sclerosis disability after 20 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlaeger, Regina; Schindler, Christian; Grize, Leticia; Dellas, Sophie; Radue, Ernst W; Kappos, Ludwig; Fuhr, Peter

    2014-09-01

    The development of predictors of multiple sclerosis (MS) disability is difficult due to the complex interplay of pathophysiological and adaptive processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether combined evoked potential (EP)-measures allow prediction of MS disability after 20 years. We examined 28 patients with clinically definite MS according to Poser's criteria with Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores, combined visual and motor EPs at entry (T0), 6 (T1), 12 (T2) and 24 (T3) months, and a cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at T0 and T2. EDSS testing was repeated at year 14 (T4) and year 20 (T5). Spearman rank correlation was used. We performed a multivariable regression analysis to examine predictive relationships of the sum of z-transformed EP latencies (s-EPT0) and other baseline variables with EDSST5. We found that s-EPT0 correlated with EDSST5 (rho=0.72, pdisability in MS. © The Author(s) 2014.

  1. Assessment of otolith function using cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in individuals with motion sickness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Niraj Kumar; Pandey, Preeti; Mahesh, Soumya

    2014-01-01

    The involvement of otolith organs in motion sickness has long been debated; however, equivocal findings exist in literature. The present study thus aimed at evaluating the otolith functioning in individuals with motion sickness. Cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were recorded from 30 individuals with motion sickness, 30 professional drivers and 30 healthy individuals. The results revealed no significant difference in latencies and amplitudes between the groups (p>0.05). Nonetheless, thresholds were significantly elevated and inter-aural asymmetry ratio significantly higher in motion sickness susceptible group (p otolithic function seem the likely reasons behind motion sickness susceptibility.

  2. Effects of dimethylarsinic and dimethylarsinous acid on evoked synaptic potentials in hippocampal slices of young and adult rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krueger, Katharina; Repges, Hendrik; Hippler, Joerg; Hartmann, Louise M.; Hirner, Alfred V.; Straub, Heidrun; Binding, Norbert; Musshoff, Ulrich

    2007-01-01

    In this study, the effects of pentavalent dimethylarsinic acid ((CH 3 ) 2 AsO(OH); DMA V ) and trivalent dimethylarsinous acid ((CH 3 ) 2 As(OH); DMA III ) on synaptic transmission generated by the excitatory Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapse were tested in hippocampal slices of young (14-21 day-old) and adult (2-4 month-old) rats. Both compounds were applied in concentrations of 1 to 100 μmol/l. DMA V had no effect on the amplitudes of evoked fEPSPs or the induction of LTP recorded from the CA1 dendritic region either in adult or in young rats. However, application of DMA III significantly reduced the amplitudes of evoked fEPSPs in a concentration-dependent manner with a total depression following application of 100 μmol/l DMA III in adult and 10 μmol/l DMA III in young rats. Moreover, DMA III significantly affected the LTP-induction. Application of 10 μmol/l DMA III resulted in a complete failure of the postsynaptic potentiation of the fEPSP amplitudes in slices taken both from adult and young rats. The depressant effect was not reversible after a 30-min washout of the DMA III . In slices of young rats, the depressant effects of DMA III were more pronounced than in those taken from adult ones. Compared to the (absent) effect of DMA V on synaptic transmission, the trivalent compound possesses a considerably higher neurotoxic potential

  3. Modulation of sensory inhibition of motor evoked potentials elicited by TMS prior to movement?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leukel, Christian; Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper; Nielsen, Jens Bo

    because the afferent information triggered the movement and therefore was important for motor performance. Alle et al. (2009). J Physiol 587:5163-5176 Chen et al. (1998). Ann Neurol 44:317-325 Tokimura et al. (2000). J Physiol 523 Pt 2:503-513......Short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) refers to a decrement of the size of a motor evoked potential (MEP) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) after electrical stimulation of a peripheral afferent nerve (PNS) (Tokimura et al. 2000). Since SAI occurs when TMS is applied at the time...... of corticospinal cells to TMS, which starts approximately 100 ms prior to the onset of movement (Chen et al. 1998). Thus, it is hypothesized that the modulation of the MEP prior to movement is linked to the afferent volley arriving at the sensorimotor cortex. It might be speculated that the MEP was facilitated...

  4. 4-aminopyridine in scala media reversibly alters the cochlear potentials and suppresses electrically evoked oto-acoustic emissions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, D L; Yates, G K

    1998-01-01

    Iontophoresis of 4-aminopyridine into scala media of the guinea pig cochlea caused elevation of the thresholds of the compound action potential of the auditory nerve, loss of amplitude of the extracellular cochlear microphonic response (CM), increase in the endocochlear potential (EP) and reduction in the amplitude of electrically evoked oto-acoustic emissions (EEOAEs). These changes were reversible over 10-20 min. The reciprocity of the changes in the CM and the EP was consistent with an interruption of both DC and AC currents through outer hair cells (OHCs), probably by blockade of mechano-electrical transduction (MET) channels in OHCs. Reductions in EEOAEs were consistent with the extrinsically applied generating current entering the OHC via the MET channels. Implications for the activation of OHC electromotility in vivo are discussed.

  5. Identifying cochlear implant channels with poor electrode-neuron interfaces: electrically evoked auditory brain stem responses measured with the partial tripolar configuration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bierer, Julie Arenberg; Faulkner, Kathleen F; Tremblay, Kelly L

    2011-01-01

    The goal of this study was to compare cochlear implant behavioral measures and electrically evoked auditory brain stem responses (EABRs) obtained with a spatially focused electrode configuration. It has been shown previously that channels with high thresholds, when measured with the tripolar configuration, exhibit relatively broad psychophysical tuning curves. The elevated threshold and degraded spatial/spectral selectivity of such channels are consistent with a poor electrode-neuron interface, defined as suboptimal electrode placement or reduced nerve survival. However, the psychophysical methods required to obtain these data are time intensive and may not be practical during a clinical mapping session, especially for young children. Here, we have extended the previous investigation to determine whether a physiological approach could provide a similar assessment of channel functionality. We hypothesized that, in accordance with the perceptual measures, higher EABR thresholds would correlate with steeper EABR amplitude growth functions, reflecting a degraded electrode-neuron interface. Data were collected from six cochlear implant listeners implanted with the HiRes 90k cochlear implant (Advanced Bionics). Single-channel thresholds and most comfortable listening levels were obtained for stimuli that varied in presumed electrical field size by using the partial tripolar configuration, for which a fraction of current (σ) from a center active electrode returns through two neighboring electrodes and the remainder through a distant indifferent electrode. EABRs were obtained in each subject for the two channels having the highest and lowest tripolar (σ = 1 or 0.9) behavioral threshold. Evoked potentials were measured with both the monopolar (σ = 0) and a more focused partial tripolar (σ ≥ 0.50) configuration. Consistent with previous studies, EABR thresholds were highly and positively correlated with behavioral thresholds obtained with both the monopolar and partial

  6. Sound detection by the longfin squid (em>Loligo pealeiiem>) studied with auditory evoked potentials: sensitivity to low-frequency particle motion and not pressure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mooney, T. Aran; Hanlon, Roger T; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob

    2010-01-01

    of two wave types: (1) rapid stimulus-following waves, and (2) slower, high-amplitude waves, similar to some fish AEPs. Responses were obtained between 30 and 500 Hz with lowest thresholds between 100 and 200 Hz. At the best frequencies, AEP amplitudes were often >20 µV. Evoked potentials were...

  7. Cerebral activation associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the limbic system: functional MR imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eun, Sung Jong; Kong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Hyung Joong; Seo, Jeong Jin; Kang, Heoung Keun; Cho, Ki Hyun; Yoon, Ka Hyun; Kim, Kyung Yo

    2004-01-01

    To identify the brain centers associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the human brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism for sexual arousal using functional MRI (fMRI). A total of 20 sexually potent volunteers consisting of 10 males (mean age: 24) and 10 females (mean age: 23) underwent fMRI on a 1.5T MR scanner (GE Signa Horizon). The fMRI data were obtained from 7 slices (10 mm slice thickness) parallel to the AC-PC (anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line, giving a total of 511 MR images. The sexual stimulation consisted of a 1-minute rest with black screen, followed by a 4-minute stimulation by an erotic video film, and concluded with a 2-minute rest. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99) program. The brain activation regions associated with visual sexual arousal in the limbic system are the posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hypothalamus, medial cingulate gyrus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen. Especially, the parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus and hypothalamus were highly activated in comparison with other areas. The overall activities of the limbic lobe, diencephalon, and basal ganglia were 11.8%, 10.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. In the correlation test between brain activity and sexual arousal, the hypothalamus and thalamus showed positive correlation, but the other brain areas showed no correlation. The fMRI is useful to quantitatively evaluate the cerebral activation associated with visually evoked, sexual arousal in the human brain. This result may be helpful by providing clinically valuable information on sexual disorder in humans as well as by increasing the understanding of the neuroanatomical correlates of sexual arousal

  8. Cerebral activation associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the limbic system: functional MR imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eun, Sung Jong; Kong, Gwang Woo; Kim, Hyung Joong; Seo, Jeong Jin; Kang, Heoung Keun; Cho, Ki Hyun; Yoon, Ka Hyun [School of Medicine, Chonnam National Univ., Kwangju (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kyung Yo [Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of)

    2004-08-01

    To identify the brain centers associated with visually evoked sexual arousal in the human brain, and to investigate the neural mechanism for sexual arousal using functional MRI (fMRI). A total of 20 sexually potent volunteers consisting of 10 males (mean age: 24) and 10 females (mean age: 23) underwent fMRI on a 1.5T MR scanner (GE Signa Horizon). The fMRI data were obtained from 7 slices (10 mm slice thickness) parallel to the AC-PC (anterior commissure and posterior commissure) line, giving a total of 511 MR images. The sexual stimulation consisted of a 1-minute rest with black screen, followed by a 4-minute stimulation by an erotic video film, and concluded with a 2-minute rest. The brain activation maps and their quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99) program. The brain activation regions associated with visual sexual arousal in the limbic system are the posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hypothalamus, medial cingulate gyrus, thalamus, amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, globus pallidus and putamen. Especially, the parahippocampal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, thalamus and hypothalamus were highly activated in comparison with other areas. The overall activities of the limbic lobe, diencephalon, and basal ganglia were 11.8%, 10.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. In the correlation test between brain activity and sexual arousal, the hypothalamus and thalamus showed positive correlation, but the other brain areas showed no correlation. The fMRI is useful to quantitatively evaluate the cerebral activation associated with visually evoked, sexual arousal in the human brain. This result may be helpful by providing clinically valuable information on sexual disorder in humans as well as by increasing the understanding of the neuroanatomical correlates of sexual arousal.

  9. Background noise can enhance cortical auditory evoked potentials under certain conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papesh, Melissa A; Billings, Curtis J; Baltzell, Lucas S

    2015-07-01

    To use cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to understand neural encoding in background noise and the conditions under which noise enhances CAEP responses. CAEPs from 16 normal-hearing listeners were recorded using the speech syllable/ba/presented in quiet and speech-shaped noise at signal-to-noise ratios of 10 and 30dB. The syllable was presented binaurally and monaurally at two presentation rates. The amplitudes of N1 and N2 peaks were often significantly enhanced in the presence of low-level background noise relative to quiet conditions, while P1 and P2 amplitudes were consistently reduced in noise. P1 and P2 amplitudes were significantly larger during binaural compared to monaural presentations, while N1 and N2 peaks were similar between binaural and monaural conditions. Methodological choices impact CAEP peaks in very different ways. Negative peaks can be enhanced by background noise in certain conditions, while positive peaks are generally enhanced by binaural presentations. Methodological choices significantly impact CAEPs acquired in quiet and in noise. If CAEPs are to be used as a tool to explore signal encoding in noise, scientists must be cognizant of how differences in acquisition and processing protocols selectively shape CAEP responses. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  10. Estimating direction in brain-behavior interactions: Proactive and reactive brain states in driving.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Javier O; Brooks, Justin; Kerick, Scott; Johnson, Tony; Mullen, Tim R; Vettel, Jean M

    2017-04-15

    Conventional neuroimaging analyses have ascribed function to particular brain regions, exploiting the power of the subtraction technique in fMRI and event-related potential analyses in EEG. Moving beyond this convention, many researchers have begun exploring network-based neurodynamics and coordination between brain regions as a function of behavioral parameters or environmental statistics; however, most approaches average evoked activity across the experimental session to study task-dependent networks. Here, we examined on-going oscillatory activity as measured with EEG and use a methodology to estimate directionality in brain-behavior interactions. After source reconstruction, activity within specific frequency bands (delta: 2-3Hz; theta: 4-7Hz; alpha: 8-12Hz; beta: 13-25Hz) in a priori regions of interest was linked to continuous behavioral measurements, and we used a predictive filtering scheme to estimate the asymmetry between brain-to-behavior and behavior-to-brain prediction using a variant of Granger causality. We applied this approach to a simulated driving task and examined directed relationships between brain activity and continuous driving performance (steering behavior or vehicle heading error). Our results indicated that two neuro-behavioral states may be explored with this methodology: a Proactive brain state that actively plans the response to the sensory information and is characterized by delta-beta activity, and a Reactive brain state that processes incoming information and reacts to environmental statistics primarily within the alpha band. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  11. Flash visual evoked potentials are not specific enough to identify parieto-occipital lobe involvement in term neonates after significant hypoglycaemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Liyuan; Gu, Qiufang; Zhu, Zhen; Yang, Chenhao; Chen, Chao; Cao, Yun; Zhou, Wenhao

    2014-08-01

    Hypoglycaemia is a significant problem in high-risk neonates and predominant parieto-occipital lobe involvement has been observed after severe hypoglycaemic insult. We explored the use of flash visual evoked potentials (FVEP) in detecting parieto-occipital lobe involvement after significant hypoglycaemia. Full-term neonates (n = 15) who underwent FVEP from January 2008 to May 2013 were compared with infants (n = 11) without hypoglycaemia or parietal-occipital lobe injury. Significant hypoglycaemia was defined as being symptomatic or needing steroids, glucagon or a glucose infusion rate of ≥12 mg/kg/min. The hypoglycaemia group exhibited delayed latency of the first positive waveform on FVEP. The initial detected time for hypoglycaemia was later in the eight subjects with seizures (median 51-h-old) than those without (median 22-h-old) (P = 0.003). Magnetic resonance imaging showed that 80% of the hypoglycaemia group exhibited occipital-lobe injuries, and they were more likely to exhibit abnormal FVEP morphology (P = 0.007) than the controls. FVEP exhibited 100% sensitivity, but only 25% specificity, for detecting injuries to the parieto-occipital lobes. Flash visual evoked potential (FVEP) was sensitive, but not sufficiently specific, in identifying parieto-occipital lobe injuries among term neonates exposed to significant hypoglycaemia. Larger studies exploring the potential role of FVEP in neonatal hypoglycaemia are required. ©2014 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Low-frequency hippocampal-cortical activity drives brain-wide resting-state functional MRI connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Russell W; Leong, Alex T L; Ho, Leon C; Gao, Patrick P; Wong, Eddie C; Dong, Celia M; Wang, Xunda; He, Jufang; Chan, Ying-Shing; Lim, Lee Wei; Wu, Ed X

    2017-08-15

    The hippocampus, including the dorsal dentate gyrus (dDG), and cortex engage in bidirectional communication. We propose that low-frequency activity in hippocampal-cortical pathways contributes to brain-wide resting-state connectivity to integrate sensory information. Using optogenetic stimulation and brain-wide fMRI and resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI), we determined the large-scale effects of spatiotemporal-specific downstream propagation of hippocampal activity. Low-frequency (1 Hz), but not high-frequency (40 Hz), stimulation of dDG excitatory neurons evoked robust cortical and subcortical brain-wide fMRI responses. More importantly, it enhanced interhemispheric rsfMRI connectivity in various cortices and hippocampus. Subsequent local field potential recordings revealed an increase in slow oscillations in dorsal hippocampus and visual cortex, interhemispheric visual cortical connectivity, and hippocampal-cortical connectivity. Meanwhile, pharmacological inactivation of dDG neurons decreased interhemispheric rsfMRI connectivity. Functionally, visually evoked fMRI responses in visual regions also increased during and after low-frequency dDG stimulation. Together, our results indicate that low-frequency activity robustly propagates in the dorsal hippocampal-cortical pathway, drives interhemispheric cortical rsfMRI connectivity, and mediates visual processing.

  13. Paying attention to orthography: A visual evoked potential study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Thomas Herdman

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available In adult readers, letters and words are rapidly identified within visual networks to allow for efficient reading abilities. Neuroimaging studies of orthography have mostly used words and letter strings that recruit many hierarchical levels in reading. Understanding how single letters are processed could provide further insight into orthographic processing. The present study investigated orthographic processing using single letters and pseudoletters when adults were encouraged to pay attention to or away from orthographic features. We measured evoked potentials (EPs to single letters and pseudoletters from adults while they performed an orthographic-discrimination task (letters vs. pseudoletters, a colour-discrimination task (red vs. blue, and a target-detection task (respond to #1 and #2. Larger and later peaking N1 responses (~170ms and larger P2 responses (~250 ms occurred to pseudoletters as compared to letters. This reflected greater visual processing for pseudoletters. Dipole analyses localized this effect to bilateral fusiform and inferior temporal cortices. Moreover, this letter-pseudoletter difference was not modulated by task and thus indicates that directing attention to or away from orthographic features didn’t affect early visual processing of single letters or pseudoletters within extrastriate regions. Paying attention to orthography or colour as compared to disregarding the stimuli (target-detection task elicited selection negativities at about 175 ms, which were followed by a classical N2-P3 complexes. This indicated that the tasks sufficiently drew participant’s attention to and away from the stimuli. Together these findings revealed that visual processing of single letters and pseudoletters, in adults, appeared to be sensory-contingent and independent of paying attention to stimulus features (e.g., orthography or colour.

  14. Modulation of laser-evoked potentials and pain perception by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): a placebo-controlled study in healthy volunteers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassal, François; Créac'h, C; Convers, Ph; Laurent, B; Garcia-Larrea, L; Peyron, R

    2013-09-01

    To investigate the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on brain nociceptive responses (laser-evoked potentials, LEPs) and pain perception. Twenty healthy subjects were included. Nociceptive CO(2)-laser pulses were sequentially delivered to the dorsum of both feet. The amplitude of LEPs and nociceptive thresholds were collected in three consecutive conditions: T1: "sham" TENS (2 Hz/low-intensity) positioned heterotopically, over the left thigh; T2: "active" TENS (120 Hz/low-intensity) applied homotopically, over the left common peroneal nerve; and T3: "sham" TENS (replication of condition T1). Compared with "sham" TENS, "active" TENS significantly decreased the LEPs amplitude. This effect was observed exclusively when "active" TENS was applied ipsilaterally to the painful stimulus. Nociceptive thresholds increased with sessions in both limbs, but the increase observed during the "active" condition of TENS (T2) exceeded significantly that observed during the condition T3 only on the foot ipsilateral to TENS. Compared with a credible placebo TENS, high-frequency TENS induced a significant attenuation of both the acute pain and LEPs induced by noxious stimuli applied on the same dermatome. This modulation of subjective and objective concomitants of pain processing reflects a real neurophysiological TENS-related effect on nociceptive transmission. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Early impairment of somatosensory evoked potentials in very young children with achondroplasia with foramen magnum stenosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fornarino, Stefania; Rossi, Daniela Paola; Severino, Mariasavina; Pistorio, Angela; Allegri, Anna Elsa Maria; Martelli, Simona; Doria Lamba, Laura; Lanteri, Paola

    2017-02-01

    To evaluate the contribution of somatosensory evoked potentials after median nerve (MN-SEPs) and posterior tibial nerve (PTN-SEPs) stimulation in functional assessment of cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis in children with achondroplasia. We reviewed MN-SEPs, PTN-SEPs, and spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations performed in 58 patients with achondroplasia (25 males, 33 females; age range 21d-16y 10mo; mean age 4y 3mo [SD 4y 1mo]). Patients were subdivided into four age categories: achondroplasia, the cortical component of PTN-SEPs is more sensitive than the cortical component and central conduction time of MN-SEPs in detection of cervical spinal cord compression at early ages. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

  16. Optogenetic activation of CA1 pyramidal neurons at the dorsal and ventral hippocampus evokes distinct brain-wide responses revealed by mouse fMRI.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Norio Takata

    Full Text Available The dorsal and ventral hippocampal regions (dHP and vHP are proposed to have distinct functions. Electrophysiological studies have revealed intra-hippocampal variances along the dorsoventral axis. Nevertheless, the extra-hippocampal influences of dHP and vHP activities remain unclear. In this study, we compared the spatial distribution of brain-wide responses upon dHP or vHP activation and further estimate connection strengths between the dHP and the vHP with corresponding extra-hippocampal areas. To achieve this, we first investigated responses of local field potential (LFP and multi unit activities (MUA upon light stimulation in the hippocampus of an anesthetized transgenic mouse, whose CA1 pyramidal neurons expressed a step-function opsin variant of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2. Optogenetic stimulation increased hippocampal LFP power at theta, gamma, and ultra-fast frequency bands, and augmented MUA, indicating light-induced activation of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Brain-wide responses examined using fMRI revealed that optogenetic activation at the dHP or vHP caused blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD fMRI signals in situ. Although activation at the dHP induced BOLD responses at the vHP, the opposite was not observed. Outside the hippocampal formation, activation at the dHP, but not the vHP, evoked BOLD responses at the retrosplenial cortex (RSP, which is in line with anatomical evidence. In contrast, BOLD responses at the lateral septum (LS were induced only upon vHP activation, even though both dHP and vHP send axonal fibers to the LS. Our findings suggest that the primary targets of dHP and vHP activation are distinct, which concurs with attributed functions of the dHP and RSP in spatial memory, as well as of the vHP and LS in emotional responses.

  17. [Changes of somatosensory and transcranial magnetic stimulation motor evoked potentials in experimental spinal cord injury].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Yong; Nie, Lin; Liu, Li-hong; Shao, Jun; Yuan, Yong-jian

    2008-03-18

    To study the changes of somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and transcranial magnetic simulation motor evoked potential (TMS-MEP) in experimental spinal cord injury (SCI). Thirty-two rabbits were randomly divided into 4 equal groups. All rabbits were anesthetized for 90 min. A group (Group A) underwent only laminectomy of T12 without SCI, stimulation with different intensities was used to induce SEP and TMS-MEP to determine the most appropriate stimulation intensity. The EPs were recorded before and after the operation. The other 3 groups underwent laminectomy of T12 to expose the dura, and a spinal cord compressing apparatus weighing 40 g was put on the intact dura and dorsal surface of spinal cord underneath for 5, 15, and 30 min respectively (Groups B, C, and D). SEP and TMS-MEP were detected after anesthesia, after exposure of spinal cord, and 5 and 30 min, 1 and 6 h, and 1, 3, and 7 d. The latency and amplitude of each wave were measured. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance, t-test and linear correlation. Tarlov behavior score was used to assess the motor function before the operation and 1, 3, and 7 days after SCI. It was found that 100% intensity stimulus obtained stable and reliable MEP waves. Anesthetic did not influence the EPs. The amplitude of SEP began to decrease 5 min after SCI and the latency began to increase 30 min after SCI. And both the amplitude and latency, especially the former, of MEP began to significantly change 5 min after SCI. The latency levels of SEP and MEP increased and the amplitude decreased after compression time-dependently during a certain range of time (all P TMS-MEP are very sensitive to SCI, in particular, the change of amplitude is more sensitive then the latency change and can more accurately reflect the degree of SCI. Combination of SEP and TMS-MEP objectively reflects the SCI degree. EP measurement, as a noninvasive technique, has great value in monitoring spinal cord function.

  18. Noise-evoked otoacoustic emissions in humans

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Maat, B; Wit, HP; van Dijk, P

    2000-01-01

    Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) and acoustical responses evoked by bandlimited Gaussian noise (noise-evoked otoacoustic emissions; NEOAEs) were measured in three normal-hearing subjects. For the NEOAEs the first- and second-order Wiener kernel and polynomial correlation functions up to

  19. The Role of Odor-Evoked Memory in Psychological and Physiological Health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herz, Rachel S

    2016-07-19

    This article discusses the special features of odor-evoked memory and the current state-of-the-art in odor-evoked memory research to show how these unique experiences may be able to influence and benefit psychological and physiological health. A review of the literature leads to the conclusion that odors that evoke positive autobiographical memories have the potential to increase positive emotions, decrease negative mood states, disrupt cravings, and reduce physiological indices of stress, including systemic markers of inflammation. Olfactory perception factors and individual difference characteristics that would need to be considered in therapeutic applications of odor-evoked-memory are also discussed. This article illustrates how through the experimentally validated mechanisms of odor-associative learning and the privileged neuroanatomical relationship that exists between olfaction and the neural substrates of emotion, odors can be harnessed to induce emotional and physiological responses that can improve human health and wellbeing.

  20. The Role of Odor-Evoked Memory in Psychological and Physiological Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel S. Herz

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the special features of odor-evoked memory and the current state-of-the-art in odor-evoked memory research to show how these unique experiences may be able to influence and benefit psychological and physiological health. A review of the literature leads to the conclusion that odors that evoke positive autobiographical memories have the potential to increase positive emotions, decrease negative mood states, disrupt cravings, and reduce physiological indices of stress, including systemic markers of inflammation. Olfactory perception factors and individual difference characteristics that would need to be considered in therapeutic applications of odor-evoked-memory are also discussed. This article illustrates how through the experimentally validated mechanisms of odor-associative learning and the privileged neuroanatomical relationship that exists between olfaction and the neural substrates of emotion, odors can be harnessed to induce emotional and physiological responses that can improve human health and wellbeing.

  1. Mapping social behavior-induced brain activation at cellular resolution in the mouse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yongsoo; Venkataraju, Kannan Umadevi; Pradhan, Kith; Mende, Carolin; Taranda, Julian; Turaga, Srinivas C.; Arganda-Carreras, Ignacio; Ng, Lydia; Hawrylycz, Michael J.; Rockland, Kathleen; Seung, H. Sebastian; Osten, Pavel

    2014-01-01

    Understanding how brain activation mediates behaviors is a central goal of systems neuroscience. Here we apply an automated method for mapping brain activation in the mouse in order to probe how sex-specific social behaviors are represented in the male brain. Our method uses the immediate early gene c-fos, a marker of neuronal activation, visualized by serial two-photon tomography: the c-fos-GFP-positive neurons are computationally detected, their distribution is registered to a reference brain and a brain atlas, and their numbers are analyzed by statistical tests. Our results reveal distinct and shared female and male interaction-evoked patterns of male brain activation representing sex discrimination and social recognition. We also identify brain regions whose degree of activity correlates to specific features of social behaviors and estimate the total numbers and the densities of activated neurons per brain areas. Our study opens the door to automated screening of behavior-evoked brain activation in the mouse. PMID:25558063

  2. Localizing Brain Activity from Multiple Distinct Sources via EEG

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Dassios

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available An important question arousing in the framework of electroencephalography (EEG is the possibility to recognize, by means of a recorded surface potential, the number of activated areas in the brain. In the present paper, employing a homogeneous spherical conductor serving as an approximation of the brain, we provide a criterion which determines whether the measured surface potential is evoked by a single or multiple localized neuronal excitations. We show that the uniqueness of the inverse problem for a single dipole is closely connected with attaining certain relations connecting the measured data. Further, we present the necessary and sufficient conditions which decide whether the collected data originates from a single dipole or from numerous dipoles. In the case where the EEG data arouses from multiple parallel dipoles, an isolation of the source is, in general, not possible.

  3. Passive Double-Sensory Evoked Coherence Correlates with Long-Term Memory Capacity

    OpenAIRE

    Horwitz, Anna; Mortensen, Erik L.; Osler, Merete; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Lauritzen, Martin; Benedek, Krisztina

    2017-01-01

    HIGHLIGHTS Memory correlates with the difference between single and double-sensory evoked steady-state coherence in the gamma range (ΔC). The correlation is most pronounced for the anterior brain region (ΔC A ). The correlation is not driven by birth size, education, speed of processing, or intelligence. The sensitivity of ΔC A for detecting low memory capacity is 90%. Cerebral rhythmic activity and oscillations are important pathways of communication between cortical cell assemblies and may ...

  4. Signal Transduction Pathways Involved in Brain Death-Induced Renal Injury

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouma, H. R.; Ploeg, R. J.; Schuurs, T. A.

    Kidneys derived from brain death organ donors show an inferior survival when compared to kidneys derived from living donors. Brain death is known to induce organ injury by evoking an inflammatory response in the donor. Neuronal injury triggers an inflammatory response in the brain, leading to

  5. Spine Calcium Transients Induced by Synaptically-Evoked Action Potentials Can Predict Synapse Location and Establish Synaptic Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meredith, Rhiannon M.; van Ooyen, Arjen

    2012-01-01

    CA1 pyramidal neurons receive hundreds of synaptic inputs at different distances from the soma. Distance-dependent synaptic scaling enables distal and proximal synapses to influence the somatic membrane equally, a phenomenon called “synaptic democracy”. How this is established is unclear. The backpropagating action potential (BAP) is hypothesised to provide distance-dependent information to synapses, allowing synaptic strengths to scale accordingly. Experimental measurements show that a BAP evoked by current injection at the soma causes calcium currents in the apical shaft whose amplitudes decay with distance from the soma. However, in vivo action potentials are not induced by somatic current injection but by synaptic inputs along the dendrites, which creates a different excitable state of the dendrites. Due to technical limitations, it is not possible to study experimentally whether distance information can also be provided by synaptically-evoked BAPs. Therefore we adapted a realistic morphological and electrophysiological model to measure BAP-induced voltage and calcium signals in spines after Schaffer collateral synapse stimulation. We show that peak calcium concentration is highly correlated with soma-synapse distance under a number of physiologically-realistic suprathreshold stimulation regimes and for a range of dendritic morphologies. Peak calcium levels also predicted the attenuation of the EPSP across the dendritic tree. Furthermore, we show that peak calcium can be used to set up a synaptic democracy in a homeostatic manner, whereby synapses regulate their synaptic strength on the basis of the difference between peak calcium and a uniform target value. We conclude that information derived from synaptically-generated BAPs can indicate synapse location and can subsequently be utilised to implement a synaptic democracy. PMID:22719238

  6. Flash visual evoked potentials in patients with periventricular leucomalacia in children less than 1 year of age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jitendra Jethani

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Children with periventricular leucomalacia (PVL are known to have visual impairment of various forms starting from reduced vision, field defects, congnitive problems, and problems with hand eye coordination. There is very scant data/literature on the visual evoked potentials (VEPs at an early age in children with PVL. We did a study to evaluate the flash visual evoked potentials (fVEPs in children with PVL less than 1 year of age. Materials and Methods: A total of nine children diagnosed as having PVL on magnetic resonance imaging were included in the study. The mean age was 9.7μ 3.5 months. All children underwent handheld fVEPs under sedation at two different flash frequencies 1.4 and 8 Hz. Results: The mean latency of N1 and P1 on stimulation with 1.4 Hz was 47.9μ 15.2 and 77.7μ 26.0 ms, respectively. However, on stimulation with 8 Hz the mean latency of N1 and P1 was 189.8μ 25.6 and 238.4μ 33.6 ms, respectively. The mean amplitude with 1.4 Hz and 8 stimulation frequency was 5.6μ 4.5 and 5.59μ 3 mV, respectively. Conclusion: We have found for the first time that there is a change in the latency and the delay occurs at 8 Hz frequency but not at 1.4 Hz. We also conclude that amplitudes by fVEPs may be normal even in presence of periventricular changes. The amplitudes of fVEPs are not reliable in children with PVL.

  7. Modulation of amplitude and latency of motor evoked potential by direction of transcranial magnetic stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Aya; Torii, Tetsuya; Iwahashi, Masakuni; Itoh, Yuji; Iramina, Keiji

    2014-05-01

    The present study analyzed the effects of monophasic magnetic stimulation to the motor cortex. The effects of magnetic stimulation were evaluated by analyzing the motor evoked potentials (MEPs). The amplitude and latency of MEPs on the abductor pollicis brevis muscle were used to evaluate the effects of repetitive magnetic stimulation. A figure eight-shaped flat coil was used to stimulate the region over the primary motor cortex. The intensity of magnetic stimulation was 120% of the resting motor threshold, and the frequency of magnetic stimulation was 0.1 Hz. In addition, the direction of the current in the brain was posterior-anterior (PA) or anterior-posterior (AP). The latency of MEP was compared with PA and AP on initial magnetic stimulation. The results demonstrated that a stimulus in the AP direction increased the latency of the MEP by approximately 2.5 ms. MEP amplitude was also compared with PA and AP during 60 magnetic stimulations. The results showed that a stimulus in the PA direction gradually increased the amplitude of the MEP. However, a stimulus in the AP direction did not modulate the MEP amplitude. The average MEP amplitude induced from every 10 magnetic pulses was normalized by the average amplitude of the first 10 stimuli. These results demonstrated that the normalized MEP amplitude increased up to approximately 150%. In terms of pyramidal neuron indirect waves (I waves), magnetic stimulation inducing current flowing backward to the anterior preferentially elicited an I1 wave, and current flowing forward to the posterior elicited an I3 wave. It has been reported that the latency of the I3 wave is approximately 2.5 ms longer than the I1 wave elicitation, so the resulting difference in latency may be caused by this phenomenon. It has also been reported that there is no alteration of MEP amplitude at a frequency of 0.1 Hz. However, this study suggested that the modulation of MEP amplitude depends on stimulation strength and stimulation direction.

  8. Topographic brain mapping of emotion-related hemisphere asymmetries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roschmann, R; Wittling, W

    1992-03-01

    The study used topographic brain mapping of visual evoked potentials to investigate emotion-related hemisphere asymmetries. The stimulus material consisted of color photographs of human faces, grouped into two emotion-related categories: normal faces (neutral stimuli) and faces deformed by dermatological diseases (emotional stimuli). The pictures were presented tachistoscopically to 20 adult right-handed subjects. Brain activity was recorded by 30 EEG electrodes with linked ears as reference. The waveforms were averaged separately with respect to each of the two stimulus conditions. Statistical analysis by means of significance probability mapping revealed significant differences between stimulus conditions for two periods of time, indicating right hemisphere superiority in emotion-related processing. The results are discussed in terms of a 2-stage-model of emotional processing in the cerebral hemispheres.

  9. Fetal MEG evoked response latency from beamformer with random field theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCubbin, J; Vrba, J; Murphy, P; Temple, J; Eswaran, H; Lowery, C L; Preissl, H

    2010-01-01

    Analysis of fetal magnetoencephalographic brain recordings is restricted by low signal to noise ratio (SNR) and non-stationarity of the sources. Beamformer techniques have been applied to improve SNR of fetal evoked responses. However, until now the effect of non-stationarity was not taken into account in detail, because the detection of evoked responses is in most cases determined by averaging a large number of trials. We applied a windowing technique to improve the stationarity of the data by using short time segments recorded during a flash-evoked study. In addition, we implemented a random field theory approach for more stringent control of false-positives in the statistical parametric map of the search volume for the beamformer. The search volume was based on detailed individual fetal/maternal biometrics from ultrasound scans and fetal heart localization. Average power over a sliding window within the averaged evoked response against a randomized average background power was used as the test z-statistic. The significance threshold was set at 10% over all members of a contiguous cluster of voxels. There was at least one significant response for 62% of fetal and 95% of newborn recordings with gestational age (GA) between 28 and 45 weeks from 29 subjects. We found that the latency was either substantially unchanged or decreased with increasing GA for most subjects, with a nominal rate of about -11 ms/week. These findings support the anticipated neurophysiological development, provide validation for the beamformer model search as a methodology, and may lead to a clinical test for fetal cognitive development.

  10. Ageing diminishes the modulation of human brain responses to visual food cues by meal ingestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheah, Y S; Lee, S; Ashoor, G; Nathan, Y; Reed, L J; Zelaya, F O; Brammer, M J; Amiel, S A

    2014-09-01

    Rates of obesity are greatest in middle age. Obesity is associated with altered activity of brain networks sensing food-related stimuli and internal signals of energy balance, which modulate eating behaviour. The impact of healthy mid-life ageing on these processes has not been characterised. We therefore aimed to investigate changes in brain responses to food cues, and the modulatory effect of meal ingestion on such evoked neural activity, from young adulthood to middle age. Twenty-four healthy, right-handed subjects, aged 19.5-52.6 years, were studied on separate days after an overnight fast, randomly receiving 50 ml water or 554 kcal mixed meal before functional brain magnetic resonance imaging while viewing visual food cues. Across the group, meal ingestion reduced food cue-evoked activity of amygdala, putamen, insula and thalamus, and increased activity in precuneus and bilateral parietal cortex. Corrected for body mass index, ageing was associated with decreasing food cue-evoked activation of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and precuneus, and increasing activation of left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), bilateral temporal lobe and posterior cingulate in the fasted state. Ageing was also positively associated with the difference in food cue-evoked activation between fed and fasted states in the right DLPFC, bilateral amygdala and striatum, and negatively associated with that of the left orbitofrontal cortex and VLPFC, superior frontal gyrus, left middle and temporal gyri, posterior cingulate and precuneus. There was an overall tendency towards decreasing modulatory effects of prior meal ingestion on food cue-evoked regional brain activity with increasing age. Healthy ageing to middle age is associated with diminishing sensitivity to meal ingestion of visual food cue-evoked activity in brain regions that represent the salience of food and direct food-associated behaviour. Reduced satiety sensing may have a role in the greater risk of

  11. Visual rehabilitation with Retimax Vision Trainer in patients with severe Acquired Brain Injury: report of two cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margherita Chiari

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Retimax Vision Trainer is a device that has the purpose to improve visual function by means of the detection of a visual evoked potential associated with a sound feedback. We evaluated the effectiveness of rehabilitative treatment in two patients with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI. Results, subjectively appreciated, are objectively confirmed by the improvement of visual function.

  12. Running Reduces Uncontrollable Stress-Evoked Serotonin and Potentiates Stress-Evoked Dopamine Concentrations in the Rat Dorsal Striatum.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter J Clark

    Full Text Available Accumulating evidence from both the human and animal literature indicates that exercise reduces the negative consequences of stress. The neurobiological etiology for this stress protection, however, is not completely understood. Our lab reported that voluntary wheel running protects rats from expressing depression-like instrumental learning deficits on the shuttle box escape task after exposure to unpredictable and inescapable tail shocks (uncontrollable stress. Impaired escape behavior is a result of stress-sensitized serotonin (5-HT neuron activity in the dorsal raphe (DRN and subsequent excessive release of 5-HT into the dorsal striatum following exposure to a comparatively mild stressor. However, the possible mechanisms by which exercise prevents stress-induced escape deficits are not well characterized. The purpose of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that exercise blunts the stress-evoked release of 5-HT in the dorsal striatum. Changes to dopamine (DA levels were also examined, since striatal DA signaling is critical for instrumental learning and can be influenced by changes to 5-HT activity. Adult male F344 rats, housed with or without running wheels for 6 weeks, were either exposed to tail shock or remained undisturbed in laboratory cages. Twenty-four hours later, microdialysis was performed in the medial (DMS and lateral (DLS dorsal striatum to collect extracellular 5-HT and DA before, during, and following 2 mild foot shocks. We report wheel running prevents foot shock-induced elevation of extracellular 5-HT and potentiates DA concentrations in both the DMS and DLS approximately 24 h following exposure to uncontrollable stress. These data may provide a possible mechanism by which exercise prevents depression-like instrumental learning deficits following exposure to acute stress.

  13. Interaural difference values of vestibular evoked myogenic.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marziyeh Moallemi

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Migraine is a neurologic disease, which often is associated with a unilateral headache. Vestibular abnormalities are common in migraine. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs assess otolith function in particular functional integrity of the saccule and the inferior vestibular nerve. We used VEMP to evaluate if the migraine headache can affect VEMP asymmetry parameters. A total of 25 patients with migraine (22 females and 3 males who were diagnosed according to the criteria of IHS-1988 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Control group consisted of 26 healthy participants (18 female and 8 male, without neurotological symptoms and history of migraine. The short tone burst (95 dB nHL, 500 Hz was presented to ears. VEMP was recorded with surface electromyography over the contracted ipsilateral sternocleidomastoid (SCM muscle. Although current results showed that the amplitude ratio is greater in migraine patients than normal group, there was no statistical difference between two groups in mean asymmetry parameters of VEMP. Asymmetry measurements in vestibular evoked myogenic potentials probably are not indicators of unilateral deficient in saccular pathways of migraine patients.

  14. Effect of Elevated Intracranial Pressure on Amplitudes and Frequency Tuning of Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials Elicited by Bone-Conducted Vibration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gürkov, Robert; Speierer, Guillaume; Wittwer, Luis; Kalla, Roger

    Recently, it could be demonstrated that an increased intracranial pressure causes a modulation of the air conducted sound evoked ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP). The mechanism for this modulation is not resolved and may depend on a change of either receptor excitability or sound energy transmission. oVEMPs were elicited in 18 healthy subjects with a minishaker delivering 500 and 1000 Hz tone bursts, in supine and tilted positions. The study could confirm the frequency tuning of oVEMP. However, at neither stimulus frequency could a modulating effect of increased intracranial pressure be observed. These data suggest that the observed modulation of the oVEMP response by an increased intracranial pressure is primarily due to the effect of an increased intralabyrinthine pressure onto the stiffness of the inner ear contents and the middle ear-inner ear junction. Future studies on the effect of intracranial pressure on oVEMP should use air-conducted sound and not bone-conducted vibration.

  15. Intraoperative facial motor evoked potentials monitoring with transcranial electrical stimulation for preservation of facial nerve function in patients with large acoustic neuroma

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LIU Bai-yun; TIAN Yong-ji; LIU Wen; LIU Shu-ling; QIAO Hui; ZHANG Jun-ting; JIA Gui-jun

    2007-01-01

    Background Although various monitoring techniques have been used routinely in the treatment of the lesions in the skull base, iatrogenic facial paresis or paralysis remains a significant clinical problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intraoperative facial motor evoked potentials monitoring with transcranial electrical stimulation on preservation of facial nerve function.Method From January to November 2005, 19 patients with large acoustic neuroma were treated using intraoperative facial motor evoked potentials monitoring with transcranial electrical stimulation (TCEMEP) for preservation of facial nerve function. The relationship between the decrease of MEP amplitude after tumor removal and the postoperative function of the facial nerve was analyzed.Results MEP amplitude decreased more than 75% in 11 patients, of which 6 presented significant facial paralysis (H-B grade 3), and 5 had mild facial paralysis (H-B grade 2). In the other 8 patients, whose MEP amplitude decreased less than 75%, 1 experienced significant facial paralysis, 5 had mild facial paralysis, and 2 were normal.Conclusions Intraoperative TCEMEP can be used to predict postoperative function of the facial nerve. The decreased MEP amplitude above 75 % is an alarm point for possible severe facial paralysis.

  16. Avaliação eletrofisiológica da audição em indivíduos após traumatismo cranioencefálico Electrophysiological hearing assessment after traumatic brain injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andréa Tortosa Marangoni

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: caracterizar o potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico e de longa latência em pacientes pós traumatismo cranioencefálico, comparando-os com indivíduos normais. MÉTODO: estudo clínico transversal realizado com 20 indivíduos audiologicamente normais divididos em dois grupos pareados por idade e sexo: a 10 indivíduos que sofreram traumatismo cranioencefálico (grupo pesquisa; b 10 indivíduos sem qualquer tipo de alteração neurológica (grupo controle. Foram submetidos à avaliação audiológica básica, ao potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico e ao potencial evocado auditivo de longa latência (P300. RESULTADOS: observou-se no potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico, latências absolutas das ondas I, III e V e intervalo interpico I-III mais prolongados no grupo pesquisa do que no grupo controle, sendo estatisticamente significante para as latências absolutas das ondas I e III à direita e para a onda III e intervalo interpico I-III à esquerda. A amplitude das ondas I, III e V na orelha direita e das ondas III e V na orelha esquerda foram maiores no grupo controle. Em relação ao P300, o grupo pesquisa apresentou maior latência e menor amplitude em ambas as orelhas, sem significância estatística, quando comparado ao grupo controle. CONCLUSÃO: indivíduos que sofreram traumatismo cranioencefálico apresentam alterações no potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico e não apresentam diferenças significantes no potencial evocado auditivo de longa latência (P300 quando comparados a indivíduos sem lesões cerebrais.PURPOSE: this study aimed to characterize brain stem auditory evoked potential and long latency auditory evoked potential in patients that suffered head trauma. METHOD: transverse clinical study performed on twenty normal hearing individuals divided in two groups paired for age and gender: a ten individuals who suffered head trauma (trauma group; and b ten individuals with no

  17. High frequency oscillations evoked by peripheral magnetic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biller, S; Simon, L; Fiedler, P; Strohmeier, D; Haueisen, J

    2011-01-01

    The analysis of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) and / or fields (SEF) is a well-established and important tool for investigating the functioning of the peripheral and central human nervous system. A standard technique to evoke SEPs / SEFs is the stimulation of the median nerve by using a bipolar electrical stimulus. We aim at an alternative stimulation technique enabling stimulation of deep nerve structures while reducing patient stress and error susceptibility. In the current study, we apply a commercial transcranial magnetic stimulation system for peripheral magnetic stimulation of the median nerve. We compare the results of simultaneously recorded EEG signals to prove applicability of our technique to evoke SEPs including low frequency components (LFC) as well as high frequency oscillations (HFO). Therefore, we compare amplitude, latency and time-frequency characteristics of the SEP of 14 healthy volunteers after electric and magnetic stimulation. Both low frequency components and high frequency oscillations were detected. The HFOs were superimposed onto the primary cortical response N20. Statistical analysis revealed significantly lower amplitudes and increased latencies for LFC and HFO components after magnetic stimulation. The differences indicate the inability of magnetic stimulation to elicit supramaximal responses. A psycho-perceptual evaluation showed that magnetic stimulation was less unpleasant for 12 out of the 14 volunteers. In conclusion, we showed that LFC and HFO components related to median nerve stimulation can be evoked by peripheral magnetic stimulation.

  18. [Awake craniotomy for brain tumours].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milos, Peter; Metcalf, Kerstin; Vigren, Patrick; Lindehammar, Hans; Nilsson, Malin; Boström, Sverre

    2016-10-11

    Awake craniotomy for brain tumours  Awake neurosurgery is a useful method in lesions near eloquent brain areas, particularly low-grade gliomas.The aim is to maximise tumour resection and preserve neurological function. We performed 40 primary awake surgeries and 8 residual surgeries. Patients were operated awake throughout the procedure or with a laryngeal mask and general anaesthesia during the opening stage and then awake during intracerebral surgery. Language and motor function were mapped with direct cortical stimulation, motor evoked potential and standardised neurological testing. Radiologically, complete resection was achieved in 18 out of 40 patients in the primary surgeries. Full neurological recovery at three months was observed in 29 patients. Of the 11 patients with persisting neurological deficits at three months, symptoms were present preoperatively in 9 patients. We conclude that awake surgery, combined with intraoperative neurophysiological methods, is a safe method to improve treatment for low-grade gliomas.

  19. Acetyl-L-carnitine improves aged brain function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Satoru; Iwamoto, Machiko; Kon, Kazuo; Waki, Hatsue; Ando, Susumu; Tanaka, Yasukazu

    2010-07-01

    The effects of acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR), an acetyl derivative of L-carnitine, on memory and learning capacity and on brain synaptic functions of aged rats were examined. Male Fischer 344 rats were given ALCAR (100 mg/kg bodyweight) per os for 3 months and were subjected to the Hebb-Williams tasks and AKON-1 task to assess their learning capacity. Cholinergic activities were determined with synaptosomes isolated from brain cortices of the rats. Choline parameters, the high-affinity choline uptake, acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis and depolarization-evoked ACh release were all enhanced in the ALCAR group. An increment of depolarization-induced calcium ion influx into synaptosomes was also evident in rats given ALCAR. Electrophysiological studies using hippocampus slices indicated that the excitatory postsynaptic potential slope and population spike size were both increased in ALCAR-treated rats. These results indicate that ALCAR increases synaptic neurotransmission in the brain and consequently improves learning capacity in aging rats.

  20. Test-retest reliability of infant event related potentials evoked by faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Munsters, N M; van Ravenswaaij, H; van den Boomen, C; Kemner, C

    2017-04-05

    Reliable measures are required to draw meaningful conclusions regarding developmental changes in longitudinal studies. Little is known, however, about the test-retest reliability of face-sensitive event related potentials (ERPs), a frequently used neural measure in infants. The aim of the current study is to investigate the test-retest reliability of ERPs typically evoked by faces in 9-10 month-old infants. The infants (N=31) were presented with neutral, fearful and happy faces that contained only the lower or higher spatial frequency information. They were tested twice within two weeks. The present results show that the test-retest reliability of the face-sensitive ERP components is moderate (P400 and Nc) to substantial (N290). However, there is low test-retest reliability for the effects of the specific experimental manipulations (i.e. emotion and spatial frequency) on the face-sensitive ERPs. To conclude, in infants the face-sensitive ERP components (i.e. N290, P400 and Nc) show adequate test-retest reliability, but not the effects of emotion and spatial frequency on these ERP components. We propose that further research focuses on investigating elements that might increase the test-retest reliability, as adequate test-retest reliability is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions on individual developmental trajectories of the face-sensitive ERPs in infants. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. Tibial nerve somatosensory evoked potentials in dogs with degenerative lumbosacral stenosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meij, Björn P; Suwankong, Niyada; van den Brom, Walter E; Venker-van Haagen, Anjop J; Hazewinkel, Herman A W

    2006-02-01

    To determine somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in dogs with degenerative lumbosacral stenosis (DLS) and in healthy dogs. Clinical and experimental study. Dogs with DLS (n = 21) and 11 clinically normal dogs, age, and weight matched. Under anesthesia, the tibial nerve was stimulated at the caudolateral aspect of the stifle, and lumbar SEP (LSEP) were recorded percutaneously from S1 to T13 at each interspinous space. Cortical SEP (CSEP) were recorded from the scalp. LSEP were identified as the N1-P1 (latency 3-6 ms) and N2-P2 (latency 7-13 ms) wave complexes in the recordings of dogs with DLS and control dogs. Latency of N1-P1 increased and that of N2-P2 decreased as the active recording electrode was moved cranially from S1 to T13. Compared with controls, latencies were significantly delayed in DLS dogs: .8 ms for N1-P1 and 1.7 ms for the N2-P2 complex. CSEP were not different between groups. Surface needle recording of tibial nerve SEP can be used to monitor somatosensory nerve function of pelvic limbs in dogs. In dogs with DLS, the latency of LSEP, but not of CSEP, is prolonged compared with normal dogs. In dogs with lumbosacral pain from DLS, the cauda equina compression is sufficient to affect LSEP at the lumbar level.

  2. Mapping the sequence of brain events in response to disgusting food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pujol, Jesus; Blanco-Hinojo, Laura; Coronas, Ramón; Esteba-Castillo, Susanna; Rigla, Mercedes; Martínez-Vilavella, Gerard; Deus, Joan; Novell, Ramón; Caixàs, Assumpta

    2018-01-01

    Warning signals indicating that a food is potentially dangerous may evoke a response that is not limited to the feeling of disgust. We investigated the sequence of brain events in response to visual representations of disgusting food using a dynamic image analysis. Functional MRI was acquired in 30 healthy subjects while they were watching a movie showing disgusting food scenes interspersed with the scenes of appetizing food. Imaging analysis included the identification of the global brain response and the generation of frame-by-frame activation maps at the temporal resolution of 2 s. Robust activations were identified in brain structures conventionally associated with the experience of disgust, but our analysis also captured a variety of other brain elements showing distinct temporal evolutions. The earliest events included transient changes in the orbitofrontal cortex and visual areas, followed by a more durable engagement of the periaqueductal gray, a pivotal element in the mediation of responses to threat. A subsequent core phase was characterized by the activation of subcortical and cortical structures directly concerned not only with the emotional dimension of disgust (e.g., amygdala-hippocampus, insula), but also with the regulation of food intake (e.g., hypothalamus). In a later phase, neural excitement extended to broad cortical areas, the thalamus and cerebellum, and finally to the default mode network that signaled the progressive termination of the evoked response. The response to disgusting food representations is not limited to the emotional domain of disgust, and may sequentially involve a variety of broadly distributed brain networks. Hum Brain Mapp 39:369-380, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Visual Evoked Potential to Assess Retinopathy in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hari Kumar, K V S; Ahmad, F M H; Sood, Sandeep; Mansingh, Sudhir

    2016-04-01

    We evaluated for early retinopathy using the visual evoked potential (VEP) in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus during pregnancy. All patients with GDM and type 2 diabetes seen between June and October of 2014 were included in this cross-sectional, observational study. Patients with secondary diabetes, ocular or major illness were excluded from the study. VEP was recorded in both eyes to derive prominent positive peak latency (P100), amplitude and initial negative deflection (N75) latency. The data were compared with 10 gestational age-matched controls with normal glucose tolerance. Appropriate statistical methods were used for comparison among the 3 groups. The study participants (40 with GDM, 10 with type 2 diabetes, 10 with normal glucose tolerance) had a median (25th to 75th interquartile range) age of 26 (24.3, 30) years, a gestational age of 24.5 (21, 27) weeks and weights of 66.8 (63.4, 71.5) kg. The P100 latencies were comparable among the 3 groups (p=0.0577). However, patients with any diabetes (GDM and type 2 diabetes) had prolonged P100 latencies (p=0.0139) and low P100 amplitudes (p=0.0391) in comparison to controls. P100 latency showed a direct correlation with hyperglycemia (p=0.0118). Our data showed that VEP abnormalities are detectable even in the short-term hyperglycemia of GDM and type 2 diabetes. Copyright © 2016 Canadian Diabetes Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Log wavelet leaders cumulant based multifractal analysis of EVI fMRI time series: evidence of scaling in ongoing and evoked brain activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ciuciu, P.; Rabrait, C. [CEA, Neuro Spin, Gif Sur Yvette (France); Abry, P.; Wendt, H. [Ecole Normale Super Lyon, Phys Lab, CNRS, UMR 5672, Lyon (France)

    2008-07-01

    Classical within-subject analysis in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) relies on a detection step to localize which parts of the brain are activated by a given stimulus type. This is usually achieved using model-based approaches. Here, we propose an alternative exploratory analysis. The originality of this contribution is twofold. First, we propose a synthetic, consistent, and comparative overview of the various stochastic processes and estimation procedures used to model and analyze scale invariance. Notably, it is explained how multifractal models are more versatile to adjust the scaling properties of fMRI data but require more elaborated analysis procedures. Second, we bring evidence of the existence of actual scaling in fMRI time series that are clearly disentangled from putative superimposed non-stationarities. By nature, scaling analysis requires the use of long enough signals with high frequency sampling rate. To this end, we make use of a localized 3-D echo volume imaging (EVI) technique, which has recently emerged in fMRI because it allows very fast acquisitions of successive brain volumes. High temporal resolution EVI fMRI data have been acquired both in resting state and during a slow event-related visual paradigm. A voxel-based systematic multifractal analysis has been performed over both kinds of data. Combining multifractal attribute estimates together with paired statistical tests, we observe significant scaling parameter changes between ongoing and evoked brain activity, which clearly validate an increase in long memory and suggest a global multi-fractality decrease effect under activation. (authors)

  5. Differences in cortical coding of heat evoked pain beyond the perceived intensity: an fMRI and EEG study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haefeli, Jenny; Freund, Patrick; Kramer, John L K; Blum, Julia; Luechinger, Roger; Curt, Armin

    2014-04-01

    Imaging studies have identified a wide network of brain areas activated by nociceptive stimuli and revealed differences in somatotopic representation of highly distinct stimulation sites (foot vs. hand) in the primary (S1) and secondary (S2) somatosensory cortices. Somatotopic organization between adjacent dermatomes and differences in cortical coding of similarly perceived nociceptive stimulation are less well studied. Here, cortical processing following contact heat nociceptive stimulation of cervical (C4, C6, and C8) and trunk (T10) dermatomes were recorded in 20 healthy subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Stimulation of T10 compared with the C6 and C8 revealed significant higher response intensity in the left S1 (contralateral) and the right S2 (ipsilateral) even when the perceived pain was equal between stimulation sites. Accordingly, contact heat evoked potentials following stimulation of T10 showed significantly higher N2P2 amplitudes compared to C6 and C8. Adjacent dermatomes did not reveal a distinct somatotopical representation. Within the assessed cervical and trunk dermatomes, nociceptive cortical processing to heat differs significantly in magnitude even when controlling for pain perception. This study provides evidence that controlling for pain perception is not sufficient to compare directly the magnitude of cortical processing [blood oxygen level dependence (BOLD) response and amplitude of evoked potentials] between body sites. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Plasticity during Early Brain Development Is Determined by Ontogenetic Potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Lidzba, Karen; Pavlova, Marina A; Wilke, Marko; Staudt, Martin

    2017-04-01

    Two competing hypotheses address neuroplasticity during early brain development: the "Kennard principle" describes the compensatory capacities of the immature developing CNS as superior to those of the adult brain, whereas the "Hebb principle" argues that the young brain is especially sensitive to insults. We provide evidence that these principles are not mutually exclusive. Following early brain lesions that are unilateral, the brain can refer to homotopic areas of the healthy hemisphere. This potential for reorganization is unique to the young brain but available only when, during ontogenesis of brain development, these areas have been used for the functions addressed. With respect to motor function, ipsilateral motor tracts can be recruited, which are only available during early brain development. Language can be reorganized to the right after early left hemispheric lesions, as the representation of the language network is initially bilateral. However, even in these situations, compensatory capacities of the developing brain are found to have limitations, probably defined by early determinants. Thus, plasticity and adaptivity are seen only within ontogenetic potential; that is, axonal or cortical structures cannot be recruited beyond early developmental possibilities. The young brain is probably more sensitive and vulnerable to lesions when these are bilateral. This is shown here for bilateral periventricular white matter lesions that clearly have an impact on cortical architecture and function, thus probably interfering with early network building. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  7. Gender differences in binaural speech-evoked auditory brainstem response: are they clinically significant?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalaei, Bahram; Azmi, Mohd Hafiz Afifi Mohd; Zakaria, Mohd Normani

    2018-05-17

    Binaurally evoked auditory evoked potentials have good diagnostic values when testing subjects with central auditory deficits. The literature on speech-evoked auditory brainstem response evoked by binaural stimulation is in fact limited. Gender disparities in speech-evoked auditory brainstem response results have been consistently noted but the magnitude of gender difference has not been reported. The present study aimed to compare the magnitude of gender difference in speech-evoked auditory brainstem response results between monaural and binaural stimulations. A total of 34 healthy Asian adults aged 19-30 years participated in this comparative study. Eighteen of them were females (mean age=23.6±2.3 years) and the remaining sixteen were males (mean age=22.0±2.3 years). For each subject, speech-evoked auditory brainstem response was recorded with the synthesized syllable /da/ presented monaurally and binaurally. While latencies were not affected (p>0.05), the binaural stimulation produced statistically higher speech-evoked auditory brainstem response amplitudes than the monaural stimulation (p0.80), substantive gender differences were noted in most of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response peaks for both stimulation modes. The magnitude of gender difference between the two stimulation modes revealed some distinct patterns. Based on these clinically significant results, gender-specific normative data are highly recommended when using speech-evoked auditory brainstem response for clinical and future applications. The preliminary normative data provided in the present study can serve as the reference for future studies on this test among Asian adults. Copyright © 2018 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  8. Support vector regression correlates single-sweep evoked brain potentials to gastrointestinal symptoms in diabetes mellitus patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Graversen, C; Frokjaer, J B; Brock, Christina

    2012-01-01

    Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a multi-factorial and complex disease causing autonomic neuropathy and gastrointestinal symptoms in some patients. The neural mechanisms behind these symptoms are poorly understood, but it is believed that both peripheral and central mechanisms are involved. To gain...... further knowledge of the central mechanisms, the aim of this study was to identify biomarkers for the altered brain activity in type-1 DM patients compared to healthy volunteers (HV), and to correlate the obtained biomarkers to clinical patient scores. The study included 14 DM patients and 15 HV...... approach to study central mechanisms in diabetes mellitus, and may provide a future application for a clinical tool to optimize treatment in individual patients....

  9. Time-varying bispectral analysis of visually evoked multi-channel EEG

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandran, Vinod

    2012-12-01

    Theoretical foundations of higher order spectral analysis are revisited to examine the use of time-varying bicoherence on non-stationary signals using a classical short-time Fourier approach. A methodology is developed to apply this to evoked EEG responses where a stimulus-locked time reference is available. Short-time windowed ensembles of the response at the same offset from the reference are considered as ergodic cyclostationary processes within a non-stationary random process. Bicoherence can be estimated reliably with known levels at which it is significantly different from zero and can be tracked as a function of offset from the stimulus. When this methodology is applied to multi-channel EEG, it is possible to obtain information about phase synchronization at different regions of the brain as the neural response develops. The methodology is applied to analyze evoked EEG response to flash visual stimulii to the left and right eye separately. The EEG electrode array is segmented based on bicoherence evolution with time using the mean absolute difference as a measure of dissimilarity. Segment maps confirm the importance of the occipital region in visual processing and demonstrate a link between the frontal and occipital regions during the response. Maps are constructed using bicoherence at bifrequencies that include the alpha band frequency of 8Hz as well as 4 and 20Hz. Differences are observed between responses from the left eye and the right eye, and also between subjects. The methodology shows potential as a neurological functional imaging technique that can be further developed for diagnosis and monitoring using scalp EEG which is less invasive and less expensive than magnetic resonance imaging.

  10. Potential Moderators of Physical Activity on Brain Health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regina L. Leckie

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Age-related cognitive decline is linked to numerous molecular, structural, and functional changes in the brain. However, physical activity is a promising method of reducing unfavorable age-related changes. Physical activity exerts its effects on the brain through many molecular pathways, some of which are regulated by genetic variants in humans. In this paper, we highlight genes including apolipoprotein E (APOE, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT along with dietary omega-3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, as potential moderators of the effect of physical activity on brain health. There are a growing number of studies indicating that physical activity might mitigate the genetic risks for disease and brain dysfunction and that the combination of greater amounts of DHA intake with physical activity might promote better brain function than either treatment alone. Understanding whether genes or other lifestyles moderate the effects of physical activity on neurocognitive health is necessary for delineating the pathways by which brain health can be enhanced and for grasping the individual variation in the effectiveness of physical activity interventions on the brain and cognition. There is a need for future research to continue to assess the factors that moderate the effects of physical activity on neurocognitive function.

  11. [Visual evoked potentials produced by monocular flash stimuli in the cerebral cortex of the rabbit. I. Typography].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Cobo, J C; Ruiz-Beramendi, M; Pérez-Arroyo, M

    1990-12-01

    The visually evoked potentials in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated eye in rabbit, can be described topographically as follows. While a positive wave (P1) begins forming in the anterior zones and in the V I binocular zone, the N0 wave, at times very large, is produced in a more occipital zone, which corresponds to the visual streak. Immediately afterwards, the positivity, P1, practically invades the whole of the hemisphere. After this, the N1 wave which is produced in the most posterior parts of the V I, begins forming. The whole phenomenon comes to an end when the P2 wave is generated in the most occipital zones.

  12. Evoked emotions predict food choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalenberg, Jelle R; Gutjar, Swetlana; Ter Horst, Gert J; de Graaf, Kees; Renken, Remco J; Jager, Gerry

    2014-01-01

    In the current study we show that non-verbal food-evoked emotion scores significantly improve food choice prediction over merely liking scores. Previous research has shown that liking measures correlate with choice. However, liking is no strong predictor for food choice in real life environments. Therefore, the focus within recent studies shifted towards using emotion-profiling methods that successfully can discriminate between products that are equally liked. However, it is unclear how well scores from emotion-profiling methods predict actual food choice and/or consumption. To test this, we proposed to decompose emotion scores into valence and arousal scores using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and apply Multinomial Logit Models (MLM) to estimate food choice using liking, valence, and arousal as possible predictors. For this analysis, we used an existing data set comprised of liking and food-evoked emotions scores from 123 participants, who rated 7 unlabeled breakfast drinks. Liking scores were measured using a 100-mm visual analogue scale, while food-evoked emotions were measured using 2 existing emotion-profiling methods: a verbal and a non-verbal method (EsSense Profile and PrEmo, respectively). After 7 days, participants were asked to choose 1 breakfast drink from the experiment to consume during breakfast in a simulated restaurant environment. Cross validation showed that we were able to correctly predict individualized food choice (1 out of 7 products) for over 50% of the participants. This number increased to nearly 80% when looking at the top 2 candidates. Model comparisons showed that evoked emotions better predict food choice than perceived liking alone. However, the strongest predictive strength was achieved by the combination of evoked emotions and liking. Furthermore we showed that non-verbal food-evoked emotion scores more accurately predict food choice than verbal food-evoked emotions scores.

  13. Using event related potentials to identify a user's behavioural intention aroused by product form design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Yi; Guo, Fu; Zhang, Xuefeng; Qu, Qingxing; Liu, Weilin

    2016-07-01

    The capacity of product form to arouse user's behavioural intention plays a decisive role in further user experience, even in purchase decision, while traditional methods rarely give a fully understanding of user experience evoked by product form, especially the feeling of anticipated use of product. Behavioural intention aroused by product form designs has not yet been investigated electrophysiologically. Hence event related potentials (ERPs) were applied to explore the process of behavioural intention when users browsed different smart phone form designs with brand and price not taken into account for mainly studying the brain activity evoked by variety of product forms. Smart phone pictures with different anticipated user experience were displayed with equiprobability randomly. Participants were asked to click the left mouse button when certain picture gave them a feeling of behavioural intention to interact with. The brain signal of each participant was recorded by Curry 7.0. The results show that pictures with an ability to arouse participants' behavioural intention for further experience can evoke enhanced N300 and LPPs (late positive potentials) in central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions. The scalp topography shows that central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions are more activated. The results indicate that the discrepancy of ERPs can reflect the neural activities of behavioural intention formed or not. Moreover, amplitude of ERPs occurred in corresponding brain areas can be used to measure user experience. The exploring of neural correlated with behavioural intention provide an accurate measurement method of user's perception and help marketers to know which product can arouse users' behavioural intention, maybe taken as an evaluating indicator of product design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  14. Middle components of the auditory evoked response in bilateral temporal lobe lesions. Report on a patient with auditory agnosia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Parving, A; Salomon, G; Elberling, Claus

    1980-01-01

    An investigation of the middle components of the auditory evoked response (10--50 msec post-stimulus) in a patient with auditory agnosia is reported. Bilateral temporal lobe infarctions were proved by means of brain scintigraphy, CAT scanning, and regional cerebral blood flow measurements...

  15. Time-Shift Correlation Algorithm for P300 Event Related Potential Brain-Computer Interface Implementation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ju-Chi Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available A high efficient time-shift correlation algorithm was proposed to deal with the peak time uncertainty of P300 evoked potential for a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI. The time-shift correlation series data were collected as the input nodes of an artificial neural network (ANN, and the classification of four LED visual stimuli was selected as the output node. Two operating modes, including fast-recognition mode (FM and accuracy-recognition mode (AM, were realized. The proposed BCI system was implemented on an embedded system for commanding an adult-size humanoid robot to evaluate the performance from investigating the ground truth trajectories of the humanoid robot. When the humanoid robot walked in a spacious area, the FM was used to control the robot with a higher information transfer rate (ITR. When the robot walked in a crowded area, the AM was used for high accuracy of recognition to reduce the risk of collision. The experimental results showed that, in 100 trials, the accuracy rate of FM was 87.8% and the average ITR was 52.73 bits/min. In addition, the accuracy rate was improved to 92% for the AM, and the average ITR decreased to 31.27 bits/min. due to strict recognition constraints.

  16. Time-Shift Correlation Algorithm for P300 Event Related Potential Brain-Computer Interface Implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ju-Chi; Chou, Hung-Chyun; Chen, Chien-Hsiu; Lin, Yi-Tseng; Kuo, Chung-Hsien

    2016-01-01

    A high efficient time-shift correlation algorithm was proposed to deal with the peak time uncertainty of P300 evoked potential for a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI). The time-shift correlation series data were collected as the input nodes of an artificial neural network (ANN), and the classification of four LED visual stimuli was selected as the output node. Two operating modes, including fast-recognition mode (FM) and accuracy-recognition mode (AM), were realized. The proposed BCI system was implemented on an embedded system for commanding an adult-size humanoid robot to evaluate the performance from investigating the ground truth trajectories of the humanoid robot. When the humanoid robot walked in a spacious area, the FM was used to control the robot with a higher information transfer rate (ITR). When the robot walked in a crowded area, the AM was used for high accuracy of recognition to reduce the risk of collision. The experimental results showed that, in 100 trials, the accuracy rate of FM was 87.8% and the average ITR was 52.73 bits/min. In addition, the accuracy rate was improved to 92% for the AM, and the average ITR decreased to 31.27 bits/min. due to strict recognition constraints.

  17. Asymmetry of magnetic motor evoked potentials recorded in calf muscles of the dominant and non-dominant lower extremity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olex-Zarychta, Dorota; Koprowski, Robert; Sobota, Grzegorz; Wróbel, Zygmunt

    2009-08-07

    The aim of the study was to determine the applicability of magnetic stimulation and magnetic motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in motor asymmetry studies by obtaining quantitative and qualitative measures of efferent activity during low intensity magnetic stimulation of the dominant and non-dominant lower extremities. Magnetic stimulation of the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa was performed in 10 healthy male right-handed and right-footed young adults. Responses were recorded from the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscles of the right and left lower extremities. Response characteristics (duration, onset latency, amplitude) were analyzed in relation to the functional dominance of the limbs and in relation to the direction of the current in the magnetic coil by use of the Wilcoxon pair sequence test. The CCW direction of coil current was related to reduced amplitudes of recorded MEPs. Greater amplitudes of evoked potentials were recorded in the non-dominant extremity, both in the CW and CCW coil current directions, with the statistical significance of this effect (p=0.005). No differences in duration of response were found in the CW current direction, while in CCW the time of the left-side response was prolonged (p=0.01). In the non-dominant extremity longer onset latencies were recorded in both current directions, but only for the CW direction the side asymmetries showed a statistical significance of p=0.005. In the dominant extremity the stimulation correlated with stronger paresthesias, especially using the CCW direction of coil current. The results indicate that low intensity magnetic stimulation may be useful in quantitative and qualitative research into the motor asymmetry.

  18. Exchange transfusion with fluorocarbon for studying synaptically evoked optical signal in rat cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nomura, Y; Fujii, F; Sato, C; Nemoto, M; Tamura, M

    2000-02-01

    Optical imaging of intrinsic signal is a powerful technique for studying the functional organization of the brain [T. Bonhoeffer, D. S. Kim, D. Malonek, D. Shoham, A. Grinvald, Optical imaging of the layout of functional domains in area 17 and across the area 17/18 border in cat visual cortex, Eur. J. Neurosci. 7 (1995) 1973-1988; M. Hubener, D. Shoham, A. Grinvald, T. Bonhoeffer, Spatial relationships among three columnar systems in cat area 17, J. Neurosci. 17 (1997) 9270-9284; D. Malonek, A. Grinvald, Interactions between electrical activity and cortical microcirculation revealed by imaging spectroscopy: implications for functional brain mapping, Science 272 (1996) 551-554; A. Shmuel, A. Grinvald, Functional organization for direction of motion and its relationship to orientation maps in cat area 18, J. Neurosci. 16 (1996) 6945-6964] [1] [10] [14] [22]. Three components of intrinsic optical signal can be distinguished. Two of these components can be attributed either to changes in blood volume or to changes in oxygen consumption [R.D. Frostig, E.E. Lieke, D.Y. Ts'o, A. Grinvald, Cortical functional architecture and local coupling between neuronal activity and the microcirculation revealed by in vivo high resolution optical imaging of intrinsic signals, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 87 (1990) 6082-6086] [7]. The origin of the third component is not yet clear but the component seems to be based on scattered light [H.U. Dodt, G. D'Arcangelo, E. Pestel, W. Zieglgansberger, The spread of excitation in neocortical columns visualized with infrared-dark field videomicroscopy, NeuroReport 7 (1996) 1553-1558; K. Holthoff, O.W. Witte, Intrinsic optical signals in rat neocortical slices measured with near-infrared dark-field microscopy reveal changes in extracellular space, J. Neurosci. 16 (1996) 2740-2749; B.A. MacVicar, D. Hochman, Imaging of synaptically evoked intrinsic optical signals in hippocampal slices, J. Neurosci. 11 (1991) 1458-1469; L. Trachsel, H.U. Dodt, W

  19. Effects of PPP1R1B (DARPP-32 Polymorphism on Feedback-related Brain Potentials across the Life Span

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorothea eHämmerer

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Maximizing gains during probabilistic reinforcement learning requires the updating of choice–outcome expectations at the time when the feedback about a specific choice or action is given. Extant theories and evidence suggest that dopaminergic modulation plays a crucial role in reinforcement learning and the updating of choice–outcome expectations. Furthermore, recently a positive component of the event-related potential (ERP about 200 msec (P2 after feedback has been suggested to reflect such updating. The efficacy of dopaminergic modulation changes across the life span. However, to date investigations of age-related differences in feedback-related P2 during reinforcement learning are still scarce. The present study thus aims to investigate whether individual differences in the feedback-related P2 would be associated with polymorphic variations in a dopamine relevant gene PPP1R1B (also known as DARPP-32 and whether the genetic effect may differ between age groups. We observed larger P2 amplitudes in individuals carrying the genotype associated with higher dopamine receptor efficacy, i.e., A allele homozygotes of a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs907094 of the PPP1R1B gene. Moreover, this effect was more pronounced in children and older adults in comparison to adolescents and younger adults. Together, our findings indicate that polymorphic variations in a dopamine relevant gene are associated with individual differences in brain-evoked potentials of outcome updating and hint at the possibility that genotype effects on neurocognitive phenotypes may vary as a function of brain maturation and aging.

  20. Comparing the Efficacy of Excitatory Transcranial Stimulation Methods Measuring Motor Evoked Potentials

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    Vera Moliadze

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The common aim of transcranial stimulation methods is the induction or alterations of cortical excitability in a controlled way. Significant effects of each individual stimulation method have been published; however, conclusive direct comparisons of many of these methods are rare. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of three widely applied stimulation methods inducing excitability enhancement in the motor cortex: 1 mA anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS, intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS, and 1 mA transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS within one subject group. The effect of each stimulation condition was quantified by evaluating motor-evoked-potential amplitudes (MEPs in a fixed time sequence after stimulation. The analyses confirmed a significant enhancement of the M1 excitability caused by all three types of active stimulations compared to sham stimulation. There was no significant difference between the types of active stimulations, although the time course of the excitatory effects slightly differed. Among the stimulation methods, tRNS resulted in the strongest and atDCS significantly longest MEP increase compared to sham. Different time courses of the applied stimulation methods suggest different underlying mechanisms of action. Better understanding may be useful for better targeting of different transcranial stimulation techniques.

  1. Potassium conductances mediate bidirectional state-dependent modulation of action potential evoked dendritic calcium signals in dentate gyrus granule cells

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    János Brunner

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Backpropagating action potentials (bAPs and local calcium signals that they trigger are fundamental for dendritic functions. Here we addressed the question what extent the changes of local dendritic membrane properties can contribute to the shaping of the coupling between dendritic action potentials and the local calcium responses. Using a combination of in vitro electrophysiological and confocal imaging techniques we found that activation of dendritic GIRK channels via mGlu2 or GABAB receptors enhanced the bAP¬-triggered calcium signals in the dendrites of dentate gyrus granule cells (GCs. The enhancement of calcium signals was significant only in those dendritic regions, where these receptors are predominantly expressed. Similarly to GIRK channel activation, somatic hyperpolarization by DC current injection (from -64 mV to -77 mV, significantly increased bAP-associated calcium signals in the proximal dendrites. The hyperpolarization was associated with a decrease in the input resistance due to the rectification of the membrane potential of GCs. The effect of hyperpolarization on the calcium signals was maintained when T-type calcium currents were blocked but it decreased when GIRK channels were inhibited. Simultaneous dual somato-dendritic recordings from GCs showed that somatic hyperpolarization accelerated the repolarization phase of dendritic bAP in the proximal region whereas the rising phase and peak amplitude was not affected. We hypothesize that the larger driving force for calcium ions during the faster repolarization can contribute to the increasing in calcium signals. Employment of previously recorded dendritic bAP waveforms from hyperpolarized membrane potential as voltage command evoked larger calcium currents in nucleated patches compared to bAP waveform from the same recording at depolarized membrane potential. Furthermore, addition of native, high-voltage activated, inactivating potassium conductance by somatic dynamic clamp

  2. Longitudinal Structural and Functional Brain Network Alterations in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilbao, Ainhoa; Falfán-Melgoza, Claudia; Leixner, Sarah; Becker, Robert; Singaravelu, Sathish Kumar; Sack, Markus; Sartorius, Alexander; Spanagel, Rainer; Weber-Fahr, Wolfgang

    2018-04-22

    Neuropathic pain affects multiple brain functions, including motivational processing. However, little is known about the structural and functional brain changes involved in the transition from an acute to a chronic pain state. Here we combined behavioral phenotyping of pain thresholds with multimodal neuroimaging to longitudinally monitor changes in brain metabolism, structure and connectivity using the spared nerve injury (SNI) mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain. We investigated stimulus-evoked pain responses prior to SNI surgery, and one and twelve weeks following surgery. A progressive development and potentiation of stimulus-evoked pain responses (cold and mechanical allodynia) were detected during the course of pain chronification. Voxel-based morphometry demonstrated striking decreases in volume following pain induction in all brain sites assessed - an effect that reversed over time. Similarly, all global and local network changes that occurred following pain induction disappeared over time, with two notable exceptions: the nucleus accumbens, which played a more dominant role in the global network in a chronic pain state and the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which showed lower connectivity. These changes in connectivity were accompanied by enhanced glutamate levels in the hippocampus, but not in the prefrontal cortex. We suggest that hippocampal hyperexcitability may contribute to alterations in synaptic plasticity within the nucleus accumbens, and to pain chronification. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Modeling the developmental patterns of auditory evoked magnetic fields in children.

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    Rupesh Kotecha

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: As magnetoencephalography (MEG is of increasing utility in the assessment of deficits and development delays in brain disorders in pediatrics, it becomes imperative to fully understand the functional development of the brain in children. METHODOLOGY: The present study was designed to characterize the developmental patterns of auditory evoked magnetic responses with respect to age and gender. Sixty children and twenty adults were studied with a 275-channel MEG system. CONCLUSIONS: Three main responses were identified at approximately 46 ms (M50, 71 ms (M70 and 106 ms (M100 in latency for children. The latencies of M70 and M100 shortened with age in both hemispheres; the latency of M50 shortened with age only in the right hemisphere. Analysis of developmental lateralization patterns in children showed that the latency of the right hemispheric evoked responses shortened faster than the corresponding left hemispheric responses. The latency of M70 in the right hemisphere highly correlated to the age of the child. The amplitudes of the M70 responses increased with age and reached their peaks in children 12-14 years of age, after which they decreased with age. The source estimates for the M50 and M70 responses indicated that they were generated in different subareas in the Heschl's gyrus in children, while not localizable in adults. Furthermore, gender also affected developmental patterns. The latency of M70 in the right hemisphere was proposed to be an index of auditory development in children, the modeling equation is 85.72-1.240xAge (yrs. Our results demonstrate that there is a clear developmental pattern in the auditory cortex and underscore the importance of M50 and M70 in the developing brain.

  4. Decoding the auditory brain with canonical component analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Cheveigné, Alain; Wong, Daniel D E; Di Liberto, Giovanni M; Hjortkjær, Jens; Slaney, Malcolm; Lalor, Edmund

    2018-05-15

    The relation between a stimulus and the evoked brain response can shed light on perceptual processes within the brain. Signals derived from this relation can also be harnessed to control external devices for Brain Computer Interface (BCI) applications. While the classic event-related potential (ERP) is appropriate for isolated stimuli, more sophisticated "decoding" strategies are needed to address continuous stimuli such as speech, music or environmental sounds. Here we describe an approach based on Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) that finds the optimal transform to apply to both the stimulus and the response to reveal correlations between the two. Compared to prior methods based on forward or backward models for stimulus-response mapping, CCA finds significantly higher correlation scores, thus providing increased sensitivity to relatively small effects, and supports classifier schemes that yield higher classification scores. CCA strips the brain response of variance unrelated to the stimulus, and the stimulus representation of variance that does not affect the response, and thus improves observations of the relation between stimulus and response. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Profiles in fibromyalgia: algometry, auditory evoked potentials and clinical characterization of different subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triñanes, Yolanda; González-Villar, Alberto; Gómez-Perretta, Claudio; Carrillo-de-la-Peña, María T

    2014-11-01

    The heterogeneity found in fibromyalgia (FM) patients has led to the investigation of disease subgroups, mainly based on clinical features. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that clinical FM subgroups are associated with different underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Sixty-three FM patients were classified in type I or type II, according to the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), and in mild/moderate versus severe FM, according to the severity of three cardinal symptoms considered in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2010 criteria (unrefreshed sleep, cognitive problems and fatigue). To validate the subgroups obtained by these two classifications, we calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for various clinical variables and for two potential biomarkers of FM: Response to experimental pressure pain (algometry) and the amplitude/intensity slopes of the auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) obtained to stimuli of increasing intensity. The variables that best discriminated type I versus type II were those related to depression, while the indices of clinical or experimental pain (threshold or tolerance) did not significantly differ between them. The variables that best discriminated the mild/moderate versus severe subgroups were those related to the algometry. The AEPs did not allow discrimination among the generated subsets. The FIQ-based classification allows the identification of subgroups that differ in psychological distress, while the index based on the ACR 2010 criteria seems to be useful to characterize the severity of FM mainly based on hyperalgesia. The incorporation of potential biomarkers to generate or validate classification criteria is crucial to advance in the knowledge of FM and in the understanding of pathophysiological pathways.

  6. Air pollution is associated with brainstem auditory nuclei pathology and delayed brainstem auditory evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; D'Angiulli, Amedeo; Kulesza, Randy J; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Osnaya, Norma; Romero, Lina; Keefe, Sheyla; Herritt, Lou; Brooks, Diane M; Avila-Ramirez, Jose; Delgado-Chávez, Ricardo; Medina-Cortina, Humberto; González-González, Luis Oscar

    2011-06-01

    We assessed brainstem inflammation in children exposed to air pollutants by comparing brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) and blood inflammatory markers in children age 96.3±8.5 months from highly polluted (n=34) versus a low polluted city (n=17). The brainstems of nine children with accidental deaths were also examined. Children from the highly polluted environment had significant delays in wave III (t(50)=17.038; p7.501; p<0.0001), consisting with delayed central conduction time of brainstem neural transmission. Highly exposed children showed significant evidence of inflammatory markers and their auditory and vestibular nuclei accumulated α synuclein and/or β amyloid(1-42). Medial superior olive neurons, critically involved in BAEPs, displayed significant pathology. Children's exposure to urban air pollution increases their risk for auditory and vestibular impairment. Copyright © 2011 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Multifocal visual evoked potentials for quantifying optic nerve dysfunction in patients with optic disc drusen

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malmqvist, Lasse; de Santiago, Luis; Boquete, Luciano

    2017-01-01

    and 22 control subjects were examined. Mean amplitude, mean inner ring (IR) amplitude (0.87-5.67° of visual field) and mean outer ring amplitude (5.68-24° of visual field) were calculated using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and peak-to-peak analysis. Monocular latency was calculated using second peak......PURPOSE: To explore the applicability of multifocal visual evoked potentials (mfVEPs) for research and clinical diagnosis in patients with optic disc drusen (ODD). This is the first assessment of mfVEP amplitude in patients with ODD. METHODS: MfVEP amplitude and latency from 33 patients with ODD......, full eye and IR. In the control group, SNR intersubject variability was 17.6% and second peak latency intersubject variability was 2.8%. CONCLUSION: Decreased mfVEP amplitude in patients with ODD suggests a direct mechanical compression of the optic nerve axons. Our results suggest that mfVEP amplitude...

  8. Visual evoked potentials show strong positive association with intracranial pressure in patients with cryptococcal meningitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Adriano da Cunha Silva Vieira

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Objective : To verify the relationship between intracranial pressure and flash visual evoked potentials (F-VEP in patients with cryptococcal meningitis. Method The sample included adults diagnosed with cryptococcal meningitis admitted at a reference hospital for infectious diseases. The patients were subjected to F-VEP tests shortly before lumbar puncture. The Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient was calculated and the linear regression analysis was performed. Results : Eighteen individuals were subjected to a total of 69 lumbar punctures preceded by F-VEP tests. At the first lumbar puncture performed in each patient, N2 latency exhibited a strong positive correlation with intracranial pressure (r = 0.83; CI = 0.60 - 0.94; p < 0.0001. The direction of this relationship was maintained in subsequent punctures. Conclusion : The intracranial pressure measured by spinal tap manometry showed strong positive association with the N2 latency F-VEP in patients with cryptococcal meningitis.

  9. Characterization of music-evoked autobiographical memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janata, Petr; Tomic, Stefan T; Rakowski, Sonja K

    2007-11-01

    Despite music's prominence in Western society and its importance to individuals in their daily lives, very little is known about the memories and emotions that are often evoked when hearing a piece of music from one's past. We examined the content of music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) using a novel approach for selecting stimuli from a large corpus of popular music, in both laboratory and online settings. A set of questionnaires probed the cognitive and affective properties of the evoked memories. On average, 30% of the song presentations evoked autobiographical memories, and the majority of songs also evoked various emotions, primarily positive, that were felt strongly. The third most common emotion was nostalgia. Analyses of written memory reports found both general and specific levels of autobiographical knowledge to be represented, and several social and situational contexts for memory formation were common across many memories. The findings indicate that excerpts of popular music serve as potent stimuli for studying the structure of autobiographical memories.

  10. Changes in event-related potential functional networks predict traumatic brain injury in piglets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atlan, Lorre S; Lan, Ingrid S; Smith, Colin; Margulies, Susan S

    2018-06-01

    Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits in children in the US each year. None of the current diagnostic tools, such as quantitative cognitive and balance tests, have been validated to identify mild traumatic brain injury in infants, adults and animals. In this preliminary study, we report a novel, quantitative tool that has the potential to quickly and reliably diagnose traumatic brain injury and which can track the state of the brain during recovery across multiple ages and species. Using 32 scalp electrodes, we recorded involuntary auditory event-related potentials from 22 awake four-week-old piglets one day before and one, four, and seven days after two different injury types (diffuse and focal) or sham. From these recordings, we generated event-related potential functional networks and assessed whether the patterns of the observed changes in these networks could distinguish brain-injured piglets from non-injured. Piglet brains exhibited significant changes after injury, as evaluated by five network metrics. The injury prediction algorithm developed from our analysis of the changes in the event-related potentials functional networks ultimately produced a tool with 82% predictive accuracy. This novel approach is the first application of auditory event-related potential functional networks to the prediction of traumatic brain injury. The resulting tool is a robust, objective and predictive method that offers promise for detecting mild traumatic brain injury, in particular because collecting event-related potentials data is noninvasive and inexpensive. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  11. Dynamic causal modeling of touch-evoked potentials in the rubber hand illusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeller, Daniel; Friston, Karl J; Classen, Joseph

    2016-09-01

    The neural substrate of bodily ownership can be disclosed by the rubber hand illusion (RHI); namely, the illusory self-attribution of an artificial hand that is induced by synchronous tactile stimulation of the subject's hand that is hidden from view. Previous studies have pointed to the premotor cortex (PMC) as a pivotal area in such illusions. To investigate the effective connectivity between - and within - sensory and premotor areas involved in bodily perceptions, we used dynamic causal modeling of touch-evoked responses in 13 healthy subjects. Each subject's right hand was stroked while viewing their own hand ("REAL"), or an artificial hand presented in an anatomically plausible ("CONGRUENT") or implausible ("INCONGRUENT") position. Bayesian model comparison revealed strong evidence for a differential involvement of the PMC in the generation of touch-evoked responses under the three conditions, confirming a crucial role of PMC in bodily self-attribution. In brief, the extrinsic (forward) connection from left occipital cortex to left PMC was stronger for CONGRUENT and INCONGRUENT as compared to REAL, reflecting the augmentation of bottom-up visual input when multisensory integration is challenged. Crucially, intrinsic connectivity in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) was attenuated in the CONGRUENT condition, during the illusory percept. These findings support predictive coding models of the functional architecture of multisensory integration (and attenuation) in bodily perceptual experience. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. A neural basis for the visual sense of number and its development: A steady-state visual evoked potential study in children and adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joonkoo Park

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available While recent studies in adults have demonstrated the existence of a neural mechanism for a visual sense of number, little is known about its development and whether such a mechanism exists at young ages. In the current study, I introduce a novel steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP technique to objectively quantify early visual cortical sensitivity to numerical and non-numerical magnitudes of a dot array. I then examine this neural sensitivity to numerical magnitude in children between three and ten years of age and in college students. Children overall exhibit strong SSVEP sensitivity to numerical magnitude in the right occipital sites with negligible SSVEP sensitivity to non-numerical magnitudes, the pattern similar to what is observed in adults. However, a closer examination of age differences reveals that this selective neural sensitivity to numerical magnitude, which is close to absent in three-year-olds, increases steadily as a function of age, while there is virtually no neural sensitivity to other non-numerical magnitudes across these ages. These results demonstrate the emergence of a neural mechanism underlying direct perception of numerosity across early and middle childhood and provide a potential neural mechanistic explanation for the development of humans’ primitive, non-verbal ability to comprehend number. Keywords: Numerosity, Steady-state visual evoked potential, Child development, Visual cortex, Approximate number system

  13. Distinction between added-energy and phase-resetting mechanisms in non-invasively detected somatosensory evoked responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fedele, T; Scheer, H-J; Burghoff, M; Waterstraat, G; Nikulin, V V; Curio, G

    2013-01-01

    Non-invasively recorded averaged event-related potentials (ERP) represent a convenient opportunity to investigate human brain perceptive and cognitive processes. Nevertheless, generative ERP mechanisms are still debated. Two previous approaches have been contested in the past: the added-energy model in which the response raises independently from the ongoing background activity, and the phase-reset model, based on stimulus-driven synchronization of oscillatory ongoing activity. Many criteria for the distinction of these two models have been proposed, but there is no definitive methodology to disentangle them, owing also to the limited information at the single trial level. Here, we propose a new approach combining low-noise EEG technology and multivariate decomposition techniques. We present theoretical analyses based on simulated data and identify in high-frequency somatosensory evoked responses an optimal target for the distinction between the two mechanisms.

  14. Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials to vertex low frequency vibration as a diagnostic test for superior canal dehiscence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verrecchia, Luca; Westin, Magnus; Duan, Maoli; Brantberg, Krister

    2016-04-01

    To explore ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) to low-frequency vertex vibration (125 Hz) as a diagnostic test for superior canal dehiscence (SCD) syndrome. The oVEMP using 125 Hz single cycle bone-conducted vertex vibration were tested in 15 patients with unilateral superior canal dehiscence (SCD) syndrome, 15 healthy controls and in 20 patients with unilateral vestibular loss due to vestibular neuritis. Amplitude, amplitude asymmetry ratio, latency and interaural latency difference were parameters of interest. The oVEMP amplitude was significantly larger in SCD patients when affected sides (53 μVolts) were compared to non-affected (17.2 μVolts) or compared to healthy controls (13.6 μVolts). Amplitude larger than 33.8 μVolts separates effectively the SCD ears from the healthy ones with sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 93%. The other three parameters showed an overlap between affected SCD ears and non-affected as well as between SCD ears and those in the two control groups. oVEMP amplitude distinguishes SCD ears from healthy ones using low-frequency vibration stimuli at vertex. Amplitude analysis of oVEMP evoked by low-frequency vertex bone vibration stimulation is an additional indicator of SCD syndrome and might serve for diagnosing SCD patients with coexistent conductive middle ear problems. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Laser-evoked coloration in polymers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng, H.Y.; Rosseinsky, David; Lim, G.C.

    2005-01-01

    Laser-evoked coloration in polymers has long been a major aim of polymer technology for potential applications in product surface decoration, marking personalised images and logos. However, the coloration results reported so far were mostly attributed to laser-induced thermal-chemical reactions. The laser-irradiated areas are characterized with grooves due to material removal. Furthermore, only single color was laser-induced in any given polymer matrix. To induce multiple colors in a given polymer matrix with no apparent surface material removal is most desirable and challenging and may be achieved through laser-induced photo-chemical reactions. However, little public information is available at present. We report that two colors of red and green have been produced on an initially transparent CPV/PVA samples through UV laser-induced photo-chemical reactions. This is believed the first observation of laser-induced multiple-colors in the given polymer matrix. It is believed that the colorants underwent photo-effected electron transfer with suitable electron donors from the polymers to change from colorless bipyridilium Bipm 2+ to the colored Bipm + species. The discovery may lead to new approaches to the development of laser-evoked multiple coloration in polymers

  16. Occipital lobe lesions result in a displacement of magnetoencephalography visual evoked field dipoles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pang, Elizabeth W; Chu, Bill H W; Otsubo, Hiroshi

    2014-10-01

    The pattern-reversal visual evoked potential measured electrically from scalp electrodes is known to be decreased, or absent, in patients with occipital lobe lesions. We questioned whether the measurement and source analysis of the neuromagnetic visual evoked field (VEF) might offer additional information regarding visual cortex relative to the occipital lesion. We retrospectively examined 12 children (6-18 years) with occipital lesions on MRI, who underwent magnetoencephalography and ophthalmology as part of their presurgical assessment. Binocular half-field pattern-reversal VEFs were obtained in a 151-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography. Data were averaged and dipole source analyses were performed for each half-field stimulation. A significant lateral shift (P occipital lesions. Magnetoencephalography may be useful as a screening test of visual function in young patients. We discuss potential explanations for this lateral shift and emphasize the utility of adding the magnetoencephalography pattern-reversal visual evoked field protocol to the neurologic work-up.

  17. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for the Support of a Potential Organ Donor with a Fatal Brain Injury before Brain Death Determination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sung Wook Chang

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The shortage of available organ donors is a significant problem and various efforts have been made to avoid the loss of organ donors. Among these, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO has been introduced to help support and manage potential donors. Many traumatic brain injury patients have healthy organs that might be eligible for donation for transplantation. However, the condition of a donor with a fatal brain injury may rapidly deteriorate prior to brain death determination; this frequently results in the loss of eligible donors. Here, we report the use of venoarterial ECMO to support a potential donor with a fatal brain injury before brain death determination, and thereby preserve donor organs. The patient successfully donated his liver and kidneys after brain death determination.

  18. Brain reward system's alterations in response to food and monetary stimuli in overweight and obese individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdejo-Román, Juan; Vilar-López, Raquel; Navas, Juan F; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Verdejo-García, Antonio

    2017-02-01

    The brain's reward system is crucial to understand obesity in modern society, as increased neural responsivity to reward can fuel the unhealthy food choices that are driving the growing obesity epidemic. Brain's reward system responsivity to food and monetary rewards in individuals with excessive weight (overweight and obese) versus normal weight controls, along with the relationship between this responsivity and body mass index (BMI) were tested. The sample comprised 21 adults with obesity (BMI > 30), 21 with overweight (BMI between 25 and 30), and 39 with normal weight (BMI food (Willing to Pay) and monetary rewards (Monetary Incentive Delay). Neural activations within the brain reward system were compared across the three groups. Curve fit analyses were conducted to establish the association between BMI and brain reward system's response. Individuals with obesity had greater food-evoked responsivity in the dorsal and ventral striatum compared with overweight and normal weight groups. There was an inverted U-shape association between BMI and monetary-evoked responsivity in the ventral striatum, medial frontal cortex, and amygdala; that is, individuals with BMIs between 27 and 32 had greater responsivity to monetary stimuli. Obesity is associated with greater food-evoked responsivity in the ventral and dorsal striatum, and overweight is associated with greater monetary-evoked responsivity in the ventral striatum, the amygdala, and the medial frontal cortex. Findings suggest differential reactivity of the brain's reward system to food versus monetary rewards in obesity and overweight. Hum Brain Mapp 38:666-677, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Objective quantification of the tinnitus decompensation by synchronization measures of auditory evoked single sweeps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strauss, Daniel J; Delb, Wolfgang; D'Amelio, Roberto; Low, Yin Fen; Falkai, Peter

    2008-02-01

    Large-scale neural correlates of the tinnitus decompensation might be used for an objective evaluation of therapies and neurofeedback based therapeutic approaches. In this study, we try to identify large-scale neural correlates of the tinnitus decompensation using wavelet phase stability criteria of single sweep sequences of late auditory evoked potentials as synchronization stability measure. The extracted measure provided an objective quantification of the tinnitus decompensation and allowed for a reliable discrimination between a group of compensated and decompensated tinnitus patients. We provide an interpretation for our results by a neural model of top-down projections based on the Jastreboff tinnitus model combined with the adaptive resonance theory which has not been applied to model tinnitus so far. Using this model, our stability measure of evoked potentials can be linked to the focus of attention on the tinnitus signal. It is concluded that the wavelet phase stability of late auditory evoked potential single sweeps might be used as objective tinnitus decompensation measure and can be interpreted in the framework of the Jastreboff tinnitus model and adaptive resonance theory.

  20. Pharmacology of Bradykinin-Evoked Coughing in Guinea Pigs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewitt, Matthew M; Adams, Gregory; Mazzone, Stuart B; Mori, Nanako; Yu, Li; Canning, Brendan J

    2016-06-01

    Bradykinin has been implicated as a mediator of the acute pathophysiological and inflammatory consequences of respiratory tract infections and in exacerbations of chronic diseases such as asthma. Bradykinin may also be a trigger for the coughing associated with these and other conditions. We have thus set out to evaluate the pharmacology of bradykinin-evoked coughing in guinea pigs. When inhaled, bradykinin induced paroxysmal coughing that was abolished by the bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist HOE 140. These cough responses rapidly desensitized, consistent with reports of B2 receptor desensitization. Bradykinin-evoked cough was potentiated by inhibition of both neutral endopeptidase and angiotensin-converting enzyme (with thiorphan and captopril, respectively), but was largely unaffected by muscarinic or thromboxane receptor blockade (atropine and ICI 192605), cyclooxygenase, or nitric oxide synthase inhibition (meclofenamic acid and N(G)-nitro-L-arginine). Calcium influx studies in bronchopulmonary vagal afferent neurons dissociated from vagal sensory ganglia indicated that the tachykinin-containing C-fibers arising from the jugular ganglia mediate bradykinin-evoked coughing. Also implicating the jugular C-fibers was the observation that simultaneous blockade of neurokinin2 (NK2; SR48968) and NK3 (SR142801 or SB223412) receptors nearly abolished the bradykinin-evoked cough responses. The data suggest that bradykinin induces coughing in guinea pigs by activating B2 receptors on bronchopulmonary C-fibers. We speculate that therapeutics targeting the actions of bradykinin may prove useful in the treatment of cough. Copyright © 2016 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

  1. Relationship between vitamin D deficiency and visually evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Méndez, P; Sosa-Henríquez, M; Ruiz-Pérez, Á

    2016-05-01

    To evaluate the possible relationship between serum 25-OH vitamin D levels and visually evoked potentials (VEP) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), residents in the south zone of Gran Canaria. The study included 49 patients with MS, on whom 25-OH-vitamin D was determined, along with VEP, and a neurological examination to determine incapacity. Clinical variables, such as a history of optic neuritis were recorded. The mean value of 25-OH-vitamin D of the patients was 28.1±9.5ng/ml. The VEP latency was 119.1±23.2ms and the amplitude, 8.5±4.4 μV. Patients with a higher 25-OH-vitamin D had a greater number of outbreaks in the year prior to the study (P=.049), and those with vitamin D deficiency and previous optic neuritis showed no reduction in the amplitude of the VEP (P=.006). Patients with vitamin D deficiency have lower clinical activity of the MS and show no axonal involvement in VEP after having suffered optic neuritis. These relationships, although statistically significant, do not seem clinically plausible, thus new studies are needed to try and confirm this possible relationship. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  2. Auditory evoked potentials: predicting speech therapy outcomes in children with phonological disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Aparecida Leite

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether neurophysiologic responses (auditory evoked potentials differ between typically developed children and children with phonological disorders and whether these responses are modified in children with phonological disorders after speech therapy. METHODS: The participants included 24 typically developing children (Control Group, mean age: eight years and ten months and 23 children clinically diagnosed with phonological disorders (Study Group, mean age: eight years and eleven months. Additionally, 12 study group children were enrolled in speech therapy (Study Group 1, and 11 were not enrolled in speech therapy (Study Group 2. The subjects were submitted to the following procedures: conventional audiological, auditory brainstem response, auditory middle-latency response, and P300 assessments. All participants presented with normal hearing thresholds. The study group 1 subjects were reassessed after 12 speech therapy sessions, and the study group 2 subjects were reassessed 3 months after the initial assessment. Electrophysiological results were compared between the groups. RESULTS: Latency differences were observed between the groups (the control and study groups regarding the auditory brainstem response and the P300 tests. Additionally, the P300 responses improved in the study group 1 children after speech therapy. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that children with phonological disorders have impaired auditory brainstem and cortical region pathways that may benefit from speech therapy.

  3. A comparison of myogenic motor evoked responses to electrical and magnetic transcranial stimulation during nitrous oxide/opioid anesthesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ubags, L. H.; Kalkman, C. J.; Been, H. D.; Koelman, J. H.; Ongerboer de Visser, B. W.

    1999-01-01

    Transcranial motor evoked potentials (tc-MEPs) are used to monitor spinal cord integrity intraoperatively. We compared myogenic motor evoked responses with electrical and magnetic transcranial stimuli during nitrous oxide/opioid anesthesia. In 11 patients undergoing spinal surgery, anesthesia was

  4. Potential brain imaging using near field radiomety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oikonomou, A; Karanasiou, I S; Uzunoglu, N K

    2009-01-01

    During the past decades there has been a tremendous increase throughout the scientific community for developing methods of understanding human brain functionality, as diagnosis and treatment of diseases and malfunctions could be effectively developed through understanding of how the brain works. In parallel, research effort is driven on minimizing drawbacks of existing imaging techniques including potential risks from radiation and invasive attributes of the imaging methodologies. Towards that direction, we are proposing a near filed radiometry imaging system for intracranial applications. The methodology is based on the fact that human tissues emit chaotic thermal type radiation at temperatures above the absolute zero. Using a phase shifted antenna array system, resolution, detection depth and sensitivity are increased. Several different setups are theoretically investigated and compared, so as to make the proposed system useful for clinical applications. Combining previous research as well as new findings, the possibility of using the proposed system as a complementary method for brain imaging is discussed in the present paper.

  5. Sensory disturbance, CT, and somatosensory evoked potentials in thalamic hemorrhages

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koga, Hisanobu; Miyazaki, Takayoshi; Miyazaki, Hisaya

    1985-01-01

    Thalamic hemorrhages often lead to sensory disturbances. However, no effective method for the evaluation of their prognoses has yet been clinically utilized. The somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) has been reported as an effective method, but it remains controversial. A CT scan is eminently suitable for determining the size and position of the hemorrhage. However, the correlation between the localization of the hematoma on the CT scan and the sensory distrubance has not been investigated fully. The authors selected 20 cases with the chronic stage of a thalamic hemorrhage. Each one was clinically evaluated as to sensory disturbance; they were then classified into the following five groups: Group 1: no sensory deficit (3 cases); Group 2: complete recovery from initial deficit (2 cases); Group 3: mild hypesthesia (5 cases); Group 4: severe hypesthesia (5 cases), and Group 5: paresthesia or dysesthesia (5 cases). Also, the CT scan was investigated with regard to the localization of the hematoma and the SEP. We could thus find a characteristic pattern in each group. The results may be summarized as follows. 1. The correlation between the degree of the sensory disturbance and the size and expansion of the hematoma was clearly detected. Especially, the most severe sensory disturbance was found in the hematoma extending to the lateral nuclear and ventral nuclear regions. 2. In Group 1 and 2, each SEP component (N 1 N 2 N 3 ) was shown to be normal. In Group 3, SEP components could be detected, but not completely. In Group 4, no components at all could be found. 3. In Group 5, all cases were small hematoma localized in the lateral nuclear region of the thalamus, while the N 3 components were prolonged on the SEP findings. The authors demonstrate the results and discuss the correlation between the sensory disturbance and the CT or SEP findings. (author)

  6. Control of a nursing bed based on a hybrid brain-computer interface.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nengneng Peng; Rui Zhang; Haihua Zeng; Fei Wang; Kai Li; Yuanqing Li; Xiaobin Zhuang

    2016-08-01

    In this paper, we propose an intelligent nursing bed system which is controlled by a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) involving steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) and P300. Specifically, the hybrid BCI includes an asynchronous brain switch based on SSVEP and P300, and a P300-based BCI. The brain switch is used to turn on/off the control system of the electric nursing bed through idle/control state detection, whereas the P300-based BCI is for operating the nursing bed. At the beginning, the user may focus on one group of flashing buttons in the graphic user interface (GUI) of the brain switch, which can simultaneously evoke SSVEP and P300, to switch on the control system. Here, the combination of SSVEP and P300 is used for improving the performance of the brain switch. Next, the user can control the nursing bed using the P300-based BCI. The GUI of the P300-based BCI includes 10 flashing buttons, which correspond to 10 functional operations, namely, left-side up, left-side down, back up, back down, bedpan open, bedpan close, legs up, legs down, right-side up, and right-side down. For instance, he/she can focus on the flashing button "back up" in the GUI of the P300-based BCI to activate the corresponding control such that the nursing bed is adjusted up. Eight healthy subjects participated in our experiment, and obtained an average accuracy of 93.75% and an average false positive rate (FPR) of 0.15 event/min. The effectiveness of our system was thus demonstrated.

  7. The loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP as an indicator of serotonergic dysfunction in patients with predominant schizophrenic negative symptoms.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Wyss

    Full Text Available Besides the influence of dopaminergic neurotransmission on negative symptoms in schizophrenia, there is evidence that alterations of serotonin (5-HT system functioning also play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of these disabling symptoms. From post mortem and genetic studies on patients with negative symptoms a 5-HT dysfunction is documented. In addition atypical neuroleptics and some antidepressants improve negative symptoms via serotonergic action. So far no research has been done to directly clarify the association between the serotonergic functioning and the extent of negative symptoms. Therefore, we examined the status of brain 5-HT level in negative symptoms in schizophrenia by means of the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP. The LDAEP provides a well established and non-invasive in vivo marker of the central 5-HT activity. We investigated 13 patients with schizophrenia with predominant negative symptoms treated with atypical neuroleptics and 13 healthy age and gender matched controls with a 32-channel EEG. The LDAEP of the N1/P2 component was evaluated by dipole source analysis and single electrode estimation at Cz. Psychopathological parameters, nicotine use and medication were assessed to control for additional influencing factors. Schizophrenic patients showed significantly higher LDAEP in both hemispheres than controls. Furthermore, the LDAEP in the right hemisphere in patients was related to higher scores in scales assessing negative symptoms. A relationship with positive symptoms was not found. These data might suggest a diminished central serotonergic neurotransmission in patients with predominant negative symptoms.

  8. Separating neural and vascular effects of caffeine using simultaneous EEG–FMRI: Differential effects of caffeine on cognitive and sensorimotor brain responses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diukova, Ana; Ware, Jennifer; Smith, Jessica E.; Evans, C. John; Murphy, Kevin; Rogers, Peter J.; Wise, Richard G.

    2012-01-01

    The effects of caffeine are mediated through its non-selective antagonistic effects on adenosine A1 and A2A adenosine receptors resulting in increased neuronal activity but also vasoconstriction in the brain. Caffeine, therefore, can modify BOLD FMRI signal responses through both its neural and its vascular effects depending on receptor distributions in different brain regions. In this study we aim to distinguish neural and vascular influences of a single dose of caffeine in measurements of task-related brain activity using simultaneous EEG–FMRI. We chose to compare low-level visual and motor (paced finger tapping) tasks with a cognitive (auditory oddball) task, with the expectation that caffeine would differentially affect brain responses in relation to these tasks. To avoid the influence of chronic caffeine intake, we examined the effect of 250 mg of oral caffeine on 14 non and infrequent caffeine consumers in a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over study. Our results show that the task-related BOLD signal change in visual and primary motor cortex was significantly reduced by caffeine, while the amplitude and latency of visual evoked potentials over occipital cortex remained unaltered. However, during the auditory oddball task (target versus non-target stimuli) caffeine significantly increased the BOLD signal in frontal cortex. Correspondingly, there was also a significant effect of caffeine in reducing the target evoked response potential (P300) latency in the oddball task and this was associated with a positive potential over frontal cortex. Behavioural data showed that caffeine also improved performance in the oddball task with a significantly reduced number of missed responses. Our results are consistent with earlier studies demonstrating altered flow-metabolism coupling after caffeine administration in the context of our observation of a generalised caffeine-induced reduction in cerebral blood flow demonstrated by arterial spin labelling (19

  9. Widespread promoter methylation of synaptic plasticity genes in long-term potentiation in the adult brain in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maag, Jesper L V; Kaczorowski, Dominik C; Panja, Debabrata; Peters, Timothy J; Bramham, Clive R; Wibrand, Karin; Dinger, Marcel E

    2017-03-23

    DNA methylation is a key modulator of gene expression in mammalian development and cellular differentiation, including neurons. To date, the role of DNA modifications in long-term potentiation (LTP) has not been explored. To investigate the occurrence of DNA methylation changes in LTP, we undertook the first detailed study to describe the methylation status of all known LTP-associated genes during LTP induction in the dentate gyrus of live rats. Using a methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP)-array, together with previously published matched RNA-seq and public histone modification data, we discover widespread changes in methylation status of LTP-genes. We further show that the expression of many LTP-genes is correlated with their methylation status. We show that these correlated genes are enriched for RNA-processing, active histone marks, and specific transcription factors. These data reveal that the synaptic activity-evoked methylation changes correlates with pre-existing activation of the chromatin landscape. Finally, we show that methylation of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) CpG-islands correlates with isoform switching from transcripts containing exon IV to exon I. Together, these data provide the first evidence of widespread regulation of methylation status in LTP-associated genes.

  10. P300 brain computer interface: current challenges and emerging trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fazel-Rezai, Reza; Allison, Brendan Z.; Guger, Christoph; Sellers, Eric W.; Kleih, Sonja C.; Kübler, Andrea

    2012-01-01

    A brain-computer interface (BCI) enables communication without movement based on brain signals measured with electroencephalography (EEG). BCIs usually rely on one of three types of signals: the P300 and other components of the event-related potential (ERP), steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), or event related desynchronization (ERD). Although P300 BCIs were introduced over twenty years ago, the past few years have seen a strong increase in P300 BCI research. This closed-loop BCI approach relies on the P300 and other components of the ERP, based on an oddball paradigm presented to the subject. In this paper, we overview the current status of P300 BCI technology, and then discuss new directions: paradigms for eliciting P300s; signal processing methods; applications; and hybrid BCIs. We conclude that P300 BCIs are quite promising, as several emerging directions have not yet been fully explored and could lead to improvements in bit rate, reliability, usability, and flexibility. PMID:22822397

  11. Support vector regression correlates single-sweep evoked brain potentials to gastrointestinal symptoms in diabetes mellitus patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Graversen, C; Frokjaer, J B; Brock, Christina

    2012-01-01

    Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a multi-factorial and complex disease causing autonomic neuropathy and gastrointestinal symptoms in some patients. The neural mechanisms behind these symptoms are poorly understood, but it is believed that both peripheral and central mechanisms are involved. To gain furt...... approach to study central mechanisms in diabetes mellitus, and may provide a future application for a clinical tool to optimize treatment in individual patients.......Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a multi-factorial and complex disease causing autonomic neuropathy and gastrointestinal symptoms in some patients. The neural mechanisms behind these symptoms are poorly understood, but it is believed that both peripheral and central mechanisms are involved. To gain...... further knowledge of the central mechanisms, the aim of this study was to identify biomarkers for the altered brain activity in type-1 DM patients compared to healthy volunteers (HV), and to correlate the obtained biomarkers to clinical patient scores. The study included 14 DM patients and 15 HV...

  12. Effects of acoustic noise on the auditory nerve compound action potentials evoked by electric pulse trains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nourski, Kirill V; Abbas, Paul J; Miller, Charles A; Robinson, Barbara K; Jeng, Fuh-Cherng

    2005-04-01

    This study investigated the effects of acoustic noise on the auditory nerve compound action potentials in response to electric pulse trains. Subjects were adult guinea pigs, implanted with a minimally invasive electrode to preserve acoustic sensitivity. Electrically evoked compound action potentials (ECAP) were recorded from the auditory nerve trunk in response to electric pulse trains both during and after the presentation of acoustic white noise. Simultaneously presented acoustic noise produced a decrease in ECAP amplitude. The effect of the acoustic masker on the electric probe was greatest at the onset of the acoustic stimulus and it was followed by a partial recovery of the ECAP amplitude. Following cessation of the acoustic noise, ECAP amplitude recovered over a period of approximately 100-200 ms. The effects of the acoustic noise were more prominent at lower electric pulse rates (interpulse intervals of 3 ms and higher). At higher pulse rates, the ECAP adaptation to the electric pulse train alone was larger and the acoustic noise, when presented, produced little additional effect. The observed effects of noise on ECAP were the greatest at high electric stimulus levels and, for a particular electric stimulus level, at high acoustic noise levels.

  13. Emotion and attention : Event-related brain potential studies

    OpenAIRE

    Schupp, Harald Thomas; Flaisch, Tobias; Stockburger, Jessica; Junghöfer, Markus

    2006-01-01

    Emotional pictures guide selective visual attention. A series of event-related brain potential (ERP) studies is reviewed demonstrating the consistent and robust modulation of specific ERP components by emotional images. Specifically, pictures depicting natural pleasant and unpleasant scenes are associated with an increased early posterior negativity, late positive potential, and sustained positive slow wave compared with neutral contents. These modulations are considered to index different st...

  14. T(2)-weighted microMRI and evoked potential of the visual system measurements during the development of hypomyelinated transgenic mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Melanie; Reyes, Samuel D; Hiltner, Timothy D; Givogri, M Irene; Tyszka, J Michael; Fisher, Robin; Campagnoni, Anthony T; Fraser, Scott E; Jacobs, Russell E; Readhead, Carol

    2007-02-01

    Our objective was to follow the course of a dysmyelinating disease followed by partial recovery in transgenic mice using non-invasive high-resolution (117 x 117 x 70 microm) magnetic resonance (microMRI) and evoked potential of the visual system (VEP) techniques. We used JOE (for J37 golli overexpressing) transgenic mice engineered to overexpress golli J37, a product of the Golli-mbp gene complex, specifically in oligodendrocytes. Individual JOE transgenics and their unaffected siblings were followed from 21 until 75-days-old using non-invasive in vivo VEPs and 3D T2-weighted microMRI on an 11.7 T scanner, performing what we believe is the first longitudinal study of its kind. The microMRI data indicated clear, global hypomyelination during the period of peak myelination (21-42 days), which was partially corrected at later ages (>60 days) in the JOE mice compared to controls. These microMRI data correlated well with [Campagnoni AT (1995) "Molecular biology of myelination". In: Ransom B, Kettenmann H (eds) Neuroglia--a Treatise. Oxford University Press, London, pp 555-570] myelin staining, [Campagnoni AT, Macklin WB (1988) Cellular and molecular aspects of myelin protein gene-expression. Mol Neurobiol 2:41-89] a transient intention tremor during the peak period of myelination, which abated at later ages, and [Lees MB, Brostoff SW (1984) Proteins in myelin. In: Morell (ed) Myelin. Plenum Press, New York and London, pp 197-224] VEPs which all indicated a significant delay of CNS myelin development and persistent hypomyelination in JOE mice. Overall these non-invasive techniques are capable of spatially resolving the increase in myelination in the normally developing and developmentally delayed mouse brain.

  15. Non-invasive brain stimulation of motor cortex induces embodiment when integrated with virtual reality feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassolino, M; Franza, M; Bello Ruiz, J; Pinardi, M; Schmidlin, T; Stephan, M A; Solcà, M; Serino, A; Blanke, O

    2018-04-01

    Previous evidence highlighted the multisensory-motor origin of embodiment - that is, the experience of having a body and of being in control of it - and the possibility of experimentally manipulating it. For instance, an illusory feeling of embodiment towards a fake hand can be triggered by providing synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation to the hand of participants and to a fake hand or by asking participants to move their hand and observe a fake hand moving accordingly (rubber hand illusion). Here, we tested whether it is possible to manipulate embodiment not through stimulation of the participant's hand, but by directly tapping into the brain's hand representation via non-invasive brain stimulation. To this aim, we combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to activate the hand corticospinal representation, with virtual reality (VR), to provide matching (as contrasted to non-matching) visual feedback, mimicking involuntary hand movements evoked by TMS. We show that the illusory embodiment occurred when TMS pulses were temporally matched with VR feedback, but not when TMS was administered outside primary motor cortex, (over the vertex) or when stimulating motor cortex at a lower intensity (that did not activate peripheral muscles). Behavioural (questionnaires) and neurophysiological (motor-evoked-potentials, TMS-evoked-movements) measures further indicated that embodiment was not explained by stimulation per se, but depended on the temporal coherence between TMS-induced activation of hand corticospinal representation and the virtual bodily feedback. This reveals that non-invasive brain stimulation may replace the application of external tactile hand cues and motor components related to volition, planning and anticipation. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Effects of mastication on human somatosensory processing: A study using somatosensory-evoked potentials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakata, Hiroki; Aoki, Mai; Sakamoto, Kiwako

    2017-04-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of mastication on somatosensory processing using somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs). Fourteen healthy subjects received a median nerve stimulation at the right wrist under two conditions: Mastication and Control. SEPs were recorded in five sessions for approximately seven minutes: Pre, Post 1, 2, 3, and 4. Subjects were asked to chew gum for five minutes after one session in Mastication. Control included the same five sessions. The amplitudes and latencies of P14, N20, P25, N35, P45, and N60 components at C3', frontal N30 component at Fz, and P100 and N140 components at Pz were analyzed. The amplitude of P45-N60 was significantly smaller at Post 1, 2, 3, and 4 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. The latency of P25 was significantly longer at Post 2, 3, and 4 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. The latency of P100 was significantly longer at Post 2 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. These results suggest the significant effects of mastication on the neural activity of human somatosensory processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

  17. Controlling a stream of paranoia evoking events in a virtual reality environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isnanda, Reza Giga; Brinkman, Willem-Paul; Veling, Wim; van der Gaag, Mark; Neerincx, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Although virtual reality exposure has been reported as a method to induce paranoid thought, little is known about mechanisms to control specific virtual stressors. This paper reports on a study that examines the effect of controlling the stream of potential paranoia evoking events in a virtual restaurant world. A 2-by-2 experiment with a non-clinical group (n = 24) was conducted with as two within-subject factors: (1) the cycle time (short/long) for when the computer considers activation of a paranoia evoking event and (2) the probability that a paranoia-evoking event (low/high) would be triggered at the completion of a cycle. The results showed a significant main effect for the probability factor and two-way interaction effect with the cycle time factor on the number of paranoid comments participants made and their self-reported anxiety.

  18. Educational games for brain health: revealing their unexplored potential through a neurocognitive approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick eFissler

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Educational games link the motivational nature of games with learning of knowledge and skills. Here, we go beyond effects on these learning outcomes. We review two lines of evidence which indicate the currently unexplored potential of educational games to promote brain health: First, gaming with specific neurocognitive demands (e.g., executive control, and second, educational learning experiences (e.g., studying foreign languages improve brain health markers. These markers include cognitive ability, brain function, and brain structure. As educational games allow the combination of specific neurocognitive demands with educational learning experiences, they seem to be optimally suited for promoting brain health. We propose a neurocognitive approach to reveal this unexplored potential of educational games in future research.

  19. Conditioning stimulation techniques for enhancement of transcranially elicited evoked motor responses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Journee, H. -L.; Polak, H. E.; De Kleuver, M.

    2007-01-01

    Introduction. - In spite of the use of multipulse, transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) is still insufficient in a subgroup of patients to elicit motor-evoked potentials during intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM). Classic facilitation methods used in awake patients are precluded

  20. Decade of the Brain 1990--2000: Maximizing human potential

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1991-04-01

    The US Decade of the Brain offers scientists throughout the Federal Government a unique opportunity to advance and apply scientific knowledge about the brain and nervous system. During the next 10 years, scientists hope to maximize human potential through studies of human behavior, senses and communication, learning and memory, genetic/chemical alterations, and environmental interactions. Progress in these areas should lead to reductions in mortality from brain and nervous system disorders and to improvements in the quality of life. This report identifies nine research areas that could form the basis of an integrated program in the brain and behavioral sciences. A chart summarizing the Federal activities in these nine areas may be found at the back of the report. In addition, three areas that span the nine research areas -- basic research, technology and international activities -- are considered.