WorldWideScience

Sample records for preliminary fmri study

  1. A technique to consider mismatches between fMRI and EEG/MEG sources for fMRI-constrained EEG/MEG source imaging: a preliminary simulation study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Im, Chang-Hwan; Lee, Soo Yeol

    2006-01-01

    fMRI-constrained EEG/MEG source imaging can be a powerful tool in studying human brain functions with enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions. Recent studies on the combination of fMRI and EEG/MEG have suggested that fMRI prior information could be readily implemented by simply imposing different weighting factors to cortical sources overlapping with the fMRI activations. It has been also reported, however, that such a hard constraint may cause severe distortions or elimination of meaningful EEG/MEG sources when there are distinct mismatches between the fMRI activations and the EEG/MEG sources. If one wants to obtain the actual EEG/MEG source locations and uses the fMRI prior information as just an auxiliary tool to enhance focality of the distributed EEG/MEG sources, it is reasonable to weaken the strength of fMRI constraint when severe mismatches between fMRI and EEG/MEG sources are observed. The present study suggests an efficient technique to automatically adjust the strength of fMRI constraint according to the mismatch level. The use of the proposed technique rarely affects the results of conventional fMRI-constrained EEG/MEG source imaging if no major mismatch between the two modalities is detected; while the new results become similar to those of typical EEG/MEG source imaging without fMRI constraint if the mismatch level is significant. A preliminary simulation study using realistic EEG signals demonstrated that the proposed technique can be a promising tool to selectively apply fMRI prior information to EEG/MEG source imaging

  2. The integration of prosodic speech in high functioning autism: a preliminary FMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabelle Hesling

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a specific triad of symptoms such as abnormalities in social interaction, abnormalities in communication and restricted activities and interests. While verbal autistic subjects may present a correct mastery of the formal aspects of speech, they have difficulties in prosody (music of speech, leading to communication disorders. Few behavioural studies have revealed a prosodic impairment in children with autism, and among the few fMRI studies aiming at assessing the neural network involved in language, none has specifically studied prosodic speech. The aim of the present study was to characterize specific prosodic components such as linguistic prosody (intonation, rhythm and emphasis and emotional prosody and to correlate them with the neural network underlying them.We used a behavioural test (Profiling Elements of the Prosodic System, PEPS and fMRI to characterize prosodic deficits and investigate the neural network underlying prosodic processing. Results revealed the existence of a link between perceptive and productive prosodic deficits for some prosodic components (rhythm, emphasis and affect in HFA and also revealed that the neural network involved in prosodic speech perception exhibits abnormal activation in the left SMG as compared to controls (activation positively correlated with intonation and emphasis and an absence of deactivation patterns in regions involved in the default mode.These prosodic impairments could not only result from activation patterns abnormalities but also from an inability to adequately use the strategy of the default network inhibition, both mechanisms that have to be considered for decreasing task performance in High Functioning Autism.

  3. Brain activity modification produced by a single radioelectric asymmetric brain stimulation pulse: a new tool for neuropsychiatric treatments. Preliminary fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castagna A

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Salvatore Rinaldi1,2, Vania Fontani1, Alessandro Castagna1 1Department of Neuro-Psycho-Physio Pathology, Rinaldi Fontani Institute, Florence, Italy; 2Medical School of Occupational Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy Purpose: Radioelectric asymmetric brain stimulation technology with its treatment protocols has shown efficacy in various psychiatric disorders. The aim of this work was to highlight the mechanisms by which these positive effects are achieved. The current study was conducted to determine whether a single 500-millisecond radioelectric asymmetric conveyor (REAC brain stimulation pulse (BSP, applied to the ear, can effect a modification of brain activity that is detectable using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. Methods: Ten healthy volunteers, six females and four males, underwent fMRI during a simple finger-tapping motor task before and after receiving a single 500-millisecond REAC-BSP. Results: The fMRI results indicate that the average variation in task-induced encephalic activation patterns is lower in subjects following the single REAC pulse. Conclusion: The current report demonstrates that a single REAC-BSP is sufficient to modulate brain activity in awake subjects, able to be measured using fMRI. These initial results open new perspectives into the understanding of the effects of weak and brief radio pulses upon brain activity, and provide the basis for further indepth studies using REAC-BSP and fMRI. Keywords: fMRI, brain stimulation, brain modulation, REAC, neuropsychiatric treatments

  4. An fMRI study of Agency

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Charalampaki, Angeliki

    2017-01-01

    Motor area has a distinct directionality, depending on the stage of the volitional movement. In this study, we were interested in assessing the neuronal mechanism underlying this phenomenon. We therefore performed an fMRI study of Agency, to exploit the high spatial resolution this imaging technique...... displays. For the purposes of our study twenty participants were recruited. The experimental procedure we considered appropriate to study the Sense of Agency, involved participants laying inside the fMRI scanner and while they had no visual feedback of their hand, they were instructed to draw straight...... lines on a tablet with a digital pen. They could only see the consequences of their movement as a cursor’s movement on a screen. After finishing their movement, participants were requested to make a judgment over whether they felt they were the Agent of the observed movement or not. The analysis of our...

  5. Mixed-effects and fMRI studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friston, K.J; Stephan, K.E; Ellegaard Lund, Torben

    2005-01-01

    This note concerns mixed-effect (MFX) analyses in multisession functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. It clarifies the relationship between mixed-effect analyses and the two-stage 'summary statistics' procedure (Holmes, A.P., Friston, K.J., 1998. Generalisability, random effects...

  6. An fMRI study

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Journal of Biosciences; Volume 38; Issue 5 ... Alcoholism; brain; fMRI; language processing; lexical; semantic judgment ... alcohol dependence is associated with neurocognitive deficits in tasks requiring memory, perceptual ...

  7. Cortical control of gait in healthy humans: an fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    ChiHong, Wang; YauYau, Wai; BoCheng, Kuo; Yei-Yu, Yeh; JiunJie Wang

    2008-01-01

    This study examined the cortical control of gait in healthy humans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two block-designed fMRI sessions were conducted during motor imagery of a locomotor-related task. Subjects watched a video clip that showed an actor standing and walking in an egocentric perspective. In a control session, additional fMRI images were collected when participants observed a video clip of the clutch movement of a right hand. In keeping with previous studies using SPECT and NIRS, we detected activation in many motor-related areas including supplementary motor area, bilateral precentral gyrus, left dorsal premotor cortex, and cingulate motor area. Smaller additional activations were observed in the bilateral precuneus, left thalamus, and part of right putamen. Based on these findings, we propose a novel paradigm to study the cortical control of gait in healthy humans using fMRI. Specifically, the task used in this study - involving both mirror neurons and mental imagery - provides a new feasible model to be used in functional neuroimaging studies in this area of research. (author)

  8. Reduced functional reserve in patients with age-related white matter changes: a preliminary FMRI study of working memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Griebe

    Full Text Available Subcortical age-related white matter changes (ARWMC are a frequent finding in healthy elderly people suggested to cause secondary tissue changes and possibly affecting cognitive processes. We aimed to determine the influence of the extent of ARWMC load on attention and working memory processes in healthy elderly individuals. Fourteen healthy elderly subjects (MMSE >26; age 55-80 years performed three fMRI tasks with increasing difficulty assessing alertness, attention (0-back, and working memory (2-back. We compared activation patterns in those with only minimal ARWMC (Fazekas 0-1 to those with moderate to severe ARWMC (Fazekas 2-3. During the fMRI experiments, the study population showed activation in brain areas typically involved in attention and working memory with a recruitment of cortical areas with increasing task difficulty. Subjects with higher lesion load showed a higher activation at all task levels with only sparse increase of signal with increasing complexity. In the lower lesion load group, rising task difficulty lead to a significant and widely distributed increase of activation. Although the number of patients included in the study is small, these findings suggest that even clinically silent ARWMC may affect cognitive processing and lead to compensatory activation during cognitive tasks. This can be interpreted as a reduction of functional reserve and may pose a risk for cognitive decline in these patients.

  9. An fMRI study of caring vs self-focus during induced compassion and pride.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Thomas, Emiliana R; Godzik, Jakub; Castle, Elizabeth; Antonenko, Olga; Ponz, Aurelie; Kogan, Aleksander; Keltner, Dacher J

    2012-08-01

    This study examined neural activation during the experience of compassion, an emotion that orients people toward vulnerable others and prompts caregiving, and pride, a self-focused emotion that signals individual strength and heightened status. Functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) were acquired as participants viewed 55 s continuous sequences of slides to induce either compassion or pride, presented in alternation with sequences of neutral slides. Emotion self-report data were collected after each slide condition within the fMRI scanner. Compassion induction was associated with activation in the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), a region that is activated during pain and the perception of others' pain, and that has been implicated in parental nurturance behaviors. Pride induction engaged the posterior medial cortex, a region that has been associated with self-referent processing. Self-reports of compassion experience were correlated with increased activation in a region near the PAG, and in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Self-reports of pride experience, in contrast, were correlated with reduced activation in the IFG and the anterior insula. These results provide preliminary evidence towards understanding the neural correlates of important interpersonal dimensions of compassion and pride. Caring (compassion) and self-focus (pride) may represent core appraisals that differentiate the response profiles of many emotions.

  10. Hormone effects on fMRI and cognitive measures of encoding: importance of hormone preparation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gleason, C E; Schmitz, T W; Hess, T; Koscik, R L; Trivedi, M A; Ries, M L; Carlsson, C M; Sager, M A; Asthana, S; Johnson, S C

    2006-12-12

    We compared fMRI and cognitive data from nine hormone therapy (HT)-naive women with data from women exposed to either opposed conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) (n = 10) or opposed estradiol (n = 4). Exposure to either form of HT was associated with healthier fMRI response; however, CEE-exposed women exhibited poorer memory performance than either HT-naive or estradiol-exposed subjects. These preliminary findings emphasize the need to characterize differential neural effects of various HTs.

  11. Functional Topography of Human Corpus Callosum: An fMRI Mapping Study

    OpenAIRE

    Fabri, Mara; Polonara, Gabriele

    2013-01-01

    The concept of a topographical map of the corpus callosum (CC) has emerged from human lesion studies and from electrophysiological and anatomical tracing investigations in other mammals. Over the last few years a rising number of researchers have been reporting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation in white matter, particularly the CC. In this study the scope for describing CC topography with fMRI was explored by evoking activation through simple sensory stimulation and moto...

  12. Alternation learning in pathological gamblers: an fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dannon, Pinhas N; Kushnir, Tammar; Aizer, Anat; Gross-Isseroff, Ruth; Kotler, Moshe; Manor, David

    2011-03-01

    We have previously reported that pathological gamblers have impaired performance on the Stroop color word naming task, go-no-go task and speed accuracy tradeoff performance, tasks used to assess executive function and interference control. The aim of the present neuroimaging study was to explore the relationship between frontal cortex function and gambling severity in pathological gamblers. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to estimate brain activity of ten male medication-free pathological gamblers during performance of an alternation learning task. Performance of this task has been shown to depend on the function of regions in the frontal cortex. The executive functions needed to perform the alternation learning task were expressed as brain activation in lateral and medial frontal as well as parietal and occipital regions. By correlating the level of local brain activation to task performance, parietal regions and lateral frontal and orbitofrontal regions were demonstrated. A higher score in SOGS was associated with intrusion on the task-specific activation in the left hemisphere, to some extant in parietal regions and even more pronouncedly in left frontal and orbitofrontal regions. Our preliminary data suggests that pathological gambling may be characterized by specific neuro-cognitive changes related to the frontal cortex.

  13. Integrating fMRI with psychophysiological measurements in the study of decision-making

    OpenAIRE

    Wong, Savio W.H.; Xue, Gui; Bechara, Antoine

    2011-01-01

    Neuroimaging techniques have recently been used to examine the neural mechanism of decision-making. Nevertheless, most of the neuroimaging studies overlook the importance of emotion and autonomic response in modulating the process of decision-making. In this paper, we discussed how to integrating fMRI with psychophysiological measurements in studying decision-making. We suggested that psychophysiological data would complement with fMRI findings in providing a more comprehensive understanding ...

  14. Pomegranate Juice Augments Memory and fMRI Activity in Middle-Aged and Older Adults with Mild Memory Complaints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan Y. Bookheimer

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite increasing emphasis on the potential of dietary antioxidants in preventing memory loss and on diet as a precursor of neurological health, rigorous studies investigating the cognitive effects of foods and their components are rare. Recent animal studies have reported memory and other cognitive benefits of polyphenols, found abundantly in pomegranate juice. We performed a preliminary, placebo-controlled randomized trial of pomegranate juice in older subjects with age-associated memory complaints using memory testing and functional brain activation (fMRI as outcome measures. Thirty-two subjects (28 completers were randomly assigned to drink 8 ounces of either pomegranate juice or a flavor-matched placebo drink for 4 weeks. Subjects received memory testing, fMRI scans during cognitive tasks, and blood draws for peripheral biomarkers before and after the intervention. Investigators and subjects were all blind to group membership. After 4 weeks, only the pomegranate group showed a significant improvement in the Buschke selective reminding test of verbal memory and a significant increase in plasma trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC and urolithin A-glucuronide. Furthermore, compared to the placebo group, the pomegranate group had increased fMRI activity during verbal and visual memory tasks. While preliminary, these results suggest a role for pomegranate juice in augmenting memory function through task-related increases in functional brain activity.

  15. Cognitive dissonance induction in everyday life: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Vries, Jan; Byrne, Mark; Kehoe, Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explored the neural substrates of cognitive dissonance during dissonance "induction." A novel task was developed based on the results of a separate item selection study (n = 125). Items were designed to generate dissonance by prompting participants to reflect on everyday personal experiences that were inconsistent with values they had expressed support for. One experimental condition (dissonance) and three control conditions (justification, consonance, and non-self-related inconsistency) were used for comparison. Items of all four types were presented to each participant (n = 14) in a randomized design. The fMRI analysis used a whole-brain approach focusing on the moments dissonance was induced. Results showed that in comparison with the control conditions the dissonance experience led to higher levels of activation in several brain regions. Specifically dissonance was associated with increased neural activation in key brain regions including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, and precuneus. This supports current perspectives that emphasize the role of anterior cingulate and insula in dissonance processing. Less extensive activation in the prefrontal cortex than in some previous studies is consistent with this study's emphasis on dissonance induction, rather than reduction. This article also contains a short review and comparison with other fMRI studies of cognitive dissonance.

  16. Preliminary pilot fMRI study of neuropostural optimization with a noninvasive asymmetric radioelectric brain stimulation protocol in functional dysmetria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mura M

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Marco Mura1, Alessandro Castagna2, Vania Fontani2, Salvatore Rinaldi21Institute of Radiology, University of Cagliari, 2Rinaldi Fontani Institute – Department of Neuro Psycho Physical Optimization, Florence, ItalyPurpose: This study assessed changes in functional dysmetria (FD and in brain activation observable by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during a leg flexion-extension motor task following brain stimulation with a single radioelectric asymmetric conveyer (REAC pulse, according to the precisely defined neuropostural optimization (NPO protocol.Population and methods: Ten healthy volunteers were assessed using fMRI conducted during a simple motor task before and immediately after delivery of a single REAC-NPO pulse. The motor task consisted of a flexion-extension movement of the legs with the knees bent. FD signs and brain activation patterns were compared before and after REAC-NPO.Results: A single 250-millisecond REAC-NPO treatment alleviated FD, as evidenced by patellar asymmetry during a sit-up motion, and modulated activity patterns in the brain, particularly in the cerebellum, during the performance of the motor task.Conclusion: Activity in brain areas involved in motor control and coordination, including the cerebellum, is altered by administration of a REAC-NPO treatment and this effect is accompanied by an alleviation of FD.Keywords: motor behavior, motor control, cerebellum, dysmetria, functional dysmetria, fluctuating asymmetry

  17. Collective Correlations of Brodmann Areas fMRI Study with RMT-Denoising

    OpenAIRE

    Burda, Zdzislaw; Kornelsen, Jennifer; Nowak, Maciej A.; Porebski, Bartosz; Sboto-Frankenstein, Uta; Tomanek, Boguslaw; Tyburczyk, Jacek

    2013-01-01

    We study collective behavior of Brodmann regions of human cerebral cortex using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Random Matrix Theory (RMT). The raw fMRI data is mapped onto the cortex regions corresponding to the Brodmann areas with the aid of the Talairach coordinates. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Pearson correlation matrix for 41 different Brodmann regions is carried out to determine their collective activity in the idle state and in the active state stimulated...

  18. fMRI activation patterns in an analytic reasoning task: consistency with EEG source localization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bian; Vasanta, Kalyana C.; O'Boyle, Michael; Baker, Mary C.; Nutter, Brian; Mitra, Sunanda

    2010-03-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to model brain activation patterns associated with various perceptual and cognitive processes as reflected by the hemodynamic (BOLD) response. While many sensory and motor tasks are associated with relatively simple activation patterns in localized regions, higher-order cognitive tasks may produce activity in many different brain areas involving complex neural circuitry. We applied a recently proposed probabilistic independent component analysis technique (PICA) to determine the true dimensionality of the fMRI data and used EEG localization to identify the common activated patterns (mapped as Brodmann areas) associated with a complex cognitive task like analytic reasoning. Our preliminary study suggests that a hybrid GLM/PICA analysis may reveal additional regions of activation (beyond simple GLM) that are consistent with electroencephalography (EEG) source localization patterns.

  19. Towards open sharing of task-based fMRI data: The OpenfMRI project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Russell A Poldrack

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The large-scale sharing of task-based functional neuroimaging data has the potential to allow novel insights into the organization of mental function in the brain, but the field of neuroimaging has lagged behind other areas of bioscience in the development of data sharing resources. This paper describes the OpenFMRI project (accessible online at http://www.openfmri.org, which aims to provide the neuroimaging community with a resource to support open sharing of task-based fMRI studies. We describe the motivation behind the project, focusing particularly on how this project addresses some of the well-known challenges to sharing of task-based fMRI data. Results from a preliminary analysis of the current database are presented, which demonstrate the ability to classify between task contrasts with high generalization accuracy across subjects, and the ability to identify individual subjects from their activation maps with moderately high accuracy. Clustering analyses show that the similarity relations between statistical maps have a somewhat orderly relation to the mental functions engaged by the relevant tasks. These results highlight the potential of the project to support large-scale multivariate analyses of the relation between mental processes and brain function.

  20. Imaging gait analysis: An fMRI dual task study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bürki, Céline N; Bridenbaugh, Stephanie A; Reinhardt, Julia; Stippich, Christoph; Kressig, Reto W; Blatow, Maria

    2017-08-01

    In geriatric clinical diagnostics, gait analysis with cognitive-motor dual tasking is used to predict fall risk and cognitive decline. To date, the neural correlates of cognitive-motor dual tasking processes are not fully understood. To investigate these underlying neural mechanisms, we designed an fMRI paradigm to reproduce the gait analysis. We tested the fMRI paradigm's feasibility in a substudy with fifteen young adults and assessed 31 healthy older adults in the main study. First, gait speed and variability were quantified using the GAITRite © electronic walkway. Then, participants lying in the MRI-scanner were stepping on pedals of an MRI-compatible stepping device used to imitate gait during functional imaging. In each session, participants performed cognitive and motor single tasks as well as cognitive-motor dual tasks. Behavioral results showed that the parameters of both gait analyses, GAITRite © and fMRI, were significantly positively correlated. FMRI results revealed significantly reduced brain activation during dual task compared to single task conditions. Functional ROI analysis showed that activation in the superior parietal lobe (SPL) decreased less from single to dual task condition than activation in primary motor cortex and in supplementary motor areas. Moreover, SPL activation was increased during dual tasks in subjects exhibiting lower stepping speed and lower executive control. We were able to simulate walking during functional imaging with valid results that reproduce those from the GAITRite © gait analysis. On the neural level, SPL seems to play a crucial role in cognitive-motor dual tasking and to be linked to divided attention processes, particularly when motor activity is involved.

  1. Test-retest reliability of an fMRI paradigm for studies of cardiovascular reactivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheu, Lei K; Jennings, J Richard; Gianaros, Peter J

    2012-07-01

    We examined the reliability of measures of fMRI, subjective, and cardiovascular reactions to standardized versions of a Stroop color-word task and a multisource interference task. A sample of 14 men and 12 women (30-49 years old) completed the tasks on two occasions, separated by a median of 88 days. The reliability of fMRI BOLD signal changes in brain areas engaged by the tasks was moderate, and aggregating fMRI BOLD signal changes across the tasks improved test-retest reliability metrics. These metrics included voxel-wise intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and overlap ratio statistics. Task-aggregated ratings of subjective arousal, valence, and control, as well as cardiovascular reactions evoked by the tasks showed ICCs of 0.57 to 0.87 (ps reliability. These findings support using these tasks as a battery for fMRI studies of cardiovascular reactivity. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  2. Brain correlates of aesthetic expertise: A parametric fMRI study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirk, Ulrich; Skov, Martin; Christensen, Mark Schram

    2009-01-01

    Several studies have demonstrated that acquired expertise influences aesthetic judgments. In this paradigm we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study aesthetic judgments of visually presented architectural stimuli and control-stimuli (faces) for a group of architects and a grou...

  3. A Java-based fMRI processing pipeline evaluation system for assessment of univariate general linear model and multivariate canonical variate analysis-based pipelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jing; Liang, Lichen; Anderson, Jon R; Gatewood, Lael; Rottenberg, David A; Strother, Stephen C

    2008-01-01

    As functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) becomes widely used, the demands for evaluation of fMRI processing pipelines and validation of fMRI analysis results is increasing rapidly. The current NPAIRS package, an IDL-based fMRI processing pipeline evaluation framework, lacks system interoperability and the ability to evaluate general linear model (GLM)-based pipelines using prediction metrics. Thus, it can not fully evaluate fMRI analytical software modules such as FSL.FEAT and NPAIRS.GLM. In order to overcome these limitations, a Java-based fMRI processing pipeline evaluation system was developed. It integrated YALE (a machine learning environment) into Fiswidgets (a fMRI software environment) to obtain system interoperability and applied an algorithm to measure GLM prediction accuracy. The results demonstrated that the system can evaluate fMRI processing pipelines with univariate GLM and multivariate canonical variates analysis (CVA)-based models on real fMRI data based on prediction accuracy (classification accuracy) and statistical parametric image (SPI) reproducibility. In addition, a preliminary study was performed where four fMRI processing pipelines with GLM and CVA modules such as FSL.FEAT and NPAIRS.CVA were evaluated with the system. The results indicated that (1) the system can compare different fMRI processing pipelines with heterogeneous models (NPAIRS.GLM, NPAIRS.CVA and FSL.FEAT) and rank their performance by automatic performance scoring, and (2) the rank of pipeline performance is highly dependent on the preprocessing operations. These results suggest that the system will be of value for the comparison, validation, standardization and optimization of functional neuroimaging software packages and fMRI processing pipelines.

  4. Multilingualism and fMRI: Longitudinal Study of Second Language Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Edna; Frigau, Luca; Voyvodic-Casabo, Clara; Voyvodic, James; Wright, John

    2013-01-01

    BOLD fMRI is often used for the study of human language. However, there are still very few attempts to conduct longitudinal fMRI studies in the study of language acquisition by measuring auditory comprehension and reading. The following paper is the first in a series concerning a unique longitudinal study devoted to the analysis of bi- and multilingual subjects who are: (1) already proficient in at least two languages; or (2) are acquiring Russian as a second/third language. The focus of the current analysis is to present data from the auditory sections of a set of three scans acquired from April, 2011 through April, 2012 on a five-person subject pool who are learning Russian during the study. All subjects were scanned using the same protocol for auditory comprehension on the same General Electric LX 3T Signa scanner in Duke University Hospital. Using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) for statistical analysis, proficiency measurements are shown to correlate significantly with scan results in the Russian conditions over time. The importance of both the left and right hemispheres in language processing is discussed. Special attention is devoted to the importance of contextualizing imaging data with corresponding behavioral and empirical testing data using a multivariate analysis of variance. This is the only study to date that includes: (1) longitudinal fMRI data with subject-based proficiency and behavioral data acquired in the same time frame; and (2) statistical modeling that demonstrates the importance of covariate language proficiency data for understanding imaging results of language acquisition. PMID:24961428

  5. Multilingualism and fMRI: Longitudinal Study of Second Language Acquisition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Wright

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available BOLD fMRI is often used for the study of human language. However, there are still very few attempts to conduct longitudinal fMRI studies in the study of language acquisition by measuring auditory comprehension and reading. The following paper is the first in a series concerning a unique longitudinal study devoted to the analysis of bi- and multilingual subjects who are: (1 already proficient in at least two languages; or (2 are acquiring Russian as a second/third language. The focus of the current analysis is to present data from the auditory sections of a set of three scans acquired from April, 2011 through April, 2012 on a five-person subject pool who are learning Russian during the study. All subjects were scanned using the same protocol for auditory comprehension on the same General Electric LX 3T Signa scanner in Duke University Hospital. Using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA for statistical analysis, proficiency measurements are shown to correlate significantly with scan results in the Russian conditions over time. The importance of both the left and right hemispheres in language processing is discussed. Special attention is devoted to the importance of contextualizing imaging data with corresponding behavioral and empirical testing data using a multivariate analysis of variance. This is the only study to date that includes: (1 longitudinal fMRI data with subject-based proficiency and behavioral data acquired in the same time frame; and (2 statistical modeling that demonstrates the importance of covariate language proficiency data for understanding imaging results of language acquisition.

  6. Multilingualism and fMRI: Longitudinal Study of Second Language Acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Edna; Frigau, Luca; Voyvodic-Casabo, Clara; Voyvodic, James; Wright, John

    2013-05-28

    BOLD fMRI is often used for the study of human language. However, there are still very few attempts to conduct longitudinal fMRI studies in the study of language acquisition by measuring auditory comprehension and reading. The following paper is the first in a series concerning a unique longitudinal study devoted to the analysis of bi- and multilingual subjects who are: (1) already proficient in at least two languages; or (2) are acquiring Russian as a second/third language. The focus of the current analysis is to present data from the auditory sections of a set of three scans acquired from April, 2011 through April, 2012 on a five-person subject pool who are learning Russian during the study. All subjects were scanned using the same protocol for auditory comprehension on the same General Electric LX 3T Signa scanner in Duke University Hospital. Using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) for statistical analysis, proficiency measurements are shown to correlate significantly with scan results in the Russian conditions over time. The importance of both the left and right hemispheres in language processing is discussed. Special attention is devoted to the importance of contextualizing imaging data with corresponding behavioral and empirical testing data using a multivariate analysis of variance. This is the only study to date that includes: (1) longitudinal fMRI data with subject-based proficiency and behavioral data acquired in the same time frame; and (2) statistical modeling that demonstrates the importance of covariate language proficiency data for understanding imaging results of language acquisition.

  7. Assessment of abstract reasoning abilities in alcohol-dependent subjects: an fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bagga, Deepika; Singh, Namita; Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Kumar, Pawan; Bhattacharya, D.; Garg, Mohan L.; Khushu, Subash

    2014-01-01

    Chronic alcohol abuse has been traditionally associated with impaired cognitive abilities. The deficits are most evident in higher order cognitive functions, such as abstract reasoning, problem solving and visuospatial processing. The present study sought to increase current understanding of the neuropsychological basis of poor abstract reasoning abilities in alcohol-dependent subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An abstract reasoning task-based fMRI study was carried out on alcohol-dependent subjects (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 18) to examine neural activation pattern. The study was carried out using a 3-T whole-body magnetic resonance scanner. Preprocessing and post processing was performed using SPM 8 software. Behavioral data indicated that alcohol-dependent subjects took more time than controls for performing the task but there was no significant difference in their response accuracy. Analysis of the fMRI data indicated that for solving abstract reasoning-based problems, alcohol-dependent subjects showed enhanced right frontoparietal neural activation involving inferior frontal gyrus, post central gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and occipito-temporal gyrus. The extensive activation observed in alcohol dependents as compared to controls suggests that alcohol dependents recruit additional brain areas to meet the behavioral demands for equivalent task performance. The results are consistent with previous fMRI studies suggesting decreased neural efficiency of relevant brain networks or compensatory mechanisms for the execution of task for showing an equivalent performance. (orig.)

  8. Assessment of abstract reasoning abilities in alcohol-dependent subjects: an fMRI study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bagga, Deepika; Singh, Namita; Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Kumar, Pawan [Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), NMR Research Centre, Delhi (India); Bhattacharya, D. [Base Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Delhi Cantt (India); Garg, Mohan L. [Panjab University, Department of Biophysics, Chandigarh (India); Khushu, Subash [Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), NMR Research Centre, Delhi (India); INMAS, DRDO, NMR Research Centre, Delhi (India)

    2014-01-15

    Chronic alcohol abuse has been traditionally associated with impaired cognitive abilities. The deficits are most evident in higher order cognitive functions, such as abstract reasoning, problem solving and visuospatial processing. The present study sought to increase current understanding of the neuropsychological basis of poor abstract reasoning abilities in alcohol-dependent subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An abstract reasoning task-based fMRI study was carried out on alcohol-dependent subjects (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 18) to examine neural activation pattern. The study was carried out using a 3-T whole-body magnetic resonance scanner. Preprocessing and post processing was performed using SPM 8 software. Behavioral data indicated that alcohol-dependent subjects took more time than controls for performing the task but there was no significant difference in their response accuracy. Analysis of the fMRI data indicated that for solving abstract reasoning-based problems, alcohol-dependent subjects showed enhanced right frontoparietal neural activation involving inferior frontal gyrus, post central gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and occipito-temporal gyrus. The extensive activation observed in alcohol dependents as compared to controls suggests that alcohol dependents recruit additional brain areas to meet the behavioral demands for equivalent task performance. The results are consistent with previous fMRI studies suggesting decreased neural efficiency of relevant brain networks or compensatory mechanisms for the execution of task for showing an equivalent performance. (orig.)

  9. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI of attention processes in presumed obligate carriers of schizophrenia: preliminary findings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morris Robin G

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Presumed obligate carriers (POCs are the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia who, although do not exhibit the disorder, are in direct lineage of it. Thus, this subpopulation of first-degree relatives could provide very important information with regard to the investigation of endophenotypes for schizophrenia that could clarify the often contradictory findings in schizophrenia high-risk populations. To date, despite the extant literature on schizophrenia endophenotypes, we are only aware of one other study that examined the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive abnormalities in this group. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a more homogeneous group of relatives, such as POCs, have neural abnormalities that may be related to schizophrenia. Methods We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to collect blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD response data in six POCs and eight unrelated healthy controls while performing under conditions of sustained, selective and divided attention. Results The POCs indicated alterations in a widely distributed network of regions involved in attention processes, such as the prefrontal and temporal (including the parahippocampal gyrus cortices, in addition to the anterior cingulate gyrus. More specifically, a general reduction in BOLD response was found in these areas compared to the healthy participants during attention processes. Conclusion These preliminary findings of decreased activity in POCs indicate that this more homogeneous population of unaffected relatives share similar neural abnormalities with people with schizophrenia, suggesting that reduced BOLD activity in the attention network may be an intermediate marker for schizophrenia.

  10. Restructuring Reward Mechanisms in Nicotine Addiction: A Pilot fMRI Study of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Cigarette Smokers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Froeliger

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The primary goal of this pilot feasibility study was to examine the effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE, a behavioral treatment grounded in dual-process models derived from cognitive science, on frontostriatal reward processes among cigarette smokers. Healthy adult (N=13; mean (SD age 49 ± 12.2 smokers provided informed consent to participate in a 10-week study testing MORE versus a comparison group (CG. All participants underwent two fMRI scans: pre-tx and after 8-weeks of MORE. Emotion regulation (ER, smoking cue reactivity (CR, and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC were assessed at each fMRI visit; smoking and mood were assessed throughout. As compared to the CG, MORE significantly reduced smoking (d=2.06 and increased positive affect (d=2.02. MORE participants evidenced decreased CR-BOLD response in ventral striatum (VS; d=1.57 and ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC; d=1.7 and increased positive ER-BOLD in VS (dVS=2.13 and vPFC (dvmPFC=2.66. Importantly, ER was correlated with smoking reduction (r’s = .68 to .91 and increased positive affect (r’s = .52 to .61. These findings provide preliminary evidence that MORE may facilitate the restructuring of reward processes and play a role in treating the pathophysiology of nicotine addiction.

  11. Close relationship between fMRI signals and transient heart rate changes accompanying K-complex. Simultaneous EEG/fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kan, Shigeyuki; Koike, Takahiko; Miyauchi, Satoru; Misaki, Masaya

    2009-01-01

    Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) allows the investigation of spontaneous activities in the human brain. Recently, by using this technique, increases in fMRI signal accompanying transient EEG activities such as sleep spindles and slow waves were reported. Although these fMRI signal increases appear to arise as a result of the neural activities being reflected in the EEG, when the influence of physiological activities upon fMRI signals are taken into consideration, it is highly controversial that fMRI signal increases accompanying transient EEG activities reflect actual neural activities. In the present study, we conducted simultaneous fMRI and polysomnograph recording of 18 normal adults, to study the effect of transient heart rate changes after a K-complex on fMRI signals. Significant fMRI signal increase was observed in the cerebellum, the ventral thalamus, the dorsal part of the brainstem, the periventricular white matter and the ventricle (quadrigeminal cistern). On the other hand, significant fMRI signal decrease was observed only in the right insula. Moreover, intensities of fMRI signal increase that was accompanied by a K-complex correlated positively with the magnitude of heart rate changes after a K-complex. Previous studies have reported that K-complex is closely related with sympathetic nervous activity and that the attributes of perfusion regulation in the brain differ during wakefulness and sleep. By taking these findings into consideration, our present results indicate that a close relationship exists between a K-complex and the changes in cardio- and neurovascular regulations that are mediated by the autonomic nervous system during sleep; further, these results indicate that transient heart rate changes after a K-complex can affect the fMRI signal generated in certain brain regions. (author)

  12. Resting state FMRI research in child psychiatric disorders

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oldehinkel, Marianne; Francx, Winke; Beckmann, Christian; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Mennes, Maarten

    2013-01-01

    Concurring with the shift from linking functions to specific brain areas towards studying network integration, resting state FMRI (R-FMRI) has become an important tool for delineating the functional network architecture of the brain. Fueled by straightforward data collection, R-FMRI analysis methods

  13. Implicit Structured Sequence Learning: An FMRI Study of the Structural Mere-Exposure Effect

    OpenAIRE

    Vasiliki eFolia; Vasiliki eFolia; Karl Magnus ePetersson; Karl Magnus ePetersson; Karl Magnus ePetersson

    2014-01-01

    In this event-related FMRI study we investigated the effect of five days of implicit acquisition on preference classification by means of an artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm based on the structural mere-exposure effect and preference classification using a simple right-linear unification grammar. This allowed us to investigate implicit AGL in a proper learning design by including baseline measurements prior to grammar exposure. After 5 days of implicit acquisition, the FMRI results ...

  14. Motor function deficits in schizophrenia: an fMRI and VBM study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Kumar, Pawan; Singh, Namita; Khushu, Subash [Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), NMR Research Center, Delhi (India); Goyal, Satnam; Bhatia, Triptish; Deshpande, Smita N. [RML Hospital, PGIMER, New Delhi (India)

    2014-05-15

    To investigate whether the motor functional alterations in schizophrenia (SZ) are also associated with structural changes in the related brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A sample of 14 right-handed SZ patients and 14 right-handed healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and education were examined with structural high-resolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during right index finger-tapping task in the same session. fMRI results showed reduced functional activation in the motor areas (contralateral precentral and postcentral gyrus) and ipsilateral cerebellum in SZ subjects as compared to healthy controls (n = 14). VBM analysis also revealed reduced grey matter in motor areas and white matter reduction in cerebellum of SZ subjects as compared to controls. The present study provides an evidence for a possible association between structural alterations in the motor cortex and disturbed functional activation in the motor areas in persons affected with SZ during a simple finger-tapping task. (orig.)

  15. Motor function deficits in schizophrenia: an fMRI and VBM study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Kumar, Pawan; Singh, Namita; Khushu, Subash; Goyal, Satnam; Bhatia, Triptish; Deshpande, Smita N.

    2014-01-01

    To investigate whether the motor functional alterations in schizophrenia (SZ) are also associated with structural changes in the related brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A sample of 14 right-handed SZ patients and 14 right-handed healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and education were examined with structural high-resolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during right index finger-tapping task in the same session. fMRI results showed reduced functional activation in the motor areas (contralateral precentral and postcentral gyrus) and ipsilateral cerebellum in SZ subjects as compared to healthy controls (n = 14). VBM analysis also revealed reduced grey matter in motor areas and white matter reduction in cerebellum of SZ subjects as compared to controls. The present study provides an evidence for a possible association between structural alterations in the motor cortex and disturbed functional activation in the motor areas in persons affected with SZ during a simple finger-tapping task. (orig.)

  16. Brain Correlates of Aesthetic Expertise: A Parametric fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk, Ulrich; Skov, Martin; Christensen, Mark Schram; Nygaard, Niels

    2009-01-01

    Several studies have demonstrated that acquired expertise influences aesthetic judgments. In this paradigm we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study aesthetic judgments of visually presented architectural stimuli and control-stimuli (faces) for a group of architects and a group of non-architects. This design allowed us to test…

  17. Implicit Structured Sequence Learning: An FMRI Study of the Structural Mere-Exposure Effect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasiliki eFolia

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available In this event-related FMRI study we investigated the effect of five days of implicit acquisition on preference classification by means of an artificial grammar learning (AGL paradigm based on the structural mere-exposure effect and preference classification using a simple right-linear unification grammar. This allowed us to investigate implicit AGL in a proper learning design by including baseline measurements prior to grammar exposure. After 5 days of implicit acquisition, the FMRI results showed activations in a network of brain regions including the inferior frontal (centered on BA 44/45 and the medial prefrontal regions (centered on BA 8/32. Importantly, and central to this study, the inclusion of a naive preference FMRI baseline measurement allowed us to conclude that these FMRI findings were the intrinsic outcomes of the learning process itself and not a reflection of a preexisting functionality recruited during classification, independent of acquisition. Support for the implicit nature of the knowledge utilized during preference classification on day 5 come from the fact that the basal ganglia, associated with implicit procedural learning, were activated during classification, while the medial temporal lobe system, associated with explicit declarative memory, was consistently deactivated. Thus, preference classification in combination with structural mere-exposure can be used to investigate structural sequence processing (syntax in unsupervised AGL paradigms with proper learning designs.

  18. Investigations of the human visual system using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kollias, Spyros S.

    2004-01-01

    The application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in studies of the visual system provided significant advancement in our understanding of the organization and functional properties of visual areas in the human cortex. Recent technological and methodological improvements allowed studies to correlate neuronal activity with visual perception and demonstrated the ability of fMRI to observe distributed neural systems and to explore modulation of neural activity during higher cognitive processes. Preliminary applications in patients with visual impairments suggest that this method provides a powerful tool for the assessment and management of brain pathologies. Recent research focuses on obtaining new information about the spatial localization, organization, functional specialization and participation in higher cognitive functions of visual cortical areas in the living human brain and in further establishment of the method as a useful clinical tool of diagnostic and prognostic significance for various pathologic processes affecting the integrity of the visual system. It is anticipated that the combined neuroimaging approach in patients with lesions and healthy controls will provide new insight on the topography and functional specialization of cortical visual areas and will further establish the clinical value of the method for improving diagnostic accuracy and treatment planning

  19. Thinking about eating food activates visual cortex with reduced bilateral cerebellar activation in females with anorexia nervosa: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Samantha J; O'Daly, Owen; Uher, Rudolf; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Giampietro, Vincent; Brammer, Michael; Williams, Steven C R; Schiöth, Helgi B; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C

    2012-01-01

    Women with anorexia nervosa (AN) have aberrant cognitions about food and altered activity in prefrontal cortical and somatosensory regions to food images. However, differential effects on the brain when thinking about eating food between healthy women and those with AN is unknown. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examined neural activation when 42 women thought about eating the food shown in images: 18 with AN (11 RAN, 7 BPAN) and 24 age-matched controls (HC). Group contrasts between HC and AN revealed reduced activation in AN in the bilateral cerebellar vermis, and increased activation in the right visual cortex. Preliminary comparisons between AN subtypes and healthy controls suggest differences in cortical and limbic regions. These preliminary data suggest that thinking about eating food shown in images increases visual and prefrontal cortical neural responses in females with AN, which may underlie cognitive biases towards food stimuli and ruminations about controlling food intake. Future studies are needed to explicitly test how thinking about eating activates restraint cognitions, specifically in those with restricting vs. binge-purging AN subtypes.

  20. Brain activity changes in cognitive networks in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis - insights from a longitudinal FMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marisa Loitfelder

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Extrapolations from previous cross-sectional fMRI studies suggest cerebral functional changes with progression of Multiple Sclerosis (MS, but longitudinal studies are scarce. We assessed brain activation changes over time in MS patients using a cognitive fMRI paradigm and examined correlations with clinical and cognitive status and brain morphology. METHODS: 13 MS patients and 15 healthy controls (HC underwent MRI including fMRI (go/no-go task, neurological and neuropsychological exams at baseline (BL and follow-up (FU; minimum 12, median 20 months. We assessed estimates of and changes in fMRI activation, total brain and subcortical grey matter volumes, cortical thickness, and T2-lesion load. Bland-Altman (BA plots served to assess fMRI signal variability. RESULTS: Cognitive and disability levels remained largely stable in the patients. With the fMRI task, both at BL and FU, patients compared to HC showed increased activation in the insular cortex, precuneus, cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, and occipital cortex. At BL, patients vs. HC also had lower caudate nucleus, thalamus and putamen volumes. Over time, patients (but not HC demonstrated fMRI activity increments in the left inferior parietal lobule. These correlated with worse single-digit-modality test (SDMT performance. BA-plots attested to reproducibility of the fMRI task. In the patients, the right caudate nucleus decreased in volume which again correlated with worsening SDMT performance. CONCLUSIONS: Given preserved cognitive performance, the increased activation at BL in the patients may be viewed as largely adaptive. In contrast, the negative correlation with SDMT performance suggests increasing parietal activation over time to be maladaptive. Several areas with purported relevance for cognition showed decreased volumes at BL and right caudate nucleus volume decline correlated with decreasing SDMT performance. This highlights the dynamics of functional changes and

  1. Brain activity changes in cognitive networks in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis - insights from a longitudinal FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loitfelder, Marisa; Fazekas, Franz; Koschutnig, Karl; Fuchs, Siegrid; Petrovic, Katja; Ropele, Stefan; Pichler, Alexander; Jehna, Margit; Langkammer, Christian; Schmidt, Reinhold; Neuper, Christa; Enzinger, Christian

    2014-01-01

    Extrapolations from previous cross-sectional fMRI studies suggest cerebral functional changes with progression of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but longitudinal studies are scarce. We assessed brain activation changes over time in MS patients using a cognitive fMRI paradigm and examined correlations with clinical and cognitive status and brain morphology. 13 MS patients and 15 healthy controls (HC) underwent MRI including fMRI (go/no-go task), neurological and neuropsychological exams at baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU; minimum 12, median 20 months). We assessed estimates of and changes in fMRI activation, total brain and subcortical grey matter volumes, cortical thickness, and T2-lesion load. Bland-Altman (BA) plots served to assess fMRI signal variability. Cognitive and disability levels remained largely stable in the patients. With the fMRI task, both at BL and FU, patients compared to HC showed increased activation in the insular cortex, precuneus, cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, and occipital cortex. At BL, patients vs. HC also had lower caudate nucleus, thalamus and putamen volumes. Over time, patients (but not HC) demonstrated fMRI activity increments in the left inferior parietal lobule. These correlated with worse single-digit-modality test (SDMT) performance. BA-plots attested to reproducibility of the fMRI task. In the patients, the right caudate nucleus decreased in volume which again correlated with worsening SDMT performance. Given preserved cognitive performance, the increased activation at BL in the patients may be viewed as largely adaptive. In contrast, the negative correlation with SDMT performance suggests increasing parietal activation over time to be maladaptive. Several areas with purported relevance for cognition showed decreased volumes at BL and right caudate nucleus volume decline correlated with decreasing SDMT performance. This highlights the dynamics of functional changes and the strategic importance of specific brain areas for

  2. Tactile and non-tactile sensory paradigms for fMRI and neurophysiologic studies in rodents

    OpenAIRE

    Sanganahalli, Basavaraju G.; Bailey, Christopher J.; Herman, Peter; Hyder, Fahmeed

    2009-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a popular functional imaging tool for human studies. Future diagnostic use of fMRI depends, however, on a suitable neurophysiologic interpretation of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal change. This particular goal is best achieved in animal models primarily due to the invasive nature of other methods used and/or pharmacological agents applied to probe different nuances of neuronal (and glial) activity coupled to the BOLD...

  3. Regional homogeneity changes in prelingually deafened patients: a resting-state fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wenjing; He, Huiguang; Xian, Junfang; Lv, Bin; Li, Meng; Li, Yong; Liu, Zhaohui; Wang, Zhenchang

    2010-03-01

    Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique that measures the intrinsic function of brain and has some advantages over task-induced fMRI. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) assesses the similarity of the time series of a given voxel with its nearest neighbors on a voxel-by-voxel basis, which reflects the temporal homogeneity of the regional BOLD signal. In the present study, we used the resting state fMRI data to investigate the ReHo changes of the whole brain in the prelingually deafened patients relative to normal controls. 18 deaf patients and 22 healthy subjects were scanned. Kendall's coefficient of concordance (KCC) was calculated to measure the degree of regional coherence of fMRI time courses. We found that regional coherence significantly decreased in the left frontal lobe, bilateral temporal lobes and right thalamus, and increased in the postcentral gyrus, cingulate gyrus, left temporal lobe, left thalamus and cerebellum in deaf patients compared with controls. These results show that the prelingually deafened patients have higher degree of regional coherence in the paleocortex, and lower degree in neocortex. Since neocortex plays an important role in the development of auditory, these evidences may suggest that the deaf persons reorganize the paleocortex to offset the loss of auditory.

  4. Probing the Interoceptive Network by Listening to Heartbeats: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina I Kleint

    Full Text Available Exposure to cues of homeostatic relevance (i.e. heartbeats is supposed to increase the allocation of attentional resources towards the cue, due to its importance for self-regulatory, interoceptive processes. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study aimed at determining whether listening to heartbeats is accompanied by activation in brain areas associated with interoception, particularly the insular cortex. Brain activity was measured with fMRI during cue-exposure in 36 subjects while listening to heartbeats vs. sinus tones. Autonomic markers (skin conductance and subjective measures of state and trait anxiety were assessed. Stimulation with heartbeat sounds triggered activation in brain areas commonly associated with the processing of interoceptive information, including bilateral insular cortices, the inferior frontal operculum, and the middle frontal gyrus. A psychophysiological interaction analysis indicated a functional connectivity between the middle frontal gyrus (seed region and bilateral insular cortices, the left amygdala and the supplementary motor area. The magnitude of neural activation in the right anterior insular cortex was positively associated with autonomic arousal. The present findings indicate that listening to heartbeats induced activity in areas of the interoception network as well as changes in psychophysiological arousal and subjective emotional experience. As this approach constitutes a promising method for studying interoception in the fMRI environment, a clinical application in anxiety prone populations should be addressed by future studies.

  5. Integration of fMRI, NIROT and ERP for studies of human brain function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gore, John C; Horovitz, Silvina G; Cannistraci, Christopher J; Skudlarski, Pavel

    2006-05-01

    Different methods of assessing human brain function possess specific advantages and disadvantages compared to others, but it is believed that combining different approaches will provide greater information than can be obtained from each alone. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has good spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution, whereas the converse is true for electrophysiological recordings (event-related potentials or ERPs). In this review of recent work, we highlight a novel approach to combining these modalities in a manner designed to increase information on the origins and locations of the generators of specific ERPs and the relationship between fMRI and ERP signals. Near infrared imaging techniques have also been studied as alternatives to fMRI and can be readily integrated with simultaneous electrophysiological recordings. Each of these modalities may in principle be also used in so-called steady-state acquisitions in which the correlational structure of signals from the brain may be analyzed to provide new insights into brain function.

  6. Implicit structured sequence learning: an fMRI study of the structural mere-exposure effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Folia, Vasiliki; Petersson, Karl Magnus

    2014-01-01

    In this event-related fMRI study we investigated the effect of 5 days of implicit acquisition on preference classification by means of an artificial grammar learning (AGL) paradigm based on the structural mere-exposure effect and preference classification using a simple right-linear unification grammar. This allowed us to investigate implicit AGL in a proper learning design by including baseline measurements prior to grammar exposure. After 5 days of implicit acquisition, the fMRI results showed activations in a network of brain regions including the inferior frontal (centered on BA 44/45) and the medial prefrontal regions (centered on BA 8/32). Importantly, and central to this study, the inclusion of a naive preference fMRI baseline measurement allowed us to conclude that these fMRI findings were the intrinsic outcomes of the learning process itself and not a reflection of a preexisting functionality recruited during classification, independent of acquisition. Support for the implicit nature of the knowledge utilized during preference classification on day 5 come from the fact that the basal ganglia, associated with implicit procedural learning, were activated during classification, while the medial temporal lobe system, associated with explicit declarative memory, was consistently deactivated. Thus, preference classification in combination with structural mere-exposure can be used to investigate structural sequence processing (syntax) in unsupervised AGL paradigms with proper learning designs.

  7. [fMRI study of the dominant hemisphere for language in patients with brain tumor].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buklina, S B; Podoprigora, A E; Pronin, I N; Shishkina, L V; Boldyreva, G N; Bondarenko, A A; Fadeeva, L M; Kornienko, V N; Zhukov, V Iu

    2013-01-01

    Paper describes a study of language lateralization of patients with brain tumors, measured by preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and comparison results with tumor histology and profile of functional asymmetry. During the study 21 patient underwent fMRI scan. 15 patients had a tumor in the left and 6 in the right hemisphere. Tumors were localized mainly in the frontal, temporal and fronto-temporal regions. Histological diagnosis in 8 cases was malignant Grade IV, in 13 cases--Grade I-III. fMRI study was perfomed on scanner "Signa Exite" with a field strength of 1.5 As speech test reciting the months of the year in reverse order was used. fMRI scan results were compared with the profile of functional asymmetry, which was received with the results of questionnaire Annette and dichotic listening test. Broca's area was found in 7 cases in the left hemisphere, 6 had a tumor Grade I-III. And one patient with glioblastoma had a tumor of the right hemisphere. Broca's area in the right hemisphere was found in 3 patients (2 patients with left sided tumor, and one with right-sided tumor). One patient with left-sided tumor had mild motor aphasia. Bilateral activation in both hemispheres of the brain was observed in 6 patients. All of them had tumor Grade II-III of the left hemisphere. Signs of left-handedness were revealed only in half of these patients. Broca's area was not found in 4 cases. All of them had large malignant tumors Grade IV. One patient couldn't handle program of the research. Results of fMRI scans, questionnaire Annette and dichotic listening test frequently were not the same, which is significant. Bilateral activation in speech-loads may be a reflection of brain plasticity in cases of long-growing tumors. Thus it's important to consider the full range of clinical data in studying the problem of the dominant hemisphere for language.

  8. Evidence for bilateral involvement in idiom comprehension : An fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zempleni, Monika-Zita; Haverkort, Marco; Renken, Remco; Stowe, Laurie A.

    2007-01-01

    The goal of the current study was to identify the neural substrate of idiom comprehension using fMRI. Idioms are familiar, fixed expressions whose meaning is not dependent on the literal interpretation of the component words. We presented literally plausible idioms in a sentence forcing a figurative

  9. Monkey cortex through fMRI glasses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanduffel, Wim; Zhu, Qi; Orban, Guy A

    2014-08-06

    In 1998 several groups reported the feasibility of fMRI experiments in monkeys, with the goal to bridge the gap between invasive nonhuman primate studies and human functional imaging. These studies yielded critical insights in the neuronal underpinnings of the BOLD signal. Furthermore, the technology has been successful in guiding electrophysiological recordings and identifying focal perturbation targets. Finally, invaluable information was obtained concerning human brain evolution. We here provide a comprehensive overview of awake monkey fMRI studies mainly confined to the visual system. We review the latest insights about the topographic organization of monkey visual cortex and discuss the spatial relationships between retinotopy and category- and feature-selective clusters. We briefly discuss the functional layout of parietal and frontal cortex and continue with a summary of some fascinating functional and effective connectivity studies. Finally, we review recent comparative fMRI experiments and speculate about the future of nonhuman primate imaging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Test-retest and between-site reliability in a multicenter fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Lee; Stern, Hal; Brown, Gregory G; Mathalon, Daniel H; Turner, Jessica; Glover, Gary H; Gollub, Randy L; Lauriello, John; Lim, Kelvin O; Cannon, Tyrone; Greve, Douglas N; Bockholt, Henry Jeremy; Belger, Aysenil; Mueller, Bryon; Doty, Michael J; He, Jianchun; Wells, William; Smyth, Padhraic; Pieper, Steve; Kim, Seyoung; Kubicki, Marek; Vangel, Mark; Potkin, Steven G

    2008-08-01

    In the present report, estimates of test-retest and between-site reliability of fMRI assessments were produced in the context of a multicenter fMRI reliability study (FBIRN Phase 1, www.nbirn.net). Five subjects were scanned on 10 MRI scanners on two occasions. The fMRI task was a simple block design sensorimotor task. The impulse response functions to the stimulation block were derived using an FIR-deconvolution analysis with FMRISTAT. Six functionally-derived ROIs covering the visual, auditory and motor cortices, created from a prior analysis, were used. Two dependent variables were compared: percent signal change and contrast-to-noise-ratio. Reliability was assessed with intraclass correlation coefficients derived from a variance components analysis. Test-retest reliability was high, but initially, between-site reliability was low, indicating a strong contribution from site and site-by-subject variance. However, a number of factors that can markedly improve between-site reliability were uncovered, including increasing the size of the ROIs, adjusting for smoothness differences, and inclusion of additional runs. By employing multiple steps, between-site reliability for 3T scanners was increased by 123%. Dropping one site at a time and assessing reliability can be a useful method of assessing the sensitivity of the results to particular sites. These findings should provide guidance toothers on the best practices for future multicenter studies.

  11. Collective Correlations of Brodmann Areas fMRI Study with RMT-Denoising

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burda, Z.; Kornelsen, J.; Nowak, M. A.; Porebski, B.; Sboto-Frankenstein, U.; Tomanek, B.; Tyburczyk, J.

    We study collective behavior of Brodmann regions of human cerebral cortex using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Random Matrix Theory (RMT). The raw fMRI data is mapped onto the cortex regions corresponding to the Brodmann areas with the aid of the Talairach coordinates. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Pearson correlation matrix for 41 different Brodmann regions is carried out to determine their collective activity in the idle state and in the active state stimulated by tapping. The collective brain activity is identified through the statistical analysis of the eigenvectors to the largest eigenvalues of the Pearson correlation matrix. The leading eigenvectors have a large participation ratio. This indicates that several Broadmann regions collectively give rise to the brain activity associated with these eigenvectors. We apply random matrix theory to interpret the underlying multivariate data.

  12. Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia: A Selective Review of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrienne C. Lahti

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Schizophrenia is a complex chronic mental illness that is characterized by positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Cognitive deficits are most predictive of long-term outcomes, with abnormalities in memory being the most robust finding. The advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI has allowed exploring neural correlates of memory deficits in vivo. In this article, we will give a selective review of fMRI studies probing brain regions and functional networks that are thought to be related to abnormal memory performance in two memory systems prominently affected in schizophrenia; working memory and episodic memory. We revisit the classic “hypofrontality” hypothesis of working memory deficits and explore evidence for frontotemporal dysconnectivity underlying episodic memory abnormalities. We conclude that fMRI studies of memory deficits in schizophrenia are far from universal. However, the current literature does suggest that alterations are not isolated to a few brain regions, but are characterized by abnormalities within large-scale brain networks.

  13. The insula is not specifically involved in disgust processing: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schienle, A; Stark, R; Walter, B; Blecker, C; Ott, U; Kirsch, P; Sammer, G; Vaitl, D

    2002-11-15

    fMRI studies have shown that the perception of facial disgust expressions specifically activates the insula. The present fMRI study investigated whether this structure is also involved in the processing of visual stimuli depicting non-mimic disgust elicitors compared to fear-inducing and neutral scenes. Twelve female subjects were scanned while viewing alternating blocks of 40 disgust-inducing, 40 fear-inducing and 40 affectively neutral pictures, shown for 1.5 s each. Afterwards, affective ratings were assessed. The disgust pictures, rated as highly repulsive, induced activation in the insula, the amygdala, the orbitofrontal and occipito-temporal cortex. Since during the fear condition the insula was also involved, our findings do not fit the idea of the insula as a specific disgust processor.

  14. N-back Working Memory Task: Meta-analysis of Normative fMRI Studies With Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaple, Zachary; Arsalidou, Marie

    2018-05-07

    The n-back task is likely the most popular measure of working memory for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. Despite accumulating neuroimaging studies with the n-back task and children, its neural representation is still unclear. fMRI studies that used the n-back were compiled, and data from children up to 15 years (n = 260) were analyzed using activation likelihood estimation. Results show concordance in frontoparietal regions recognized for their role in working memory as well as regions not typically highlighted as part of the working memory network, such as the insula. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental methodology and potential contribution to developmental theories of cognition. © 2018 Society for Research in Child Development.

  15. An fMRI Study of the Social Competition in Healthy Subjects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polosan, M.; Baciu, M.; Cousin, E.; Perrone, M.; Pichat, C.; Bougerol, T.

    2011-01-01

    Social interaction requires the ability to infer another person's mental state (Theory of Mind, ToM) and also executive functions. This fMRI study aimed to identify the cerebral correlates activated by ToM during a specific social interaction, the human-human competition. In this framework, we tested a conflict resolution task (Stroop) adapted to…

  16. Resting-state fMRI study of patients with fragile X syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isanova, E.; Petrovskiy, E.; Savelov, A.; Yudkin, D.; Tulupov, A.

    2017-08-01

    The study aimed to assess the neural activity of different brain regions in patients with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and the healthy volunteers by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a 1.5 T MRI Achieva scanner (Philips). Results: The fMRI study showed a DMN of brain function in patients with FXS, as well as in the healthy volunteers. Furthermore, it was found that a default mode network of the brain in patients with FXS and healthy volunteers does not have statistically significant differences (p>0.05), which may indicate that the basal activity of neurons in patients with FXS is not reduced. In addition, we have found a significant (pright inferior parietal and right angular gyrus in the resting state in patients with FXS. Conclusion: New data of functional status of the brain in patients with FXS were received. The significant increase in the resting state functional connectivity within the right inferior parietal and right angular gyrus (p<0.001) in patients with FXS was found.

  17. The power of using functional fMRI on small rodents to study brain pharmacology and disease

    OpenAIRE

    Jonckers, Elisabeth; Shah, Disha; Hamaide, Julie; Verhoye, Marleen; Van der Linden, Annemie

    2015-01-01

    Abstract: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is an excellent tool to study the effect of pharmacological modulations on brain function in a non-invasive and longitudinal manner. We introduce several blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI techniques, including resting state (rsfMRI), stimulus-evoked (st-fMRI), and pharmacological MRI (phMRI). Respectively, these techniques permit the assessment of functional connectivity during rest as well as brain activation triggered by sen...

  18. Language Lateralization in Children Aged 10 to 11 Years: A Combined fMRI and Dichotic Listening Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norrelgen, Fritjof; Lilja, Anders; Ingvar, Martin; Gisselgård, Jens; Fransson, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Objective The aims of this study were to develop and assess a method to map language networks in children with two auditory fMRI protocols in combination with a dichotic listening task (DL). The method is intended for pediatric patients prior to epilepsy surgery. To evaluate the potential clinical usefulness of the method we first wanted to assess data from a group of healthy children. Methods In a first step language test materials were developed, intended for subsequent implementation in fMRI protocols. An evaluation of this material was done in 30 children with typical development, 10 from the 1st, 4th and the 7th grade, respectively. The language test material was then adapted and implemented in two fMRI protocols intended to target frontal and posterior language networks. In a second step language lateralization was assessed in 17 typical 10–11 year olds with fMRI and DL. To reach a conclusion about language lateralization, firstly, quantitative analyses of the index data from the two fMRI tasks and the index data from the DL task were done separately. In a second step a set of criteria were applied to these results to reach a conclusion about language lateralization. The steps of these analyses are described in detail. Results The behavioral assessment of the language test material showed that it was well suited for typical children. The results of the language lateralization assessments, based on fMRI data and DL data, showed that for 15 of the 17 subjects (88%) a conclusion could be reached about hemispheric language dominance. In 2 cases (12%) DL provided critical data. Conclusions The employment of DL combined with language mapping using fMRI for assessing hemispheric language dominance is novel and it was deemed valuable since it provided additional information compared to the results gained from each method individually. PMID:23284796

  19. Language lateralization in children aged 10 to 11 years: a combined fMRI and dichotic listening study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fritjof Norrelgen

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to develop and assess a method to map language networks in children with two auditory fMRI protocols in combination with a dichotic listening task (DL. The method is intended for pediatric patients prior to epilepsy surgery. To evaluate the potential clinical usefulness of the method we first wanted to assess data from a group of healthy children. METHODS: In a first step language test materials were developed, intended for subsequent implementation in fMRI protocols. An evaluation of this material was done in 30 children with typical development, 10 from the 1(st, 4(th and the 7(th grade, respectively. The language test material was then adapted and implemented in two fMRI protocols intended to target frontal and posterior language networks. In a second step language lateralization was assessed in 17 typical 10-11 year olds with fMRI and DL. To reach a conclusion about language lateralization, firstly, quantitative analyses of the index data from the two fMRI tasks and the index data from the DL task were done separately. In a second step a set of criteria were applied to these results to reach a conclusion about language lateralization. The steps of these analyses are described in detail. RESULTS: The behavioral assessment of the language test material showed that it was well suited for typical children. The results of the language lateralization assessments, based on fMRI data and DL data, showed that for 15 of the 17 subjects (88% a conclusion could be reached about hemispheric language dominance. In 2 cases (12% DL provided critical data. CONCLUSIONS: The employment of DL combined with language mapping using fMRI for assessing hemispheric language dominance is novel and it was deemed valuable since it provided additional information compared to the results gained from each method individually.

  20. Intrusive Memories of Distressing Information: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Battaglini

    Full Text Available Although intrusive memories are characteristic of many psychological disorders, the neurobiological underpinning of these involuntary recollections are largely unknown. In this study we used functional magentic resonance imaging (fMRI to identify the neural networks associated with encoding of negative stimuli that are subsequently experienced as intrusive memories. Healthy partipants (N = 42 viewed negative and neutral images during a visual/verbal processing task in an fMRI context. Two days later they were assessed on the Impact of Event Scale for occurrence of intrusive memories of the encoded images. A sub-group of participants who reported significant intrusions (n = 13 demonstrated stronger activation in the amygdala, bilateral ACC and parahippocampal gyrus during verbal encoding relative to a group who reported no intrusions (n = 13. Within-group analyses also revealed that the high intrusion group showed greater activity in the dorsomedial (dmPFC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, inferior frontal gyrus and occipital regions during negative verbal processing compared to neutral verbal processing. These results do not accord with models of intrusions that emphasise visual processing of information at encoding but are consistent with models that highlight the role of inhibitory and suppression processes in the formation of subsequent intrusive memories.

  1. Specificity of Esthetic Experience for Artworks: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Dio, Cinzia; Canessa, Nicola; Cappa, Stefano F.; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

    2011-01-01

    In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, where we investigated the neural correlates of esthetic experience, we found that observing canonical sculptures, relative to sculptures whose proportions had been modified, produced the activation of a network that included the lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus, prefrontal areas, and, most interestingly, the right anterior insula. We interpreted this latter activation as the neural signature underpinning hedonic response during esthetic experience. With the aim of exploring whether this specific hedonic response is also present during the observation of non-art biological stimuli, in the present fMRI study we compared the activations associated with viewing masterpieces of classical sculpture with those produced by the observation of pictures of young athletes. The two stimulus-categories were matched on various factors, including body postures, proportion, and expressed dynamism. The stimuli were presented in two conditions: observation and esthetic judgment. The two stimulus-categories produced a rather similar global activation pattern. Direct comparisons between sculpture and real-body images revealed, however, relevant differences, among which the activation of right antero-dorsal insula during sculptures viewing only. Along with our previous data, this finding suggests that the hedonic state associated with activation of right dorsal anterior insula underpins esthetic experience for artworks. PMID:22121344

  2. Reproducible localization of interictal epileptiform discharges using EEG-triggered fMRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Symms, M.R.; Allen, P.J.; Fish, D.R.; Barker, G.J.

    1999-01-01

    We report preliminary experiences using fMRI triggered by EEG to localize the site of interictal epileptiform activity. EEG was recorded in the scanner and monitored on-line; the recording quality was good enough to allow the clear identification of spikes in the EEG. Snap-shot EPI was performed 2-4 s after an epileptiform discharge ('spike') or after at least 10 s of background activity ('rest') was observed. A pixel-by-pixel t-test was performed between the 'rest' and the 'spike' images to determine areas of significant activation. Significant activation was obtained in a patient with epilepsy. To assess the reliability and reproducibility of the technique, the patient was scanned on four separate occasions with similar areas being activated in all the studies, confirming the validity of the result. (author)

  3. Investigating Inhibitory Control in Children with Epilepsy: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Triplett, Regina L.; Velanova, Katerina; Luna, Beatriz; Padmanabhan, Aarthi; Gaillard, William D.; Asato, Miya R.

    2014-01-01

    SUMMARY Objective Deficits in executive function are increasingly noted in children with epilepsy and have been associated with poor academic and psychosocial outcomes. Impaired inhibitory control contributes to executive dysfunction in children with epilepsy; however, its neuroanatomic basis has not yet been investigated. We used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to probe the integrity of activation in brain regions underlying inhibitory control in children with epilepsy. Methods This cross-sectional study consisted of 34 children aged 8 to 17 years: 17 with well-controlled epilepsy and 17 age-and sex-matched controls. Participants performed the antisaccade (AS) task, representative of inhibitory control, during fMRI scanning. We compared AS performance during neutral and reward task conditions and evaluated task-related blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation. Results Children with epilepsy demonstrated impaired AS performance compared to controls during both neutral (non-reward) and reward trials, but exhibited significant task improvement during reward trials. Post-hoc analysis revealed that younger patients made more errors than older patients and all controls. fMRI results showed preserved activation in task-relevant regions in patients and controls, with the exception of increased activation in the left posterior cingulate gyrus in patients specifically with generalized epilepsy across neutral and reward trials. Significance Despite impaired inhibitory control, children with epilepsy accessed typical neural pathways as did their peers without epilepsy. Children with epilepsy showed improved behavioral performance in response to the reward condition, suggesting potential benefits of the use of incentives in cognitive remediation. PMID:25223606

  4. Functional-anatomic study of episodic retrieval using fMRI. I. Retrieval effort versus retrieval success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckner, R L; Koutstaal, W; Schacter, D L; Wagner, A D; Rosen, B R

    1998-04-01

    A number of recent functional imaging studies have identified brain areas activated during tasks involving episodic memory retrieval. The identification of such areas provides a foundation for targeted hypotheses regarding the more specific contributions that these areas make to episodic retrieval. As a beginning effort toward such an endeavor, whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine 14 subjects during episodic word recognition in a block-designed fMRI experiment. Study conditions were manipulated by presenting either shallow or deep encoding tasks. This manipulation yielded two recognition conditions that differed with regard to retrieval effort and retrieval success: shallow encoding yielded low levels of recognition success with high levels of retrieval effort, and deep encoding yielded high levels of recognition success with low levels of effort. Many brain areas were activated in common by these two recognition conditions compared to a low-level fixation condition, including left and right prefrontal regions often detected during PET episodic retrieval paradigms (e.g., R. L. Buckner et al., 1996, J. Neurosci. 16, 6219-6235) thereby generalizing these findings to fMRI. Characterization of the activated regions in relation to the separate recognition conditions showed (1) bilateral anterior insular regions and a left dorsal prefrontal region were more active after shallow encoding, when retrieval demanded greatest effort, and (2) right anterior prefrontal cortex, which has been implicated in episodic retrieval, was most active during successful retrieval after deep encoding. We discuss these findings in relation to component processes involved in episodic retrieval and in the context of a companion study using event-related fMRI.

  5. Understanding others' regret: a FMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola Canessa

    Full Text Available Previous studies showed that the understanding of others' basic emotional experiences is based on a "resonant" mechanism, i.e., on the reactivation, in the observer's brain, of the cerebral areas associated with those experiences. The present study aimed to investigate whether the same neural mechanism is activated both when experiencing and attending complex, cognitively-generated, emotions. A gambling task and functional-Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging (fMRI were used to test this hypothesis using regret, the negative cognitively-based emotion resulting from an unfavorable counterfactual comparison between the outcomes of chosen and discarded options. Do the same brain structures that mediate the experience of regret become active in the observation of situations eliciting regret in another individual? Here we show that observing the regretful outcomes of someone else's choices activates the same regions that are activated during a first-person experience of regret, i.e. the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus. These results extend the possible role of a mirror-like mechanism beyond basic emotions.

  6. Brain Activities Associated with Graphic Emoticons: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuasa, Masahide; Saito, Keiichi; Mukawa, Naoki

    In this paper, we describe the brain activities that are associated with graphic emoticons by using functional MRI (fMRI). We use various types of faces from abstract to photorealistic in computer network applications. A graphics emoticon is an abstract face in communication over computer network. In this research, we created various graphic emoticons for the fMRI study and the graphic emoticons were classified according to friendliness and level of arousal. We investigated the brain activities of participants who were required to evaluate the emotional valence of the graphic emoticons (happy or sad). The experimental results showed that not only the right inferior frontal gyrus and the cingulate gyrus, but also the inferior and middle temporal gyrus and the fusiform gyrus, were found to be activated during the experiment. Forthermore, it is possible that the activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus and the cingulate gyrus is related to the type of abstract face. Since the inferior and middle temporal gyrus were activated, even though the graphic emoticons are static, we may perceive graphic emoticons as dynamic and living agents. Moreover, it is believed that text and graphics emoticons play an important role in enriching communication among users.

  7. Modulation of brain response to emotional conflict as a function of current mood in bipolar disorder: preliminary findings from a follow-up state-based fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey, Gwladys; Desseilles, Martin; Favre, Sophie; Dayer, Alexandre; Piguet, Camille; Aubry, Jean-Michel; Vuilleumier, Patrik

    2014-08-30

    We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine affective control longitudinally in a group of patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Participants comprised 12 BD patients who underwent repeated fMRI scans in euthymic (n=11), depressed (n=9), or hypomanic (n=9) states, and were compared with 12 age-matched healthy controls. During fMRI, participants performed an emotional face-word interference task with either low or high attentional demands. Relative to healthy controls, patients showed decreased activation of the cognitive control network normally associated with conflict processing, more severely during hypomania than during depression, but regardless of level of task demand in both cases. During euthymia, a decreased response to conflict was observed only during the high load condition. Additionally, unlike healthy participants, patients exhibited deactivation in several key areas in response to emotion-conflict trials - including the rostral anterior cingulate cortex during euthymia, the hippocampus during depression, and the posterior cingulate cortex during hypomania. Our results indicate that the ability of BD patients to recruit control networks when processing affective conflict, and the abnormal suppression of activity in distinct components of the default mode network, may depend on their current clinical state and attentional demand. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Modality Specific Cerebro-Cerebellar Activations in Verbal Working Memory: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew P. Kirschen

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Verbal working memory (VWM engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters and modality (auditory and visual dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44, insular, cingulate (BA 32, and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40 regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI and right inferior (HVIII cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19 and left parietal (BA7/40 cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominately in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22. In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load.

  9. Modality Specific Cerebro-Cerebellar Activations in Verbal Working Memory: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirschen, Matthew P.; Chen, S. H. Annabel; Desmond, John E.

    2010-01-01

    Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominately in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load. PMID:20714061

  10. Functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia: An fMRI and VBM study

    OpenAIRE

    Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Goyal, Satnam; Kaur, Prabhjot; Singh, Namita; Bhatia, Triptish; Deshpande, Smita N; Khushu, Subash

    2015-01-01

    Empathy deficit is a core feature of schizophrenia which may lead to social dysfunction. The present study was carried out to investigate functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A sample of 14 schizophrenia patients and 14 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and education were examined with structural high-resolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI image...

  11. Auditory processing in the brainstem and audiovisual integration in humans studied with fMRI

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slabu, Lavinia Mihaela

    2008-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful technique because of the high spatial resolution and the noninvasiveness. The applications of the fMRI to the auditory pathway remain a challenge due to the intense acoustic scanner noise of approximately 110 dB SPL. The auditory system

  12. Acoustic fMRI noise : Linear time-invariant system model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sierra, Carlos V. Rizzo; Versluis, Maarten J.; Hoogduin, Johannes M.; Duifhuis, Hendrikus (Diek)

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) enables sites of brain activation to be localized in human subjects. For auditory system studies, however, the acoustic noise generated by the scanner tends to interfere with the assessments of this activation. Understanding and modeling fMRI acoustic

  13. Modelling large motion events in fMRI studies of patients with epilepsy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lemieux, Louis; Salek-Haddadi, Afraim; Lund, Torben E

    2007-01-01

    -positive activation. Head motion can lead to severe image degradation and result in false-positive activation and is usually worse in patients than in healthy subjects. We performed general linear model fMRI data analysis on simultaneous EEG-fMRI data acquired in 34 cases with focal epilepsy. Signal changes...... associated with large inter-scan motion events (head jerks) were modelled using modified design matrices that include 'scan nulling' regressors. We evaluated the efficacy of this approach by mapping the proportion of the brain for which F-tests across the additional regressors were significant. In 95......% of cases, there was a significant effect of motion in 50% of the brain or greater; for the scan nulling effect, the proportion was 36%; this effect was predominantly in the neocortex. We conclude that careful consideration of the motion-related effects in fMRI studies of patients with epilepsy is essential...

  14. Functional connectivity analysis of the brain network using resting-state fMRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayashi, Toshihiro

    2011-01-01

    Spatial patterns of spontaneous fluctuations in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals reflect the underlying neural architecture. The study of the brain network based on these self-organized patterns is termed resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). This review article aims at briefly reviewing a basic concept of this technology and discussing its implications for neuropsychological studies. First, the technical aspects of resting-state fMRI, including signal sources, physiological artifacts, image acquisition, and analytical methods such as seed-based correlation analysis and independent component analysis, are explained, followed by a discussion on the major resting-state networks, including the default mode network. In addition, the structure-function correlation studied using diffuse tensor imaging and resting-state fMRI is briefly discussed. Second, I have discussed the reservations and potential pitfalls of 2 major imaging methods: voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping and task fMRI. Problems encountered with voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping can be overcome by using resting-state fMRI and evaluating undamaged brain networks in patients. Regarding task fMRI in patients, I have also emphasized the importance of evaluating the baseline brain activity because the amplitude of activation in BOLD fMRI is hard to interpret as the same baseline cannot be assumed for both patient and normal groups. (author)

  15. Framing deductive reasoning with emotional content: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunetti, M; Perrucci, M G; Di Naccio, M R; Ferretti, A; Del Gratta, C; Casadio, C; Romani, G L

    2014-06-01

    In the literature concerning the study of emotional effect on cognition, several researches highlight the mechanisms of reasoning ability and the influence of emotions on this ability. However, up to now, no neuroimaging study was specifically devised to directly compare the influence on reasoning performance of visual task-unrelated with semantic task-related emotional information. In the present functional fMRI study, we devised a novel paradigm in which emotionally negative vs. neutral visual stimuli (context) were used as primes, followed by syllogisms composed of propositions with emotionally negative vs. neutral contents respectively. Participants, in the MR scanner, were asked to assess the logical validity of the syllogisms. We have therefore manipulated the emotional state and arousal induced by the visual prime as well as the emotional interference exerted by the syllogism content. fMRI data indicated a medial prefrontal cortex deactivation and lateral/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in conditions with negative context. Furthermore, a lateral/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulation caused by syllogism content was observed. Finally, behavioral data confirmed the influence of emotional task-related stimuli on reasoning ability, since the performance was worse in conditions with syllogisms involving negative emotions. Therefore, on the basis of these data, we conclude that emotional states can impair the performance in reasoning tasks by means of the delayed general reactivity, whereas the emotional content of the target may require a larger amount of top-down resources to be processed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Altered affective response in marijuana smokers: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gruber, Staci A; Rogowska, Jadwiga; Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah A

    2009-11-01

    More than 94 million Americans have tried marijuana, and it remains the most widely used illicit drug in the nation. Investigations of the cognitive effects of marijuana report alterations in brain function during tasks requiring executive control, including inhibition and decision-making. Endogenous cannabinoids regulate a variety of emotional responses, including anxiety, mood control, and aggression; nevertheless, little is known about smokers' responses to affective stimuli. The anterior cingulate and amygdala play key roles in the inhibition of impulsive behavior and affective regulation, and studies using PET and fMRI have demonstrated changes within these regions in marijuana smokers. Given alterations in mood and perception often observed in smokers, we hypothesized altered fMRI patterns of response in 15 chronic heavy marijuana smokers relative to 15 non-marijuana smoking control subjects during the viewing of masked happy and fearful faces. Despite no between-group differences on clinical or demographic measures, smokers demonstrated a relative decrease in both anterior cingulate and amygdalar activity during masked affective stimuli compared to controls, who showed relative increases in activation within these regions during the viewing of masked faces. Findings indicate that chronic heavy marijuana smokers demonstrate altered activation of frontal and limbic systems while viewing masked faces, consistent with autoradiographic studies reporting high CB-1 receptor density in these regions. These data suggest differences in affective processing in chronic smokers, even when stimuli are presented below the level of conscious processing, and underscore the likelihood that marijuana smokers process emotional information differently from those who do not smoke, which may result in negative consequences.

  17. Brain Activity Associated with Emoticons: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuasa, Masahide; Saito, Keiichi; Mukawa, Naoki

    In this paper, we describe that brain activities associated with emoticons by using fMRI. In communication over a computer network, we use abstract faces such as computer graphics (CG) avatars and emoticons. These faces convey users' emotions and enrich their communications. However, the manner in which these faces influence the mental process is as yet unknown. The human brain may perceive the abstract face in an entirely different manner, depending on its level of reality. We conducted an experiment using fMRI in order to investigate the effects of emoticons. The results show that right inferior frontal gyrus, which associated with nonverbal communication, is activated by emoticons. Since the emoticons were created to reflect the real human facial expressions as accurately as possible, we believed that they would activate the right fusiform gyrus. However, this region was not found to be activated during the experiment. This finding is useful in understanding how abstract faces affect our behaviors and decision-making in communication over a computer network.

  18. Decision Making under Risk Condition in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Behavioural and fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirsten Labudda

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available We aimed to study whether previously described impairment in decision making under risky conditions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD is affected by deficits in using information about potential incentives or by processing feedback (in terms of fictitious gains and losses following each decision. Additionally, we studied whether the neural correlates of using explicit information in decision making under risk differ between PD patients and healthy subjects. We investigated ten cognitively intact PD patients and twelve healthy subjects with the Game of Dice Task (GDT to assess risky decision making, and with an fMRI paradigm to analyse the neural correlates of information integration in the deliberative decision phase. Behaviourally, PD patients showed selective impairment in the GDT but not on the fMRI task that did not include a feedback component. Healthy subjects exhibited lateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal activations when integrating decision-relevant information. Despite similar behavioural patterns on the fMRI task, patients exhibited reduced parietal activation. Behavioural results suggest that PD patients’ deficits in risky decision making are dominated by impaired feedback utilization not compensable by intact cognitive functions. Our fMRI results suggest similarities but also differences in neural correlates when using explicit information for the decision process, potentially indicating different strategy application even if the interfering feedback component is excluded.

  19. Statistical Analysis Methods for the fMRI Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huseyin Boyaci

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI is a safe and non-invasive way to assess brain functions by using signal changes associated with brain activity. The technique has become a ubiquitous tool in basic, clinical and cognitive neuroscience. This method can measure little metabolism changes that occur in active part of the brain. We process the fMRI data to be able to find the parts of brain that are involve in a mechanism, or to determine the changes that occur in brain activities due to a brain lesion. In this study we will have an overview over the methods that are used for the analysis of fMRI data.

  20. Electrophysiological correlates of the BOLD signal for EEG-informed fMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murta, Teresa; Leite, Marco; Carmichael, David W; Figueiredo, Patrícia; Lemieux, Louis

    2015-01-01

    Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are important tools in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Combined EEG–fMRI has been shown to help to characterise brain networks involved in epileptic activity, as well as in different sensory, motor and cognitive functions. A good understanding of the electrophysiological correlates of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal is necessary to interpret fMRI maps, particularly when obtained in combination with EEG. We review the current understanding of electrophysiological–haemodynamic correlates, during different types of brain activity. We start by describing the basic mechanisms underlying EEG and BOLD signals and proceed by reviewing EEG-informed fMRI studies using fMRI to map specific EEG phenomena over the entire brain (EEG–fMRI mapping), or exploring a range of EEG-derived quantities to determine which best explain colocalised BOLD fluctuations (local EEG–fMRI coupling). While reviewing studies of different forms of brain activity (epileptic and nonepileptic spontaneous activity; cognitive, sensory and motor functions), a significant attention is given to epilepsy because the investigation of its haemodynamic correlates is the most common application of EEG-informed fMRI. Our review is focused on EEG-informed fMRI, an asymmetric approach of data integration. We give special attention to the invasiveness of electrophysiological measurements and the simultaneity of multimodal acquisitions because these methodological aspects determine the nature of the conclusions that can be drawn from EEG-informed fMRI studies. We emphasise the advantages of, and need for, simultaneous intracranial EEG–fMRI studies in humans, which recently became available and hold great potential to improve our understanding of the electrophysiological correlates of BOLD fluctuations. PMID:25277370

  1. Assessment of language lateralization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salagierska-Barwinska, A.; Goraj, B.

    2004-01-01

    fMRI offers powerful methods to delineate which brain regions are engaged in language processing in the intact brain. Until now hemisphere dominance for language has been usually assessed by means of the intraoperative methods: the Wada test or electrocortical stimulation mapping. Recently functional MRI becomes the valuable method in determining hemisphere dominance for language. fMRI study was proved to be concordant with invasive measures. fMRI was carried out in 30 healthy selected participants (15 females: 10 strongly right-handed and 5 strongly left-handed; 15 males: 10 strongly right-handed and 5 strongly left-handed). The subject's handedness was assessed by standardized psychological tests inter alia the 'lateralization inventory'. Two different language tasks were used: a verb generation task and a phonological task. Subjects were scanned,while performing experimental block. The block contained alternately 8 active (language task) and 8 control conditions. Statistical analysis of evoked blood oxygenation level-dependent BOLD) responses, measured with echo planar imagining (1.5 T) were used. During a verb generation task in strongly right or left handed subjects the inferior frontal region was activated on the side opposite to the subject's handedness determined by the psychological test. Our fMRI studies demonstrated no gender effects on brain during these language tasks. Our study suggests that fMRI is a good device for the study of the language organization. The advantage of fMRI is its capacity for exact localization of activated areas. fMRI together with adequate neurolinguistic test could be promising routine preoperative tool in identification hemisphere dominance for language. These results encourage to further investigation for evaluating correlation in patients with brain injuries. (author)

  2. Lying about the valence of affective pictures: an fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatia M C Lee

    Full Text Available The neural correlates of lying about affective information were studied using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI methodology. Specifically, 13 healthy right-handed Chinese men were instructed to lie about the valence, positive or negative, of pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS while their brain activity was scanned by a 3T Philip Achieva scanner. The key finding is that the neural activity associated with deception is valence-related. Comparing to telling the truth, deception about the valence of the affectively positive pictures was associated with activity in the inferior frontal, cingulate, inferior parietal, precuneus, and middle temporal regions. Lying about the valence of the affectively negative pictures, on the other hand, was associated with activity in the orbital and medial frontal regions. While a clear valence-related effect on deception was observed, common neural regions were also recruited for the process of deception about the valence of the affective pictures. These regions included the lateral prefrontal and inferior parietal regions. Activity in these regions has been widely reported in fMRI studies on deception using affectively-neutral stimuli. The findings of this study reveal the effect of valence on the neural activity associated with deception. Furthermore, the data also help to illustrate the complexity of the neural mechanisms underlying deception.

  3. Feasibility of using fMRI to study mothers responding to infant cries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorberbaum, J P; Newman, J D; Dubno, J R; Horwitz, A R; Nahas, Z; Teneback, C C; Bloomer, C W; Bohning, D E; Vincent, D; Johnson, M R; Emmanuel, N; Brawman-Mintzer, O; Book, S W; Lydiard, R B; Ballenger, J C; George, M S

    1999-01-01

    While parenting is a universal human behavior, its neuroanatomic basis is currently unknown. Animal data suggest that the cingulate may play an important function in mammalian parenting behavior. For example, in rodents cingulate lesions impair maternal behavior. Here, in an attempt to understand the brain basis of human maternal behavior, we had mothers listen to recorded infant cries and white noise control sounds while they underwent functional MRI (fMRI) of the brain. We hypothesized that mothers would show significantly greater cingulate activity during the cries compared to the control sounds. Of 7 subjects scanned, 4 had fMRI data suitable for analysis. When fMRI data were averaged for these 4 subjects, the anterior cingulate and right medial prefrontal cortex were the only brain regions showing statistically increased activity with the cries compared to white noise control sounds (cluster analysis with one-tailed z-map threshold of P parent-infant bond and (2) examine whether markers of this bond, such as maternal brain response to infant crying, can predict maternal style (i.e., child neglect), offspring temperament, or offspring depression or anxiety.

  4. Different brain activation under left and right ventricular stimulation: an fMRI study in anesthetized rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Hideaki; Sumiyoshi, Akira; Kawashima, Ryuta; Shimokawa, Hiroaki

    2013-01-01

    Myocardial ischemia in the anterior wall of the left ventricule (LV) and in the inferior wall and/or right ventricle (RV) shows different manifestations that can be explained by the different innervations of cardiac afferent nerves. However, it remains unclear whether information from different areas of the heart, such as the LV and RV, are differently processed in the brain. In this study, we investigated the brain regions that process information from the LV or RV using cardiac electrical stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in anesthetized rats because the combination of these two approaches cannot be used in humans. An electrical stimulation catheter was inserted into the LV or RV (n = 12 each). Brain fMRI scans were recorded during LV or RV stimulation (9 Hz and 0.3 ms width) over 10 blocks consisting of alternating periods of 2 mA for 30 sec followed by 0.2 mA for 60 sec. The validity of fMRI signals was confirmed by first and second-level analyses and temporal profiles. Increases in fMRI signals were observed in the anterior cingulate cortex and the right somatosensory cortex under LV stimulation. In contrast, RV stimulation activated the right somatosensory cortex, which was identified more anteriorly compared with LV stimulation but did not activate the anterior cingulate cortex. This study provides the first evidence for differences in brain activation under LV and RV stimulation. These different brain processes may be associated with different clinical manifestations between anterior wall and inferoposterior wall and/or RV myocardial ischemia.

  5. EEG-Informed fMRI: A Review of Data Analysis Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abreu, Rodolfo; Leal, Alberto; Figueiredo, Patrícia

    2018-01-01

    The simultaneous acquisition of electroencephalography (EEG) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a very promising non-invasive technique for the study of human brain function. Despite continuous improvements, it remains a challenging technique, and a standard methodology for data analysis is yet to be established. Here we review the methodologies that are currently available to address the challenges at each step of the data analysis pipeline. We start by surveying methods for pre-processing both EEG and fMRI data. On the EEG side, we focus on the correction for several MR-induced artifacts, particularly the gradient and pulse artifacts, as well as other sources of EEG artifacts. On the fMRI side, we consider image artifacts induced by the presence of EEG hardware inside the MR scanner, and the contamination of the fMRI signal by physiological noise of non-neuronal origin, including a review of several approaches to model and remove it. We then provide an overview of the approaches specifically employed for the integration of EEG and fMRI when using EEG to predict the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI signal, the so-called EEG-informed fMRI integration strategy, the most commonly used strategy in EEG-fMRI research. Finally, we systematically review methods used for the extraction of EEG features reflecting neuronal phenomena of interest. PMID:29467634

  6. EEG-Informed fMRI: A Review of Data Analysis Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolfo Abreu

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The simultaneous acquisition of electroencephalography (EEG with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI is a very promising non-invasive technique for the study of human brain function. Despite continuous improvements, it remains a challenging technique, and a standard methodology for data analysis is yet to be established. Here we review the methodologies that are currently available to address the challenges at each step of the data analysis pipeline. We start by surveying methods for pre-processing both EEG and fMRI data. On the EEG side, we focus on the correction for several MR-induced artifacts, particularly the gradient and pulse artifacts, as well as other sources of EEG artifacts. On the fMRI side, we consider image artifacts induced by the presence of EEG hardware inside the MR scanner, and the contamination of the fMRI signal by physiological noise of non-neuronal origin, including a review of several approaches to model and remove it. We then provide an overview of the approaches specifically employed for the integration of EEG and fMRI when using EEG to predict the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD fMRI signal, the so-called EEG-informed fMRI integration strategy, the most commonly used strategy in EEG-fMRI research. Finally, we systematically review methods used for the extraction of EEG features reflecting neuronal phenomena of interest.

  7. Brain Network Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Experimental Acute Low Back Pain: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu Shi

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Most neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can significantly modulate brain activation patterns in healthy subjects, while only a few studies have examined clinical pain. In the current study, we combined an experimental acute low back pain (ALBP model and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to explore the neural mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia. All ALBP subjects first underwent two resting state fMRI scans at baseline and during a painful episode and then underwent two additional fMRI scans, once during acupuncture stimulation (ACUP and once during tactile stimulation (SHAM pseudorandomly, at the BL40 acupoint. Our results showed that, compared with the baseline, the pain state had higher regional homogeneity (ReHo values in the pain matrix, limbic system, and default mode network (DMN and lower ReHo values in frontal gyrus and temporal gyrus; compared with the OFF status, ACUP yielded broad deactivation in subjects, including nearly all of the limbic system, pain status, and DMN, and also evoked numerous activations in the attentional and somatosensory systems; compared with SHAM, we found that ACUP induced more deactivations and fewer activations in the subjects. Multiple brain networks play crucial roles in acupuncture analgesia, suggesting that ACUP exceeds a somatosensory-guided mind-body therapy for ALBP.

  8. Intersession reliability of fMRI activation for heat pain and motor tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quiton, Raimi L; Keaser, Michael L; Zhuo, Jiachen; Gullapalli, Rao P; Greenspan, Joel D

    2014-01-01

    As the practice of conducting longitudinal fMRI studies to assess mechanisms of pain-reducing interventions becomes more common, there is a great need to assess the test-retest reliability of the pain-related BOLD fMRI signal across repeated sessions. This study quantitatively evaluated the reliability of heat pain-related BOLD fMRI brain responses in healthy volunteers across 3 sessions conducted on separate days using two measures: (1) intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) calculated based on signal amplitude and (2) spatial overlap. The ICC analysis of pain-related BOLD fMRI responses showed fair-to-moderate intersession reliability in brain areas regarded as part of the cortical pain network. Areas with the highest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis included the anterior midcingulate cortex, anterior insula, and second somatosensory cortex. Areas with the lowest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis also showed low spatial reliability; these regions included pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and posterior insula. Thus, this study found regional differences in pain-related BOLD fMRI response reliability, which may provide useful information to guide longitudinal pain studies. A simple motor task (finger-thumb opposition) was performed by the same subjects in the same sessions as the painful heat stimuli were delivered. Intersession reliability of fMRI activation in cortical motor areas was comparable to previously published findings for both spatial overlap and ICC measures, providing support for the validity of the analytical approach used to assess intersession reliability of pain-related fMRI activation. A secondary finding of this study is that the use of standard ICC alone as a measure of reliability may not be sufficient, as the underlying variance structure of an fMRI dataset can result in inappropriately high ICC values; a method to eliminate these false positive results was used in this

  9. Intersession reliability of fMRI activation for heat pain and motor tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quiton, Raimi L.; Keaser, Michael L.; Zhuo, Jiachen; Gullapalli, Rao P.; Greenspan, Joel D.

    2014-01-01

    As the practice of conducting longitudinal fMRI studies to assess mechanisms of pain-reducing interventions becomes more common, there is a great need to assess the test–retest reliability of the pain-related BOLD fMRI signal across repeated sessions. This study quantitatively evaluated the reliability of heat pain-related BOLD fMRI brain responses in healthy volunteers across 3 sessions conducted on separate days using two measures: (1) intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) calculated based on signal amplitude and (2) spatial overlap. The ICC analysis of pain-related BOLD fMRI responses showed fair-to-moderate intersession reliability in brain areas regarded as part of the cortical pain network. Areas with the highest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis included the anterior midcingulate cortex, anterior insula, and second somatosensory cortex. Areas with the lowest intersession reliability based on the ICC analysis also showed low spatial reliability; these regions included pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and posterior insula. Thus, this study found regional differences in pain-related BOLD fMRI response reliability, which may provide useful information to guide longitudinal pain studies. A simple motor task (finger-thumb opposition) was performed by the same subjects in the same sessions as the painful heat stimuli were delivered. Intersession reliability of fMRI activation in cortical motor areas was comparable to previously published findings for both spatial overlap and ICC measures, providing support for the validity of the analytical approach used to assess intersession reliability of pain-related fMRI activation. A secondary finding of this study is that the use of standard ICC alone as a measure of reliability may not be sufficient, as the underlying variance structure of an fMRI dataset can result in inappropriately high ICC values; a method to eliminate these false positive results was used in this

  10. Tracking the Re-organization of Motor Functions After Disconnective Surgery: A Longitudinal fMRI and DTI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Rosazza

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Mechanisms of motor plasticity are critical to maintain motor functions after cerebral damage. This study explores the mechanisms of motor reorganization occurring before and after surgery in four patients with drug-refractory epilepsy candidate to disconnective surgery.Methods: We studied four patients with early damage, who underwent tailored hemispheric surgery in adulthood, removing the cortical motor areas and disconnecting the corticospinal tract (CST from the affected hemisphere. Motor functions were assessed clinically, with functional MRI (fMRI tasks of arm and leg movement and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI before and after surgery with assessments of up to 3 years. Quantifications of fMRI motor activations and DTI fractional anisotropy (FA color maps were performed to assess the lateralization of motor network. We hypothesized that lateralization of motor circuits assessed preoperatively with fMRI and DTI was useful to evaluate the motor outcome in these patients.Results: In two cases preoperative DTI-tractography did not reconstruct the CST, and FA-maps were strongly asymmetric. In the other two cases, the affected CST appeared reduced compared to the contralateral one, with modest asymmetry in the FA-maps. fMRI showed different degrees of lateralization of the motor network and the SMA of the intact hemisphere was mostly engaged in all cases. After surgery, patients with a strongly lateralized motor network showed a stable performance. By contrast, a patient with a more bilateral pattern showed worsening of the upper limb function. For all cases, fMRI activations shifted to the intact hemisphere. Structural alterations of motor circuits, observed with FA values, continued beyond 1 year after surgery.Conclusion: In our case series fMRI and DTI could track the longitudinal reorganization of motor functions. In these four patients the more the paretic limbs recruited the intact hemisphere in primary motor and associative

  11. Tracking the Re-organization of Motor Functions After Disconnective Surgery: A Longitudinal fMRI and DTI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosazza, Cristina; Deleo, Francesco; D'Incerti, Ludovico; Antelmi, Luigi; Tringali, Giovanni; Didato, Giuseppe; Bruzzone, Maria G; Villani, Flavio; Ghielmetti, Francesco

    2018-01-01

    Objective: Mechanisms of motor plasticity are critical to maintain motor functions after cerebral damage. This study explores the mechanisms of motor reorganization occurring before and after surgery in four patients with drug-refractory epilepsy candidate to disconnective surgery. Methods: We studied four patients with early damage, who underwent tailored hemispheric surgery in adulthood, removing the cortical motor areas and disconnecting the corticospinal tract (CST) from the affected hemisphere. Motor functions were assessed clinically, with functional MRI (fMRI) tasks of arm and leg movement and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) before and after surgery with assessments of up to 3 years. Quantifications of fMRI motor activations and DTI fractional anisotropy (FA) color maps were performed to assess the lateralization of motor network. We hypothesized that lateralization of motor circuits assessed preoperatively with fMRI and DTI was useful to evaluate the motor outcome in these patients. Results: In two cases preoperative DTI-tractography did not reconstruct the CST, and FA-maps were strongly asymmetric. In the other two cases, the affected CST appeared reduced compared to the contralateral one, with modest asymmetry in the FA-maps. fMRI showed different degrees of lateralization of the motor network and the SMA of the intact hemisphere was mostly engaged in all cases. After surgery, patients with a strongly lateralized motor network showed a stable performance. By contrast, a patient with a more bilateral pattern showed worsening of the upper limb function. For all cases, fMRI activations shifted to the intact hemisphere. Structural alterations of motor circuits, observed with FA values, continued beyond 1 year after surgery. Conclusion: In our case series fMRI and DTI could track the longitudinal reorganization of motor functions. In these four patients the more the paretic limbs recruited the intact hemisphere in primary motor and associative areas, the

  12. Classification of fMRI independent components using IC-fingerprints and support vector machine classifiers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Martino, Federico; Gentile, Francesco; Esposito, Fabrizio; Balsi, Marco; Di Salle, Francesco; Goebel, Rainer; Formisano, Elia

    2007-01-01

    We present a general method for the classification of independent components (ICs) extracted from functional MRI (fMRI) data sets. The method consists of two steps. In the first step, each fMRI-IC is associated with an IC-fingerprint, i.e., a representation of the component in a multidimensional space of parameters. These parameters are post hoc estimates of global properties of the ICs and are largely independent of a specific experimental design and stimulus timing. In the second step a machine learning algorithm automatically separates the IC-fingerprints into six general classes after preliminary training performed on a small subset of expert-labeled components. We illustrate this approach in a multisubject fMRI study employing visual structure-from-motion stimuli encoding faces and control random shapes. We show that: (1) IC-fingerprints are a valuable tool for the inspection, characterization and selection of fMRI-ICs and (2) automatic classifications of fMRI-ICs in new subjects present a high correspondence with those obtained by expert visual inspection of the components. Importantly, our classification procedure highlights several neurophysiologically interesting processes. The most intriguing of which is reflected, with high intra- and inter-subject reproducibility, in one IC exhibiting a transiently task-related activation in the 'face' region of the primary sensorimotor cortex. This suggests that in addition to or as part of the mirror system, somatotopic regions of the sensorimotor cortex are involved in disambiguating the perception of a moving body part. Finally, we show that the same classification algorithm can be successfully applied, without re-training, to fMRI collected using acquisition parameters, stimulation modality and timing considerably different from those used for training.

  13. Cannabis cue-induced brain activation correlates with drug craving in limbic and visual salience regions: Preliminary results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charboneau, Evonne J.; Dietrich, Mary S.; Park, Sohee; Cao, Aize; Watkins, Tristan J; Blackford, Jennifer U; Benningfield, Margaret M.; Martin, Peter R.; Buchowski, Maciej S.; Cowan, Ronald L.

    2013-01-01

    Craving is a major motivator underlying drug use and relapse but the neural correlates of cannabis craving are not well understood. This study sought to determine whether visual cannabis cues increase cannabis craving and whether cue-induced craving is associated with regional brain activation in cannabis-dependent individuals. Cannabis craving was assessed in 16 cannabis-dependent adult volunteers while they viewed cannabis cues during a functional MRI (fMRI) scan. The Marijuana Craving Questionnaire was administered immediately before and after each of three cannabis cue-exposure fMRI runs. FMRI blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity was determined in regions activated by cannabis cues to examine the relationship of regional brain activation to cannabis craving. Craving scores increased significantly following exposure to visual cannabis cues. Visual cues activated multiple brain regions, including inferior orbital frontal cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, superior temporal pole, and occipital cortex. Craving scores at baseline and at the end of all three runs were significantly correlated with brain activation during the first fMRI run only, in the limbic system (including amygdala and hippocampus) and paralimbic system (superior temporal pole), and visual regions (occipital cortex). Cannabis cues increased craving in cannabis-dependent individuals and this increase was associated with activation in the limbic, paralimbic, and visual systems during the first fMRI run, but not subsequent fMRI runs. These results suggest that these regions may mediate visually cued aspects of drug craving. This study provides preliminary evidence for the neural basis of cue-induced cannabis craving and suggests possible neural targets for interventions targeted at treating cannabis dependence. PMID:24035535

  14. fMRI activation in relation to sound intensity and loudness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Langers, Dave R. M.; van Dijk, Pirn; Schoemaker, Esther S.; Backes, Walter H.

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this fMRI study was to relate cortical fMRI responses to both physical and perceptual sound level characteristics. Besides subjects with normal hearing, subjects with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss were included, as distortion of loudness perception is a characteristic of such

  15. Neural correlates of depressive realism--an fMRI study on causal attribution in depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seidel, Eva-Maria; Satterthwaite, Theodore D; Eickhoff, Simon B; Schneider, Frank; Gur, Ruben C; Wolf, Daniel H; Habel, Ute; Derntl, Birgit

    2012-05-01

    Biased causal attribution is a critical factor in the cognitive model of depression. Whereas depressed patients interpret events negatively, healthy people show a self-serving bias (internal attribution of positive events and external attribution of negative events). Using fMRI, depressed patients (n=15) and healthy controls (n=15) were confronted with positive and negative social events and made causal attributions (internal vs. external). Functional data were analyzed using a mixed effects model. Behaviourally, controls showed a self-serving bias, whereas patients demonstrated a balanced attributional pattern. Analysis of functional data revealed a significant group difference in a fronto-temporal network. Higher activation of this network was associated with non self-serving attributions in controls but self-serving attributions in patients. Applying a psycho-physiological interaction analysis, we observed reduced coupling between a dorsomedial PFC seed region and limbic areas during self-serving attributions in patients compared to controls. Results of the PPI analysis are preliminary given the liberal statistical threshold. The association of the behaviourally less frequent attributional pattern with activation in a fronto-temporal network suggests that non self-serving responses may produce a self-related response conflict in controls, while self-serving responses produce this conflict in patients. Moreover, attribution-modulated coupling between the dorsomedial PFC and limbic regions was weaker in patients than controls. This preliminary finding suggests that depression may be associated with disturbances in fronto-limbic coupling during attributional decisions. Our results implicate that treatment of major depression may benefit from approaches that facilitate reinterpretation of emotional events in a more positive, more self-serving way. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. fMRI. Basics and clinical applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ulmer, Stephan; Jansen, Olav (eds.) [University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel (Germany). Inst. of Neuroradiology, Neurocenter

    2010-07-01

    Functional MRI (fMRI) and the basic method of BOLD imaging were introduced in 1993 by Seiji Ogawa. From very basic experiments, fMRI has evolved into a clinical application for daily routine brain imaging. There have been various improvements in both the imaging technique as such as well as in the statistical analysis. In this volume, experts in the field share their knowledge and point out possible technical barriers and problems explaining how to solve them. Starting from the very basics on the origin of the BOLD signal, the book covers technical issues, anatomical landmarks, presurgical applications, and special issues in various clinical fields. Other modalities for brain mapping such as PET, TMS, and MEG are also compared with fMRI. This book is intended to give a state-of-the-art overview and to serve as a reference and guide for clinical applications of fMRI. (orig.)

  17. High-field fMRI unveils orientation columns in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yacoub, Essa; Harel, Noam; Ugurbil, Kâmil

    2008-07-29

    Functional (f)MRI has revolutionized the field of human brain research. fMRI can noninvasively map the spatial architecture of brain function via localized increases in blood flow after sensory or cognitive stimulation. Recent advances in fMRI have led to enhanced sensitivity and spatial accuracy of the measured signals, indicating the possibility of detecting small neuronal ensembles that constitute fundamental computational units in the brain, such as cortical columns. Orientation columns in visual cortex are perhaps the best known example of such a functional organization in the brain. They cannot be discerned via anatomical characteristics, as with ocular dominance columns. Instead, the elucidation of their organization requires functional imaging methods. However, because of insufficient sensitivity, spatial accuracy, and image resolution of the available mapping techniques, thus far, they have not been detected in humans. Here, we demonstrate, by using high-field (7-T) fMRI, the existence and spatial features of orientation- selective columns in humans. Striking similarities were found with the known spatial features of these columns in monkeys. In addition, we found that a larger number of orientation columns are devoted to processing orientations around 90 degrees (vertical stimuli with horizontal motion), whereas relatively similar fMRI signal changes were observed across any given active column. With the current proliferation of high-field MRI systems and constant evolution of fMRI techniques, this study heralds the exciting prospect of exploring unmapped and/or unknown columnar level functional organizations in the human brain.

  18. Comparison of PET and fMRI activation patterns during declarative memory processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mottaghy, F.M.; Krause, B.J.; Schmidt, D.; Hautzel, H.; Mueller-Gaertner, H.-W.; Herzog, H.; Shah, N.J.; Halsband, U.

    2000-01-01

    Aim: In this study neuronal correlates of encoding and retrieval in paired association learning were compared using two different neuroimaging methods: Positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: 6 right-handed normal male volunteers took part in the study. Each subject underwent six 0-15-butanol PET scans and an fMRI study comprising four single epochs on a different day. The subjects had to learn and retrieve 12 word pairs which were visually presented (highly imaginable words, not semantically related). Results: Mean recall accuracy was 93% in the PET as well as in the fMRI experiment. During encoding and retrieval we found anterior cingulate cortex activation, and bilateral prefrontal cortex activation in both imaging modalities. Furthermore, we demonstrate the importance of the precuneus in episodic memory. With PET the results demonstrate frontopolar activations whereas fMRI fails to show activations in this area probably due to susceptibility artifacts. In fMRI we found additionally parahippocampal activation and due to the whole-brain coverage cerebellar activation during encoding. The distance between the center-of-mass activations in both modalities was 7.2±6.5 mm. Conclusion: There is a preponderance of commonalities in the activation patterns yielded with fMRI and PET. However, there are also important differences. The decision to choose one or the other neuroimaging modality should among other aspects depend on the study design (single subject vs. group study) and the task of interest. (orig.) [de

  19. Holding Biological Motion in Working Memory: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiqian eLu

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Holding biological motion (BM, the movements of animate entities, in working memory (WM is important to our daily life activities. However, the neural substrates underlying the WM processing of BM remain largely unknown. Employing the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI technique, the current study directly investigated this issue. We used point-light BM animations as the tested stimuli, and explored the neural substrates involved in encoding and retaining BM information in WM. Participants were required to remember two or four BM stimuli in a change-detection task. We first defined a set of potential brain regions devoted to the BM processing in WM in one experiment. We then conducted the second fMRI experiment, and performed time-course analysis over the pre-defined regions, which allowed us to differentiate the encoding and maintenance phases of WM. The results showed that a set of brain regions were involved in encoding BM into WM, including the middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, inferior parietal lobule, superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. However, only the middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and inferior parietal lobule were involved in retaining BM into WM. These results suggest that an overlapped network exists between the WM encoding and maintenance for BM; however, retaining BM in WM predominately relies on the mirror neuron system.

  20. An FMRI-compatible Symbol Search task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebel, Spencer W; Clark, Uraina S; Xu, Xiaomeng; Riskin-Jones, Hannah H; Hawkshead, Brittany E; Schwarz, Nicolette F; Labbe, Donald; Jerskey, Beth A; Sweet, Lawrence H

    2015-03-01

    Our objective was to determine whether a Symbol Search paradigm developed for functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive processing speed (CPS) in healthy older adults. As all older adults are expected to experience cognitive declines due to aging, and CPS is one of the domains most affected by age, establishing a reliable and valid measure of CPS that can be administered inside an MR scanner may prove invaluable in future clinical and research settings. We evaluated the reliability and construct validity of a newly developed FMRI Symbol Search task by comparing participants' performance in and outside of the scanner and to the widely used and standardized Symbol Search subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). A brief battery of neuropsychological measures was also administered to assess the convergent and discriminant validity of the FMRI Symbol Search task. The FMRI Symbol Search task demonstrated high test-retest reliability when compared to performance on the same task administered out of the scanner (r=.791; pSymbol Search (r=.717; pSymbol Search task were also observed. The FMRI Symbol Search task is a reliable and valid measure of CPS in healthy older adults and exhibits expected sensitivity to the effects of age on CPS performance.

  1. Resting-state FMRI confounds and cleanup

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Kevin; Birn, Rasmus M.; Bandettini, Peter A.

    2013-01-01

    The goal of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) is to investigate the brain’s functional connections by using the temporal similarity between blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals in different regions of the brain “at rest” as an indicator of synchronous neural activity. Since this measure relies on the temporal correlation of FMRI signal changes between different parts of the brain, any non-neural activity-related process that affects the signals will influence the measure of functional connectivity, yielding spurious results. To understand the sources of these resting-state FMRI confounds, this article describes the origins of the BOLD signal in terms of MR physics and cerebral physiology. Potential confounds arising from motion, cardiac and respiratory cycles, arterial CO2 concentration, blood pressure/cerebral autoregulation, and vasomotion are discussed. Two classes of techniques to remove confounds from resting-state BOLD time series are reviewed: 1) those utilising external recordings of physiology and 2) data-based cleanup methods that only use the resting-state FMRI data itself. Further methods that remove noise from functional connectivity measures at a group level are also discussed. For successful interpretation of resting-state FMRI comparisons and results, noise cleanup is an often over-looked but essential step in the analysis pipeline. PMID:23571418

  2. Parahippocampal activation during successful recognition of words: a self-paced event-related fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daselaar, S. M.; Rombouts, S. A.; Veltman, D. J.; Raaijmakers, J. G.; Lazeron, R. H.; Jonker, C.

    2001-01-01

    In this study, we investigated retrieval from verbal episodic memory using a self-paced event-related fMRI paradigm, similar to the designs typically used in behavioral studies of memory function. We tested the hypothesis that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is involved in the actual recovery of

  3. The continuing challenge of understanding and modeling hemodynamic variation in fMRI

    OpenAIRE

    Handwerker, Daniel A.; Gonzalez-Castillo, Javier; D’Esposito, Mark; Bandettini, Peter A.

    2012-01-01

    Interpretation of fMRI data depends on our ability to understand or model the shape of the hemodynamic response (HR) to a neural event. Although the HR has been studied almost since the beginning of fMRI, we are still far from having robust methods to account for the full range of known HR variation in typical fMRI analyses. This paper reviews how the authors and others contributed to our understanding of HR variation. We present an overview of studies that describe HR variation across voxels...

  4. Altered regional homogeneity in pediatric bipolar disorder during manic state: a resting-state fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Xiao

    Full Text Available UNLABELLED: Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD is a severely debilitating illness, which is characterized by episodes of mania and depression separated by periods of remission. Previous fMRI studies investigating PBD were mainly task-related. However, little is known about the abnormalities in PBD, especially during resting state. Resting state brain activity measured by fMRI might help to explore neurobiological biomarkers of the disorder. METHODS: Regional homogeneity (ReHo was examined with resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI on 15 patients with PBD in manic state, with 15 age-and sex-matched healthy youth subjects as controls. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy controls, the patients with PBD showed altered ReHo in the cortical and subcortical structures. The ReHo measurement of the PBD group was negatively correlated with the score of Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS in the superior frontal gyrus. Positive correlations between the ReHo measurement and the score of YMRS were found in the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate cortex in the PBD group. CONCLUSIONS: Altered regional brain activity is present in patients with PBD during manic state. This study presents new evidence for abnormal ventral-affective and dorsal-cognitive circuits in PBD during resting state and may add fresh insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PBD.

  5. Distinguishing the processing of gestures from signs in deaf individuals: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Husain, Fatima T; Patkin, Debra J; Thai-Van, Hung; Braun, Allen R; Horwitz, Barry

    2009-06-18

    Manual gestures occur on a continuum from co-speech gesticulations to conventionalized emblems to language signs. Our goal in the present study was to understand the neural bases of the processing of gestures along such a continuum. We studied four types of gestures, varying along linguistic and semantic dimensions: linguistic and meaningful American Sign Language (ASL), non-meaningful pseudo-ASL, meaningful emblematic, and nonlinguistic, non-meaningful made-up gestures. Pre-lingually deaf, native signers of ASL participated in the fMRI study and performed two tasks while viewing videos of the gestures: a visuo-spatial (identity) discrimination task and a category discrimination task. We found that the categorization task activated left ventral middle and inferior frontal gyrus, among other regions, to a greater extent compared to the visual discrimination task, supporting the idea of semantic-level processing of the gestures. The reverse contrast resulted in enhanced activity of bilateral intraparietal sulcus, supporting the idea of featural-level processing (analogous to phonological-level processing of speech sounds) of the gestures. Regardless of the task, we found that brain activation patterns for the nonlinguistic, non-meaningful gestures were the most different compared to the ASL gestures. The activation patterns for the emblems were most similar to those of the ASL gestures and those of the pseudo-ASL were most similar to the nonlinguistic, non-meaningful gestures. The fMRI results provide partial support for the conceptualization of different gestures as belonging to a continuum and the variance in the fMRI results was best explained by differences in the processing of gestures along the semantic dimension.

  6. A 3 T event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of primary and secondary gustatory cortex localization using natural tastants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smits, Marion; Peeters, Ronald R.; Hecke, Paul van; Sunaert, Stefan

    2007-01-01

    It is known that taste is centrally represented in the insula, frontal and parietal operculum, as well as in the orbitofrontal cortex (secondary gustatory cortex). In functional MRI (fMRI) experiments activation in the insula has been confirmed, but activation in the orbitofrontal cortex is only infrequently found, especially at higher field strengths (3 T). Due to large susceptibility artefacts, the orbitofrontal cortex is a difficult region to examine with fMRI. Our aim was to localize taste in the human cortex at 3 T, specifically in the orbitofrontal cortex as well as in the primary gustatory cortex. Event-related fMRI was performed at 3 T in seven healthy volunteers. Taste stimuli consisted of lemon juice and chocolate. To visualize activation in the orbitofrontal cortex a dedicated 3D SENSE EPI fMRI sequence was used, in addition to a 2D SENSE EPI fMRI sequence for imaging the entire brain. Data were analyzed using a perception-based model. The dedicated 3D SENSE EPI sequence successfully reduced susceptibility artefacts in the orbitofrontal area. Significant taste-related activation was found in the orbitofrontal and insular cortices. fMRI of the orbitofrontal cortex is feasible at 3 T, using a dedicated sequence. Our results corroborate findings from previous studies. (orig.)

  7. A 3 T event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of primary and secondary gustatory cortex localization using natural tastants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smits, Marion [Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Department of Radiology, P.O. Box 2040, CA Rotterdam (Netherlands); K.U.Leuven, Department of Radiology, University Hospitals, Leuven (Belgium); Peeters, Ronald R.; Hecke, Paul van; Sunaert, Stefan [K.U.Leuven, Department of Radiology, University Hospitals, Leuven (Belgium)

    2007-01-15

    It is known that taste is centrally represented in the insula, frontal and parietal operculum, as well as in the orbitofrontal cortex (secondary gustatory cortex). In functional MRI (fMRI) experiments activation in the insula has been confirmed, but activation in the orbitofrontal cortex is only infrequently found, especially at higher field strengths (3 T). Due to large susceptibility artefacts, the orbitofrontal cortex is a difficult region to examine with fMRI. Our aim was to localize taste in the human cortex at 3 T, specifically in the orbitofrontal cortex as well as in the primary gustatory cortex. Event-related fMRI was performed at 3 T in seven healthy volunteers. Taste stimuli consisted of lemon juice and chocolate. To visualize activation in the orbitofrontal cortex a dedicated 3D SENSE EPI fMRI sequence was used, in addition to a 2D SENSE EPI fMRI sequence for imaging the entire brain. Data were analyzed using a perception-based model. The dedicated 3D SENSE EPI sequence successfully reduced susceptibility artefacts in the orbitofrontal area. Significant taste-related activation was found in the orbitofrontal and insular cortices. fMRI of the orbitofrontal cortex is feasible at 3 T, using a dedicated sequence. Our results corroborate findings from previous studies. (orig.)

  8. Neural activation-based sexual orientation and its correlation with free testosterone level in postoperative female-to-male transsexuals: preliminary study with 3.0-T fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Gwang-Won; Kim, Seok-Kwun; Jeong, Gwang-Woo

    2016-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the brain activation pattern associated with sexual orientation and its correlation with the level of the free testosterone (free T) in postoperative female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals using a 3.0-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eleven postoperative FtM transsexuals with sex reassignment surgery underwent fMRI on a 3.0-T MR scanner. Brain activity was measured while viewing erotic male and female nude pictures. The average level of free T in the FtM transsexuals was in the normal range of heterosexual men. The brain areas with predominant activities during viewing female nude pictures in contrast to male pictures included the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, putamen, amygdala, hypothalamus, and insula (p < 0.005). The free T levels were positively correlated with the BOLD signal changes in the parahippocampal gyrus (Spearman's rho = 0.91, p < 0.001), hippocampus (rho = 0.90, p < 0.001), insula (rho = 0.68, p < 0.05), putamen (rho = 0.66, p < 0.05), and amygdala (rho = 0.64, p < 0.05). Compared to FtM transsexuals with deficient level of free T, the FtM transsexuals with normal range of free T showed significantly higher activities in the parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, insula, putamen, and amygdala during viewing female nude pictures (p < 0.005). This study revealed the specific brain activation pattern associated with sexual orientation and its correlation with free T in the postoperative FtM transsexuals. These findings are applicable in understanding the neural mechanism on sexual arousal in FtM transsexuals and their sexual orientation in connection with the free T levels.

  9. fMRI in Parkinson’s Disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Siebner, Hartwig R.; Herz, Damian

    2013-01-01

    and reward-related behavior have shown that dopamine replacement can have detrimental effects on non-motor brain functions by altering physiological patterns of dopaminergic signaling. Neuroimaging can also be used to assess preclinical compensation of striatal dopaminergic denervation by studying......In this chapter we review recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Covariance patterns of regional resting-state activity in functional brain networks can be used to distinguish Parkinson patients from healthy controls and might play an important...... role as a biomarker in the future. Analyses of motor activity and connectivity have revealed compensatory mechanisms for impaired function of cortico-subcortical feedback loops and have shown how attentional mechanisms modulate the activity in motor loops. Other fMRI studies probing cognitive functions...

  10. Broadband Electrophysiological Dynamics Contribute to Global Resting-State fMRI Signal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Haiguang; Liu, Zhongming

    2016-06-01

    Spontaneous activity observed with resting-state fMRI is used widely to uncover the brain's intrinsic functional networks in health and disease. Although many networks appear modular and specific, global and nonspecific fMRI fluctuations also exist and both pose a challenge and present an opportunity for characterizing and understanding brain networks. Here, we used a multimodal approach to investigate the neural correlates to the global fMRI signal in the resting state. Like fMRI, resting-state power fluctuations of broadband and arrhythmic, or scale-free, macaque electrocorticography and human magnetoencephalography activity were correlated globally. The power fluctuations of scale-free human electroencephalography (EEG) were coupled with the global component of simultaneously acquired resting-state fMRI, with the global hemodynamic change lagging the broadband spectral change of EEG by ∼5 s. The levels of global and nonspecific fluctuation and synchronization in scale-free population activity also varied across and depended on arousal states. Together, these results suggest that the neural origin of global resting-state fMRI activity is the broadband power fluctuation in scale-free population activity observable with macroscopic electrical or magnetic recordings. Moreover, the global fluctuation in neurophysiological and hemodynamic activity is likely modulated through diffuse neuromodulation pathways that govern arousal states and vigilance levels. This study provides new insights into the neural origin of resting-state fMRI. Results demonstrate that the broadband power fluctuation of scale-free electrophysiology is globally synchronized and directly coupled with the global component of spontaneous fMRI signals, in contrast to modularly synchronized fluctuations in oscillatory neural activity. These findings lead to a new hypothesis that scale-free and oscillatory neural processes account for global and modular patterns of functional connectivity observed

  11. Perceiving Age and Gender in Unfamiliar Faces: An fMRI Study on Face Categorization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiese, Holger; Kloth, Nadine; Gullmar, Daniel; Reichenbach, Jurgen R.; Schweinberger, Stefan R.

    2012-01-01

    Efficient processing of unfamiliar faces typically involves their categorization (e.g., into old vs. young or male vs. female). However, age and gender categorization may pose different perceptual demands. In the present study, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the activity evoked during age vs. gender…

  12. Real-time functional MR imaging (fMRI) for presurgical evaluation of paediatric epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan; Thomas, Bejoy; Kumar Gupta, Arun [Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Department of Imaging Sciences and Interventional Radiology, Trivandrum (India); Sujesh, Sreedharan [Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Biomedical Technology Wing, Trivandrum (India); Ashalata, Radhakrishnan; Radhakrishnan, Kurupath [Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Department of Neurology, Trivandrum (India); Abraham, Mathew [Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Department of Neurosurgery, Trivandrum (India)

    2007-10-15

    The role of fMRI in the presurgical evaluation of children with intractable epilepsy is being increasingly recognized. Real-time fMRI allows the clinician to visualize functional brain activation in real time. Since there is no off-line data analysis as in conventional fMRI, the overall time for the procedure is reduced, making it clinically feasible in a busy clinical sitting. (1) To study the accuracy of real-time fMRI in comparison to conventional fMRI with off-line processing; (2) to determine its effectiveness in mapping the eloquent cortex and language lateralization in comparison to invasive procedures such as intraoperative cortical stimulation and Wada testing; and (3) to evaluate the role of fMRI in presurgical decision making in children with epilepsy. A total of 23 patients (age range 6-18 years) underwent fMRI with sensorimotor, visual and language paradigms. Data processing was done in real time using in-line BOLD. The results of real-time fMRI matched those of off-line processing done using the well-accepted standard technique of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) in all the initial ten patients in whom the two techniques were compared. Coregistration of the fMRI data on a 3-D FLAIR sequence rather than a T1-weighted image gave better information regarding the relationship of the lesion to the area of activation. The results of intraoperative cortical stimulation and fMRI matched in six out of six patients, while the Wada test and fMRI had similar results in four out of five patients in whom these techniques were performed. In the majority of patients in this series the technique influenced patient management. Real-time fMRI is an easily performed and reliable technique in the presurgical workup of children with epilepsy. (orig.)

  13. Real-time functional MR imaging (fMRI) for presurgical evaluation of paediatric epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan; Thomas, Bejoy; Kumar Gupta, Arun; Sujesh, Sreedharan; Ashalata, Radhakrishnan; Radhakrishnan, Kurupath; Abraham, Mathew

    2007-01-01

    The role of fMRI in the presurgical evaluation of children with intractable epilepsy is being increasingly recognized. Real-time fMRI allows the clinician to visualize functional brain activation in real time. Since there is no off-line data analysis as in conventional fMRI, the overall time for the procedure is reduced, making it clinically feasible in a busy clinical sitting. (1) To study the accuracy of real-time fMRI in comparison to conventional fMRI with off-line processing; (2) to determine its effectiveness in mapping the eloquent cortex and language lateralization in comparison to invasive procedures such as intraoperative cortical stimulation and Wada testing; and (3) to evaluate the role of fMRI in presurgical decision making in children with epilepsy. A total of 23 patients (age range 6-18 years) underwent fMRI with sensorimotor, visual and language paradigms. Data processing was done in real time using in-line BOLD. The results of real-time fMRI matched those of off-line processing done using the well-accepted standard technique of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) in all the initial ten patients in whom the two techniques were compared. Coregistration of the fMRI data on a 3-D FLAIR sequence rather than a T1-weighted image gave better information regarding the relationship of the lesion to the area of activation. The results of intraoperative cortical stimulation and fMRI matched in six out of six patients, while the Wada test and fMRI had similar results in four out of five patients in whom these techniques were performed. In the majority of patients in this series the technique influenced patient management. Real-time fMRI is an easily performed and reliable technique in the presurgical workup of children with epilepsy. (orig.)

  14. Autobiographical Memory in Semantic Dementia: A Longitudinal fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maguire, Eleanor A.; Kumaran, Dharshan; Hassabis, Demis; Kopelman, Michael D.

    2010-01-01

    Whilst patients with semantic dementia (SD) are known to suffer from semantic memory and language impairments, there is less agreement about whether memory for personal everyday experiences, autobiographical memory, is compromised. In healthy individuals, functional MRI (fMRI) has helped to delineate a consistent and distributed brain network…

  15. Glucose and caffeine effects on sustained attention: an exploratory fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serra-Grabulosa, Josep M; Adan, Ana; Falcón, Carles; Bargalló, Núria

    2010-11-01

    Caffeine and glucose can have beneficial effects on cognitive performance. However, neural basis of these effects remain unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of caffeine and glucose on sustained attention, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty young right-handed, healthy, low caffeine-consuming subjects participated in the study. In a double-blind, randomised design, subjects received one of the following beverages: vehicle (water, 150 ml); vehicle plus 75 g of glucose; vehicle plus 75 mg of caffeine; vehicle plus 75 g of glucose and 75 mg of caffeine. Participants underwent two scanning fMRI sessions (before and 30 min after of the administration of the beverage). A continuous performance test was used to assess sustained attention. Participants who received combined caffeine and glucose had similar performance to the others but had a decrease in activation in the bilateral parietal and left prefrontal cortex. Since these areas have been related to the sustained attention and working memory processes, results would suggest that combined caffeine and glucose could increase the efficiency of the attentional system. However, more studies using larger samples and different levels of caffeine and glucose are necessary to better understand the combined effects of both substances. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. Changed processing of visual sexual stimuli under GnRH-therapy – a single case study in pedophilia using eye tracking and fMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    experimental designs using eye tracking and fMRI could prospectively add additional and valuable information in the evaluation of ADT in paraphilic patients and sex offenders. But with respect to the limited significance of this single case study, these first results are preliminary and further studies have to be conducted with healthy subjects and patients. PMID:24885644

  17. Comparative neuroimaging in children with cerebral palsy using fMRI and a novel EEG-based brain mapping during a motor task--a preliminary investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jae Jin; Lee, Dong Ryul; Shin, Yoon Kyum; Lee, Nam Gi; Han, Bong S; You, Sung Joshua Hyun

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare topographical maps using a novel EEG-based brain mapping system with fMRI in normal and children with cerebral palsy (CP) during a grasping motor task. A normal child (mean ± SD = 13 ± 0 yrs) and four children with CP (mean ± SD = 10.25 ± 2.86 yrs) were recruited from a local community school and medical center. A novel EEG-based brain mapping system with 30 scalp sites (an extension of the 10-20 system) and a 3T MR scanner were used to observe cortical activation patterns during a grasping motor task. Descriptive analysis. In the EEG brain mapping data, the sensorimotor cortex (SMC) and inferior parietal cortex (IPC) were activated in all of the children. The children with CP showed additional activation areas in the premotor cortex (PMC), superior parietal cortex (SPC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC). In the fMRI brain mapping data, SMC activation was observed in all of the children, and the children with CP showed additional activation areas in the PMC and primary somatosensory cortex (PSC). The EEG-based topographical maps were equivalent to the maps obtained from fMRI during the grasping motor task. The results indicate that our novel EEG-based brain mapping system is useful for probing cortical activation patterns in normal children and children with CP.

  18. Automatic EEG-assisted retrospective motion correction for fMRI (aE-REMCOR).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Chung-Ki; Zotev, Vadim; Misaki, Masaya; Phillips, Raquel; Luo, Qingfei; Bodurka, Jerzy

    2016-04-01

    Head motions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) impair fMRI data quality and introduce systematic artifacts that can affect interpretation of fMRI results. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings performed simultaneously with fMRI provide high-temporal-resolution information about ongoing brain activity as well as head movements. Recently, an EEG-assisted retrospective motion correction (E-REMCOR) method was introduced. E-REMCOR utilizes EEG motion artifacts to correct the effects of head movements in simultaneously acquired fMRI data on a slice-by-slice basis. While E-REMCOR is an efficient motion correction approach, it involves an independent component analysis (ICA) of the EEG data and identification of motion-related ICs. Here we report an automated implementation of E-REMCOR, referred to as aE-REMCOR, which we developed to facilitate the application of E-REMCOR in large-scale EEG-fMRI studies. The aE-REMCOR algorithm, implemented in MATLAB, enables an automated preprocessing of the EEG data, an ICA decomposition, and, importantly, an automatic identification of motion-related ICs. aE-REMCOR has been used to perform retrospective motion correction for 305 fMRI datasets from 16 subjects, who participated in EEG-fMRI experiments conducted on a 3T MRI scanner. Performance of aE-REMCOR has been evaluated based on improvement in temporal signal-to-noise ratio (TSNR) of the fMRI data, as well as correction efficiency defined in terms of spike reduction in fMRI motion parameters. The results show that aE-REMCOR is capable of substantially reducing head motion artifacts in fMRI data. In particular, when there are significant rapid head movements during the scan, a large TSNR improvement and high correction efficiency can be achieved. Depending on a subject's motion, an average TSNR improvement over the brain upon the application of aE-REMCOR can be as high as 27%, with top ten percent of the TSNR improvement values exceeding 55%. The average

  19. Resting states are resting traits--an FMRI study of sex differences and menstrual cycle effects in resting state cognitive control networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hjelmervik, Helene; Hausmann, Markus; Osnes, Berge; Westerhausen, René; Specht, Karsten

    2014-01-01

    To what degree resting state fMRI is stable or susceptible to internal mind states of the individual is currently an issue of debate. To address this issue, the present study focuses on sex differences and investigates whether resting state fMRI is stable in men and women or changes within relative short-term periods (i.e., across the menstrual cycle). Due to the fact that we recently reported menstrual cycle effects on cognitive control based on data collected during the same sessions, the current study is particularly interested in fronto-parietal resting state networks. Resting state fMRI was measured in sixteen women during three different cycle phases (menstrual, follicular, and luteal). Fifteen men underwent three sessions in corresponding time intervals. We used independent component analysis to identify four fronto-parietal networks. The results showed sex differences in two of these networks with women exhibiting higher functional connectivity in general, including the prefrontal cortex. Menstrual cycle effects on resting states were non-existent. It is concluded that sex differences in resting state fMRI might reflect sexual dimorphisms in the brain rather than transitory activating effects of sex hormones on the functional connectivity in the resting brain.

  20. Tactile and non-tactile sensory paradigms for fMRI and neurophysiologic studies in rodents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanganahalli, Basavaraju G; Bailey, Christopher J; Herman, Peter; Hyder, Fahmeed

    2009-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a popular functional imaging tool for human studies. Future diagnostic use of fMRI depends, however, on a suitable neurophysiologic interpretation of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal change. This particular goal is best achieved in animal models primarily due to the invasive nature of other methods used and/or pharmacological agents applied to probe different nuances of neuronal (and glial) activity coupled to the BOLD signal change. In the last decade, we have directed our efforts towards the development of stimulation protocols for a variety of modalities in rodents with fMRI. Cortical perception of the natural world relies on the formation of multi-dimensional representation of stimuli impinging on the different sensory systems, leading to the hypothesis that a sensory stimulus may have very different neurophysiologic outcome(s) when paired with a near simultaneous event in another modality. Before approaching this level of complexity, reliable measures must be obtained of the relatively small changes in the BOLD signal and other neurophysiologic markers (electrical activity, blood flow) induced by different peripheral stimuli. Here we describe different tactile (i.e., forepaw, whisker) and non-tactile (i.e., olfactory, visual) sensory paradigms applied to the anesthetized rat. The main focus is on development and validation of methods for reproducible stimulation of each sensory modality applied independently or in conjunction with one another, both inside and outside the magnet. We discuss similarities and/or differences across the sensory systems as well as advantages they may have for studying essential neuroscientific questions. We envisage that the different sensory paradigms described here may be applied directly to studies of multi-sensory interactions in anesthetized rats, en route to a rudimentary understanding of the awake functioning brain where various sensory cues presumably

  1. Neural correlates of depressive realism – An fMRI study on causal attribution in depression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seidel, Eva-Maria; Satterthwaite, Theodore D.; Eickhoff, Simon B.; Schneider, Frank; Gur, Ruben C.; Wolf, Daniel H.; Habel, Ute; Derntl, Birgit

    2013-01-01

    Background Biased causal attribution is a critical factor in the cognitive model of depression. Whereas depressed patients interpret events negatively, healthy people show a self-serving bias (internal attribution of positive events and external attribution of negative events). Methods Using fMRI, depressed patients (n=15) and healthy controls (n=15) were confronted with positive and negative social events and made causal attributions (internal vs. external). Functional data were analyzed using a mixed effects model. Results Behaviourally, controls showed a self-serving bias, whereas patients demonstrated a balanced attributional pattern. Analysis of functional data revealed a significant group difference in a fronto-temporal network. Higher activation of this network was associated with non self-serving attributions in controls but self-serving attributions in patients. Applying a psycho-physiological interaction analysis, we observed reduced coupling between a dorsomedial PFC seed region and limbic areas during self-serving attributions in patients compared to controls. Limitations Results of the PPI analysis are preliminary given the liberal statistical threshold. Conclusions The association of the behaviourally less frequent attributional pattern with activation in a fronto-temporal network suggests that non self-serving responses may produce a self-related response conflict in controls, while self-serving responses produce this conflict in patients. Moreover, attribution-modulated coupling between the dorsomedial PFC and limbic regions was weaker in patients than controls. This preliminary finding suggests that depression may be associated with disturbances in fronto-limbic coupling during attributional decisions. Our results implicate that treatment of major depression may benefit from approaches that facilitate reinterpretation of emotional events in a more positive, more self-serving way. PMID:22377511

  2. Language mapping using high gamma electrocorticography, fMRI, and TMS versus electrocortical stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babajani-Feremi, Abbas; Narayana, Shalini; Rezaie, Roozbeh; Choudhri, Asim F; Fulton, Stephen P; Boop, Frederick A; Wheless, James W; Papanicolaou, Andrew C

    2016-03-01

    The aim of the present study was to compare localization of the language cortex using cortical stimulation mapping (CSM), high gamma electrocorticography (hgECoG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Language mapping using CSM, hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS were compared in nine patients with epilepsy. Considering CSM as reference, we compared language mapping approaches based on hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS using their sensitivity, specificity, and the results of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Our results show that areas involved in language processing can be identified by hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS. The average sensitivity/specificity of hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS across all patients was 100%/85%, 50%/80%, and 67%/66%, respectively. The average area under the ROC curve of hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS across CSM-positive patients was 0.98, 0.76, and 0.68, respectively. There is considerable concordance between CSM, hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS language mapping. Our results reveal that hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS are valuable tools for presurgical language mapping. Language mapping on the basis of hgECoG, fMRI, and TMS can provide important additional information, therefore, these methods can be used in conjunction with CSM or as an alternative, when the latter is deemed impractical. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Say it with flowers! An fMRI study of object mediated communication

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tylén, Kristian; Wallentin, Mikkel; Roepstorff, Andreas

    2009-01-01

    Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a natural language to gestures and material symbols. Given the proper contextual setting even an everyday object can gain a mediating function in a communicational situation. In this study we used event......-related fMRI to study the brain activity caused by everyday material objects when they are perceived as signals. We found that comprehension of material signals activates bilaterally areas of the ventral stream and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal cortex, that is, areas traditionally associated...

  4. Mapping of the brain hemodynamic responses to sensorimotor stimulation in a rodent model: A BOLD fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salem Boussida

    Full Text Available Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent functional MRI (BOLD fMRI during electrical paw stimulation has been widely used in studies aimed at the understanding of the somatosensory network in rats. However, despite the well-established anatomical connections between cortical and subcortical structures of the sensorimotor system, most of these functional studies have been concentrated on the cortical effects of sensory electrical stimulation. BOLD fMRI study of the integration of a sensorimotor input across the sensorimotor network requires an appropriate methodology to elicit functional activation in cortical and subcortical areas owing to the regional differences in both neuronal and vascular architectures between these brain regions. Here, using a combination of low level anesthesia, long pulse duration of the electrical stimulation along with improved spatial and temporal signal to noise ratios, we provide a functional description of the main cortical and subcortical structures of the sensorimotor rat brain. With this calibrated fMRI protocol, unilateral non-noxious sensorimotor electrical hindpaw stimulation resulted in robust positive activations in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and bilaterally in the sensorimotor thalamus nuclei, whereas negative activations were observed bilaterally in the dorsolateral caudate-putamen. These results demonstrate that, once the experimental setup allowing necessary spatial and temporal signal to noise ratios is reached, hemodynamic changes related to neuronal activity, as preserved by the combination of a soft anesthesia with a soft muscle relaxation, can be measured within the sensorimotor network. Moreover, the observed responses suggest that increasing pulse duration of the electrical stimulus adds a proprioceptive component to the sensory input that activates sensorimotor network in the brain, and that these activation patterns are similar to those induced by digits paw's movements. These findings may

  5. Event-Related fMRI Studies of Episodic Encoding and Retrieval: Meta-Analyses Using Activation Likelihood Estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaniol, Julia; Davidson, Patrick S. R.; Kim, Alice S. N.; Han, Hua; Moscovitch, Morris; Grady, Cheryl L.

    2009-01-01

    The recent surge in event-related fMRI studies of episodic memory has generated a wealth of information about the neural correlates of encoding and retrieval processes. However, interpretation of individual studies is hampered by methodological differences, and by the fact that sample sizes are typically small. We submitted results from studies of…

  6. Network modelling methods for FMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Stephen M; Miller, Karla L; Salimi-Khorshidi, Gholamreza; Webster, Matthew; Beckmann, Christian F; Nichols, Thomas E; Ramsey, Joseph D; Woolrich, Mark W

    2011-01-15

    There is great interest in estimating brain "networks" from FMRI data. This is often attempted by identifying a set of functional "nodes" (e.g., spatial ROIs or ICA maps) and then conducting a connectivity analysis between the nodes, based on the FMRI timeseries associated with the nodes. Analysis methods range from very simple measures that consider just two nodes at a time (e.g., correlation between two nodes' timeseries) to sophisticated approaches that consider all nodes simultaneously and estimate one global network model (e.g., Bayes net models). Many different methods are being used in the literature, but almost none has been carefully validated or compared for use on FMRI timeseries data. In this work we generate rich, realistic simulated FMRI data for a wide range of underlying networks, experimental protocols and problematic confounds in the data, in order to compare different connectivity estimation approaches. Our results show that in general correlation-based approaches can be quite successful, methods based on higher-order statistics are less sensitive, and lag-based approaches perform very poorly. More specifically: there are several methods that can give high sensitivity to network connection detection on good quality FMRI data, in particular, partial correlation, regularised inverse covariance estimation and several Bayes net methods; however, accurate estimation of connection directionality is more difficult to achieve, though Patel's τ can be reasonably successful. With respect to the various confounds added to the data, the most striking result was that the use of functionally inaccurate ROIs (when defining the network nodes and extracting their associated timeseries) is extremely damaging to network estimation; hence, results derived from inappropriate ROI definition (such as via structural atlases) should be regarded with great caution. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia: An fMRI and VBM study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Sadhana; Modi, Shilpi; Goyal, Satnam; Kaur, Prabhjot; Singh, Namita; Bhatia, Triptish; Deshpande, Smita N; Khushu, Subash

    2015-06-01

    Empathy deficit is a core feature of schizophrenia which may lead to social dysfunction. The present study was carried out to investigate functional and structural abnormalities associated with empathy in patients with schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). A sample of 14 schizophrenia patients and 14 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex and education were examined with structural highresolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during empathy task in the same session. The analysis was carried out using SPM8 software. On behavioural assessment, schizophrenic patients (83.00+-29.04) showed less scores for sadness compared to healthy controls (128.70+-22.26) (p less than 0.001). fMRI results also showed reduced clusters of activation in the bilateral fusiform gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left middle and inferior occipital gyrus in schizophrenic subjects as compared to controls during empathy task. In the same brain areas, VBM results also showed reduced grey and white matter volumes. The present study provides an evidence for an association between structural alterations and disturbed functional brain activation during empathy task in persons affected with schizophrenia. These findings suggest a biological basis for social cognition deficits in schizophrenics.

  8. Ageing differentially affects neural processing of different conflict types-an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korsch, Margarethe; Frühholz, Sascha; Herrmann, Manfred

    2014-01-01

    Interference control and conflict resolution is affected by ageing. There is increasing evidence that ageing does not compromise interference control in general but rather shows distinctive effects on different components of interference control. Different conflict types, [e.g., stimulus-stimulus (S-S) or stimulus-response (S-R) conflicts] trigger different cognitive processes and thus activate different neural networks. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we used a combined Flanker and Stimulus Response Conflict (SRC) task to investigate the effect of ageing on S-S and S-R conflicts. Behavioral data analysis revealed larger SRC effects in elderly. fMRI Results show that both age groups recruited similar regions [caudate nucleus, cingulate gyrus and middle occipital gyrus (MOG)] during Flanker conflict processing. Furthermore, elderly show an additional activation pattern in parietal and frontal areas. In contrast, no common activation of both age groups was found in response to the SRC. These data suggest that ageing has distinctive effects on S-S and S-R conflicts.

  9. Neural responses to visual food stimuli after a normal vs. higher protein breakfast in breakfast-skipping teens: a pilot fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leidy, Heather J; Lepping, Rebecca J; Savage, Cary R; Harris, Corey T

    2011-10-01

    This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) pilot study identified whether breakfast consumption would alter the neural activity in brain regions associated with food motivation and reward in overweight "breakfast skipping" (BS) adolescent girls and examined whether increased protein at breakfast would lead to additional alterations. Ten girls (Age: 15 ± 1 years; BMI percentile 93 ± 1%; BS 5 ± 1×/week) completed 3 testing days. Following the BS day, the participants were provided with, in randomized order, normal protein (NP; 18 ± 1 g protein) or higher protein (HP; 50 ± 1 g protein) breakfast meals to consume at home for 6 days. On day 7 of each pattern, the participants came to the laboratory to consume their respective breakfast followed by appetite questionnaires and an fMRI brain scan to identify brain activation responses to viewing food vs. nonfood images prior to lunch. Breakfast consumption led to enduring (i.e., 3-h post breakfast) reductions in neural activation in the hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate, and parahippocampus vs. BS. HP led to enduring reductions in insula and middle prefrontal cortex activation vs. NP. Hippocampal, amygdala, cingulate, and insular activations were correlated with appetite and inversely correlated with satiety. In summary, the addition of breakfast led to alterations in brain activation in regions previously associated with food motivation and reward with additional alterations following the higher-protein breakfast. These data suggest that increased dietary protein at breakfast might be a beneficial strategy to reduce reward-driven eating behavior in overweight teen girls. Due to the small sample size, caution is warranted when interpreting these preliminary findings.

  10. Position-history and spin-history artifacts in fMRI time-series

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muresan, L; Renken, R; Roerdink, JBTM; Duifhuis, H; Clough, AN; Chen, CT

    2002-01-01

    What is the impact of the spin history and position history on signal intensity after the alignment of acquired volumes? This question arises in many fMRI studies. We will focus on spin-history artefacts generated by the position-history of the scanned object. In fMRI an object is driven to steady

  11. Cue-Elicited Craving in Heroin Addicts at Different Abstinent Time: An fMRI Pilot Study

    OpenAIRE

    Lou, Mingwu; Wang, Erlei; Shen, Yunxia; Wang, Jiping

    2012-01-01

    Objective: We evaluated the effect of short-term and long-term heroin abstinence on brain responses to heroin-related cues using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Eighteen male heroin addicts following short-term abstinence and 19 male heroin addicts following long-term abstinence underwent fMRI scanning while viewing heroin-related and neutral images. Cue-elicited craving and withdrawal symptoms in the subjects were measured. Results: Following short-term abstinence, gre...

  12. Feature-space-based FMRI analysis using the optimal linear transformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Fengrong; Morris, Drew; Lee, Wayne; Taylor, Margot J; Mills, Travis; Babyn, Paul S

    2010-09-01

    The optimal linear transformation (OLT), an image analysis technique of feature space, was first presented in the field of MRI. This paper proposes a method of extending OLT from MRI to functional MRI (fMRI) to improve the activation-detection performance over conventional approaches of fMRI analysis. In this method, first, ideal hemodynamic response time series for different stimuli were generated by convolving the theoretical hemodynamic response model with the stimulus timing. Second, constructing hypothetical signature vectors for different activity patterns of interest by virtue of the ideal hemodynamic responses, OLT was used to extract features of fMRI data. The resultant feature space had particular geometric clustering properties. It was then classified into different groups, each pertaining to an activity pattern of interest; the applied signature vector for each group was obtained by averaging. Third, using the applied signature vectors, OLT was applied again to generate fMRI composite images with high SNRs for the desired activity patterns. Simulations and a blocked fMRI experiment were employed for the method to be verified and compared with the general linear model (GLM)-based analysis. The simulation studies and the experimental results indicated the superiority of the proposed method over the GLM-based analysis in detecting brain activities.

  13. Brain functional BOLD perturbation modelling for forward fMRI and inverse mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Jennifer; Calhoun, Vince

    2018-01-01

    Purpose To computationally separate dynamic brain functional BOLD responses from static background in a brain functional activity for forward fMRI signal analysis and inverse mapping. Methods A brain functional activity is represented in terms of magnetic source by a perturbation model: χ = χ0 +δχ, with δχ for BOLD magnetic perturbations and χ0 for background. A brain fMRI experiment produces a timeseries of complex-valued images (T2* images), whereby we extract the BOLD phase signals (denoted by δP) by a complex division. By solving an inverse problem, we reconstruct the BOLD δχ dataset from the δP dataset, and the brain χ distribution from a (unwrapped) T2* phase image. Given a 4D dataset of task BOLD fMRI, we implement brain functional mapping by temporal correlation analysis. Results Through a high-field (7T) and high-resolution (0.5mm in plane) task fMRI experiment, we demonstrated in detail the BOLD perturbation model for fMRI phase signal separation (P + δP) and reconstructing intrinsic brain magnetic source (χ and δχ). We also provided to a low-field (3T) and low-resolution (2mm) task fMRI experiment in support of single-subject fMRI study. Our experiments show that the δχ-depicted functional map reveals bidirectional BOLD χ perturbations during the task performance. Conclusions The BOLD perturbation model allows us to separate fMRI phase signal (by complex division) and to perform inverse mapping for pure BOLD δχ reconstruction for intrinsic functional χ mapping. The full brain χ reconstruction (from unwrapped fMRI phase) provides a new brain tissue image that allows to scrutinize the brain tissue idiosyncrasy for the pure BOLD δχ response through an automatic function/structure co-localization. PMID:29351339

  14. Brain functional BOLD perturbation modelling for forward fMRI and inverse mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zikuan; Robinson, Jennifer; Calhoun, Vince

    2018-01-01

    To computationally separate dynamic brain functional BOLD responses from static background in a brain functional activity for forward fMRI signal analysis and inverse mapping. A brain functional activity is represented in terms of magnetic source by a perturbation model: χ = χ0 +δχ, with δχ for BOLD magnetic perturbations and χ0 for background. A brain fMRI experiment produces a timeseries of complex-valued images (T2* images), whereby we extract the BOLD phase signals (denoted by δP) by a complex division. By solving an inverse problem, we reconstruct the BOLD δχ dataset from the δP dataset, and the brain χ distribution from a (unwrapped) T2* phase image. Given a 4D dataset of task BOLD fMRI, we implement brain functional mapping by temporal correlation analysis. Through a high-field (7T) and high-resolution (0.5mm in plane) task fMRI experiment, we demonstrated in detail the BOLD perturbation model for fMRI phase signal separation (P + δP) and reconstructing intrinsic brain magnetic source (χ and δχ). We also provided to a low-field (3T) and low-resolution (2mm) task fMRI experiment in support of single-subject fMRI study. Our experiments show that the δχ-depicted functional map reveals bidirectional BOLD χ perturbations during the task performance. The BOLD perturbation model allows us to separate fMRI phase signal (by complex division) and to perform inverse mapping for pure BOLD δχ reconstruction for intrinsic functional χ mapping. The full brain χ reconstruction (from unwrapped fMRI phase) provides a new brain tissue image that allows to scrutinize the brain tissue idiosyncrasy for the pure BOLD δχ response through an automatic function/structure co-localization.

  15. Comparative study of SVM methods combined with voxel selection for object category classification on fMRI data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Sutao; Zhan, Zhichao; Long, Zhiying; Zhang, Jiacai; Yao, Li

    2011-02-16

    Support vector machine (SVM) has been widely used as accurate and reliable method to decipher brain patterns from functional MRI (fMRI) data. Previous studies have not found a clear benefit for non-linear (polynomial kernel) SVM versus linear one. Here, a more effective non-linear SVM using radial basis function (RBF) kernel is compared with linear SVM. Different from traditional studies which focused either merely on the evaluation of different types of SVM or the voxel selection methods, we aimed to investigate the overall performance of linear and RBF SVM for fMRI classification together with voxel selection schemes on classification accuracy and time-consuming. Six different voxel selection methods were employed to decide which voxels of fMRI data would be included in SVM classifiers with linear and RBF kernels in classifying 4-category objects. Then the overall performances of voxel selection and classification methods were compared. Results showed that: (1) Voxel selection had an important impact on the classification accuracy of the classifiers: in a relative low dimensional feature space, RBF SVM outperformed linear SVM significantly; in a relative high dimensional space, linear SVM performed better than its counterpart; (2) Considering the classification accuracy and time-consuming holistically, linear SVM with relative more voxels as features and RBF SVM with small set of voxels (after PCA) could achieve the better accuracy and cost shorter time. The present work provides the first empirical result of linear and RBF SVM in classification of fMRI data, combined with voxel selection methods. Based on the findings, if only classification accuracy was concerned, RBF SVM with appropriate small voxels and linear SVM with relative more voxels were two suggested solutions; if users concerned more about the computational time, RBF SVM with relative small set of voxels when part of the principal components were kept as features was a better choice.

  16. The resting state fMRI study of patients with Parkinson's disease associated with cognitive dysfunction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Jieying; Huang Biao

    2013-01-01

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative cause of Parkinsonism, but the high morbidity of PD accompanied cognitive dysfunction hasn't drawn enough attention by the clinicians. With the rapid development of the resting state functional MRI (fMRI) technique, the cause of PD patients with cognitive dysfunction may be associated with the damage of functional connectivity of the motor networks and the cognitive networks. The relationship between neuropathologic mechanism of PD patients with cognitive dysfunction and impaired cognitive circuits will be disclosed by building the changes of brain topological structure in patients. The resting state fMRI study can provide the rationale for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of PD. (authors)

  17. Temporal and Spatial Independent Component Analysis for fMRI Data Sets Embedded in the AnalyzeFMRI R Package

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Lafaye de Micheaux

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available For statistical analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI data sets, we propose a data-driven approach based on independent component analysis (ICA implemented in a new version of the AnalyzeFMRI R package. For fMRI data sets, spatial dimension being much greater than temporal dimension, spatial ICA is the computationally tractable approach generally proposed. However, for some neuroscientific applications, temporal independence of source signals can be assumed and temporal ICA becomes then an attractive exploratory technique. In this work, we use a classical linear algebra result ensuring the tractability of temporal ICA. We report several experiments on synthetic data and real MRI data sets that demonstrate the potential interest of our R package.

  18. The processing of syntactic islands – an fMRI study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Ken Ramshøj; Kizach, Johannes; Nyvad, Anne Mette

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate whether LIFG activation was sensitive to increases in syntactic working memory load triggered by multiple extractions from an embedded clause, so-called island violations, and whether there was any difference between argument and adjunct extraction. Event......-related fMRI (n=30) was used to measure the cortical effects of the differences in acceptability between ungrammatical sentences and three types of wh-movement in Danish: short movement (to the front of an embedded clause), long movement (to the beginning of the matrix clause), and movement across another...... wh-phrase. The neural activation in LIFG was predicted to correlate negatively with the level of acceptability. Ungrammatical sentences were predicted to engage LIFG, potentially overlapping with the effects of acceptability. The behavioral results replicated the findings from an earlier study...

  19. The effectiveness of the computerized visual perceptual training program on individuals with Down syndrome: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Yi-Ting; Chiang, Ching-Sui; Chen, Sharon Chia-Ju; Wuang, Yee-Pay

    2017-07-01

    This study investigated the effectiveness of the Computerized Visual Perception Training (CVPT) program on individuals with Down syndrome (DS, mean age=13.17±4.35years, age range: 6.54-20.75 years). All participants have mild intellectual disability classified by the standard IQ measures (mean=61.2, ranges from 55 to 68). Both the Test of Visual Perceptual Skill- Third Edition (TVPS-3) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used to evaluate the training outcomes. Results of TVPS-3 and fMRI showed that DS group had visual perceptual deficits and abnormal neural networks related to visual organization. The results showed that DS intervention group had significant improvements on TVPS-3 after intervention. The fMRI results indicated more activation in superior and inferior parietal lobes (spatial manipulation), as well as precentral gyrus and dorsal premotor cortex (motor imagery) in DS intervention group. The CVPT program was effective in improving visual perceptual functions and enhancing associated cortical activations in DS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Incidental Retrieval of Emotional Contexts in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whalley, Matthew G.; Rugg, Michael D.; Smith, Adam P. R.; Dolan, Raymond J.; Brewin, Chris R.

    2009-01-01

    In the present study, we used fMRI to assess patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, and trauma-exposed controls, during an episodic memory retrieval task that included non-trauma-related emotional information. In the study phase of the task neutral pictures were presented in emotional or neutral contexts.…

  1. Hamstring Muscle Use in Females During Hip-Extension and the Nordic Hamstring Exercise: An fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messer, Daniel J; Bourne, Matthew N; Williams, Morgan D; Al Najjar, Aiman; Shield, Anthony J

    2018-04-23

    Study Design Cross-sectional study. Background Understanding hamstring muscle activation patterns in resistance training exercises may have implications for the design of strength training and injury prevention programs. Unfortunately, surface electromyography studies have reported conflicting results with regard to hamstring muscle activation patterns in women. Objectives To determine the spatial patterns of hamstring muscle activity during the 45º hip-extension and Nordic hamstring exercises, in females using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Methods Six recreationally active females with no history of lower limb injury underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on both thighs before and immediately after 5 sets of 6 bilateral eccentric contractions of the 45º hip-extension or Nordic exercises. Using fMRI, the transverse (T2) relaxation times were measured from pre- and post- exercise scans and the percentage increase in T2 was used as an index of muscle activation. Results fMRI revealed a significantly higher biceps femoris long head (BF LongHead ) to semitendinosus ratio during the 45° hip-extension than the Nordic exercise (P = .028). The T2 increase after 45° hip-extension was greater for BF LongHead (P Nordic exercise, the T2 increase for semitendinosus was greater than that of BF ShortHead (P Nordic exercise preferentially recruits that muscle while the hip extension more evenly activates all of the biarticular hamstrings. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, Epub 23 Apr 2018. doi:10.2519/jospt.2018.7748.

  2. Conflict anticipation in alcohol dependence - A model-based fMRI study of stop signal task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Sien; Ide, Jaime S; Zhang, Sheng; Sinha, Rajita; Li, Chiang-Shan R

    2015-01-01

    Our previous work characterized altered cerebral activations during cognitive control in individuals with alcohol dependence (AD). A hallmark of cognitive control is the ability to anticipate changes and adjust behavior accordingly. Here, we employed a Bayesian model to describe trial-by-trial anticipation of the stop signal and modeled fMRI signals of conflict anticipation in a stop signal task. Our goal is to characterize the neural correlates of conflict anticipation and its relationship to response inhibition and alcohol consumption in AD. Twenty-four AD and 70 age and gender matched healthy control individuals (HC) participated in the study. fMRI data were pre-processed and modeled with SPM8. We modeled fMRI signals at trial onset with individual events parametrically modulated by estimated probability of the stop signal, p(Stop), and compared regional responses to conflict anticipation between AD and HC. To address the link to response inhibition, we regressed whole-brain responses to conflict anticipation against the stop signal reaction time (SSRT). Compared to HC (54/70), fewer AD (11/24) showed a significant sequential effect - a correlation between p(Stop) and RT during go trials - and the magnitude of sequential effect is diminished, suggesting a deficit in proactive control. Parametric analyses showed decreased learning rate and over-estimated prior mean of the stop signal in AD. In fMRI, both HC and AD responded to p(Stop) in bilateral inferior parietal cortex and anterior pre-supplementary motor area, although the magnitude of response increased in AD. In contrast, HC but not AD showed deactivation of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC). Furthermore, deactivation of the pgACC to increasing p(Stop) is positively correlated with the SSRT in HC but not AD. Recent alcohol consumption is correlated with increased activation of the thalamus and cerebellum in AD during conflict anticipation. The current results highlight altered proactive

  3. A receptor-based model for dopamine-induced fMRI signal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandeville, Joseph. B.; Sander, Christin Y. M.; Jenkins, Bruce G.; Hooker, Jacob M.; Catana, Ciprian; Vanduffel, Wim; Alpert, Nathaniel M.; Rosen, Bruce R.; Normandin, Marc D.

    2013-01-01

    This report describes a multi-receptor physiological model of the fMRI temporal response and signal magnitude evoked by drugs that elevate synaptic dopamine in basal ganglia. The model is formulated as a summation of dopamine’s effects at D1-like and D2-like receptor families, which produce functional excitation and inhibition, respectively, as measured by molecular indicators like adenylate cyclase or neuroimaging techniques like fMRI. Functional effects within the model are described in terms of relative changes in receptor occupancies scaled by receptor densities and neuro-vascular coupling constants. Using literature parameters, the model reconciles many discrepant observations and interpretations of pre-clinical data. Additionally, we present data showing that amphetamine stimulation produces fMRI inhibition at low doses and a biphasic response at higher doses in the basal ganglia of non-human primates (NHP), in agreement with model predictions based upon the respective levels of evoked dopamine. Because information about dopamine release is required to inform the fMRI model, we simultaneously acquired PET 11C-raclopride data in several studies to evaluate the relationship between raclopride displacement and assumptions about dopamine release. At high levels of dopamine release, results suggest that refinements of the model will be required to consistently describe the PET and fMRI data. Overall, the remarkable success of the model in describing a wide range of preclinical fMRI data indicate that this approach will be useful for guiding the design and analysis of basic science and clinical investigations and for interpreting the functional consequences of dopaminergic stimulation in normal subjects and in populations with dopaminergic neuroadaptations. PMID:23466936

  4. Aging affects the interaction between attentional control and source memory: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dulas, Michael R; Duarte, Audrey

    2014-12-01

    Age-related source memory impairments may be due, at least in part, to deficits in executive processes mediated by the PFC at both study and test. Behavioral work suggests that providing environmental support at encoding, such as directing attention toward item-source associations, may improve source memory and reduce age-related deficits in the recruitment of these executive processes. The present fMRI study investigated the effects of directed attention and aging on source memory encoding and retrieval. At study, participants were shown pictures of objects. They were either asked to attend to the objects and their color (source) or to their size. At test, participants determined if objects were seen before, and if so, whether they were the same color as previously. Behavioral results showed that direction of attention improved source memory for both groups; however, age-related deficits persisted. fMRI results revealed that, across groups, direction of attention facilitated medial temporal lobe-mediated contextual binding processes during study and attenuated right PFC postretrieval monitoring effects at test. However, persistent age-related source memory deficits may be related to increased recruitment of medial anterior PFC during encoding, indicative of self-referential processing, as well as underrecruitment of lateral anterior PFC-mediated relational processes. Taken together, this study suggests that, even when supported, older adults may fail to selectively encode goal-relevant contextual details supporting source memory performance.

  5. Regional differences in the CBF and BOLD responses to hypercapnia: a combined PET and fMRI study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rostrup, Egill; Law, I; Blinkenberg, M

    2000-01-01

    Previous fMRI studies of the cerebrovascular response to hypercapnia have shown signal change in cerebral gray matter, but not in white matter. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to compare (15)O PET and T *(2)-weighted MRI during a hypercapnic challenge. The measurements were perf...

  6. Age differences in the motor control of speech: An fMRI study of healthy aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tremblay, Pascale; Sato, Marc; Deschamps, Isabelle

    2017-05-01

    Healthy aging is associated with a decline in cognitive, executive, and motor processes that are concomitant with changes in brain activation patterns, particularly at high complexity levels. While speech production relies on all these processes, and is known to decline with age, the mechanisms that underlie these changes remain poorly understood, despite the importance of communication on everyday life. In this cross-sectional group study, we investigated age differences in the neuromotor control of speech production by combining behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Twenty-seven healthy adults underwent fMRI while performing a speech production task consisting in the articulation of nonwords of different sequential and motor complexity. Results demonstrate strong age differences in movement time (MT), with longer and more variable MT in older adults. The fMRI results revealed extensive age differences in the relationship between BOLD signal and MT, within and outside the sensorimotor system. Moreover, age differences were also found in relation to sequential complexity within the motor and attentional systems, reflecting both compensatory and de-differentiation mechanisms. At very high complexity level (high motor complexity and high sequence complexity), age differences were found in both MT data and BOLD response, which increased in several sensorimotor and executive control areas. Together, these results suggest that aging of motor and executive control mechanisms may contribute to age differences in speech production. These findings highlight the importance of studying functionally relevant behavior such as speech to understand the mechanisms of human brain aging. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2751-2771, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Mild cognitive impairment and fMRI studies of brain functional connectivity: the state of the art

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farràs-Permanyer, Laia; Guàrdia-Olmos, Joan; Peró-Cebollero, Maribel

    2015-01-01

    In the last 15 years, many articles have studied brain connectivity in Mild Cognitive Impairment patients with fMRI techniques, seemingly using different connectivity statistical models in each investigation to identify complex connectivity structures so as to recognize typical behavior in this type of patient. This diversity in statistical approaches may cause problems in results comparison. This paper seeks to describe how researchers approached the study of brain connectivity in MCI patients using fMRI techniques from 2002 to 2014. The focus is on the statistical analysis proposed by each research group in reference to the limitations and possibilities of those techniques to identify some recommendations to improve the study of functional connectivity. The included articles came from a search of Web of Science and PsycINFO using the following keywords: f MRI, MCI, and functional connectivity. Eighty-one papers were found, but two of them were discarded because of the lack of statistical analysis. Accordingly, 79 articles were included in this review. We summarized some parts of the articles, including the goal of every investigation, the cognitive paradigm and methods used, brain regions involved, use of ROI analysis and statistical analysis, emphasizing on the connectivity estimation model used in each investigation. The present analysis allowed us to confirm the remarkable variability of the statistical analysis methods found. Additionally, the study of brain connectivity in this type of population is not providing, at the moment, any significant information or results related to clinical aspects relevant for prediction and treatment. We propose to follow guidelines for publishing fMRI data that would be a good solution to the problem of study replication. The latter aspect could be important for future publications because a higher homogeneity would benefit the comparison between publications and the generalization of results. PMID:26300802

  8. Abnormal Baseline Brain Activity in Drug-Naïve Patients with Tourette Syndrome: A Resting-state fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yonghua eCui

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Tourette Syndrome (TS is a childhood-onset chronic disorder characterized by the presence of multiple motor and vocal tics. This study investigated spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in TS patients during resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI scans. We obtained resting-state fMRI scans from seventeen drug-naïve TS children and fifteen demographically matched healthy children. We computed the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF and fractional ALFF (fALFF of resting-state fMRI data to measure spontaneous brain activity, and assessed the between-group differences in ALFF/fALFF and the relationship between ALFF/fALFF and tic severity scores. Our results showed that the children with TS exhibited significantly decreased ALFF in the posterior cingulate gyrus/precuneus and bilateral parietal gyrus. fALFF was decreased in TS children in the anterior cingulated cortex, bilateral middle and superior frontal cortices and superior parietal lobule, and increased in the left putamen and bilateral thalamus. Moreover, we found significantly positive correlations between fALFF and tic severity scores in the right thalamus. Our study provides empirical evidence for abnormal spontaneous neuronal activity in TS patients, which may implicate the underlying neurophysiological mechanism in TS and demonstrate the possibility of applying ALFF/fALFF for clinical TS studies.

  9. Emotional sensitivity, emotion regulation and impulsivity in borderline personality disorder : a critical review of fMRI studies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Zutphen, Linda; Siep, Nicolette; Jacob, Gitta A; Goebel, R.; Arntz, Arnoud

    Emotional sensitivity, emotion regulation and impulsivity are fundamental topics in research of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Studies using fMRI examining the neural correlates concerning these topics is growing and has just begun understanding the underlying neural correlates in BPD.

  10. Behavior, neuropsychology and fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Maxwell R; Hatton, Sean; Hermens, Daniel F; Lagopoulos, Jim

    Cognitive neuroscientists in the late 20th century began the task of identifying the part(s) of the brain concerned with normal behavior as manifest in the psychological capacities as affective powers, reasoning, behaving purposively and the pursuit of goals, following introduction of the 'functional magnetic resonance imaging' (fMRI) method for identifying brain activity. For this research program to be successful two questions require satisfactory answers. First, as the fMRI method can currently only be used on stationary subjects, to what extent can neuropsychological tests applicable to such stationary subjects be correlated with normal behavior. Second, to what extent can correlations between the various neuropsychological tests on the one hand, and sites of brain activity determined with fMRI on the other, be regarded as established. The extent to which these questions have yet received satisfactory answers is reviewed, and suggestions made both for improving correlations of neuropsychological tests with behavior as well as with the results of fMRI-based observations. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  11. Cortical reorganization in children with connatal spastic hemiparesis - a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study; Kortikale Reorganisation bei Kindern mit konnataler spastischer Hemiparese - eine funktionelle Magnetresonanztomographie-(fMRT-)Studie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moeller, F. [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Sektion fuer Neuroradiologie; Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Klinik fuer Neuropaediatrie; Ulmer, S. [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Sektion fuer Neuroradiologie; Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Klinik fuer Neurochirurgie; Wolff, S.; Jansen, O. [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Sektion fuer Neuroradiologie; Stephani, U. [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel (Germany). Klinik fuer Neuropaediatrie

    2005-11-15

    Purpose: We applied fMRI to investigate atypical cortical activation in patients with connatal spastic hemiparesis using voluntary movements of the hand, foot, and tongue. The relation between the findings from fMRI and the motor dysfunction was examined. Materials and Methods: 11 patients with connatal spastic hemiparesis were studied. Eight of these patients had periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), and three patients had cortical-subcortical lesions. To evaluate the severity of motor impairment tests for the upper and lower limb were performed. fMRI data were obtained in a block design using hand, foot, and tongue movements. As a control group, 14 healthy volunteers were examined with the fMRI protocol. Results: A laterally cortical representation of the paretic foot was found in three patients with PVL. In patients with cortical-subcortical lesions, tongue movements were associated with cortical activation restricted to the unaffected hemisphere. Movements of the paretic limb showed more ipsilateral activation in patients with PVL than in patients with cortical-subcortical lesions. Conclusion: Different types of structural damage such as PVL and cortical-subcortical lesions show differences in fMRI examination. (orig.)

  12. fMRI for mapping language networks in neurosurgical cases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Santosh S

    2014-01-01

    Evaluating language has been a long-standing application in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, both in research and clinical circumstances, and still provides challenges. Localization of eloquent areas is important in neurosurgical cases, so that there is least possible damage to these areas during surgery, maintaining their function postoperatively, therefore providing good quality of life to the patient. Preoperative fMRI study is a non-invasive tool to localize the eloquent areas, including language, with other traditional methods generally used being invasive and at times perilous. In this article, we describe methods and various paradigms to study the language areas, in clinical neurosurgical cases, along with illustrations of cases from our institute

  13. Learning Computational Models of Video Memorability from fMRI Brain Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Junwei; Chen, Changyuan; Shao, Ling; Hu, Xintao; Han, Jungong; Liu, Tianming

    2015-08-01

    Generally, various visual media are unequally memorable by the human brain. This paper looks into a new direction of modeling the memorability of video clips and automatically predicting how memorable they are by learning from brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We propose a novel computational framework by integrating the power of low-level audiovisual features and brain activity decoding via fMRI. Initially, a user study experiment is performed to create a ground truth database for measuring video memorability and a set of effective low-level audiovisual features is examined in this database. Then, human subjects' brain fMRI data are obtained when they are watching the video clips. The fMRI-derived features that convey the brain activity of memorizing videos are extracted using a universal brain reference system. Finally, due to the fact that fMRI scanning is expensive and time-consuming, a computational model is learned on our benchmark dataset with the objective of maximizing the correlation between the low-level audiovisual features and the fMRI-derived features using joint subspace learning. The learned model can then automatically predict the memorability of videos without fMRI scans. Evaluations on publically available image and video databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

  14. FIACH: A biophysical model for automatic retrospective noise control in fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tierney, Tim M; Weiss-Croft, Louise J; Centeno, Maria; Shamshiri, Elhum A; Perani, Suejen; Baldeweg, Torsten; Clark, Christopher A; Carmichael, David W

    2016-01-01

    Different noise sources in fMRI acquisition can lead to spurious false positives and reduced sensitivity. We have developed a biophysically-based model (named FIACH: Functional Image Artefact Correction Heuristic) which extends current retrospective noise control methods in fMRI. FIACH can be applied to both General Linear Model (GLM) and resting state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) studies. FIACH is a two-step procedure involving the identification and correction of non-physiological large amplitude temporal signal changes and spatial regions of high temporal instability. We have demonstrated its efficacy in a sample of 42 healthy children while performing language tasks that include overt speech with known activations. We demonstrate large improvements in sensitivity when FIACH is compared with current methods of retrospective correction. FIACH reduces the confounding effects of noise and increases the study's power by explaining significant variance that is not contained within the commonly used motion parameters. The method is particularly useful in detecting activations in inferior temporal regions which have proven problematic for fMRI. We have shown greater reproducibility and robustness of fMRI responses using FIACH in the context of task induced motion. In a clinical setting this will translate to increasing the reliability and sensitivity of fMRI used for the identification of language lateralisation and eloquent cortex. FIACH can benefit studies of cognitive development in young children, patient populations and older adults. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Resting-State Seed-Based Analysis: An Alternative to Task-Based Language fMRI and Its Laterality Index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smitha, K A; Arun, K M; Rajesh, P G; Thomas, B; Kesavadas, C

    2017-06-01

    Language is a cardinal function that makes human unique. Preservation of language function poses a great challenge for surgeons during resection. The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of resting-state fMRI in the lateralization of language function in healthy subjects to permit its further testing in patients who are unable to perform task-based fMRI. Eighteen healthy right-handed volunteers were prospectively evaluated with resting-state fMRI and task-based fMRI to assess language networks. The laterality indices of Broca and Wernicke areas were calculated by using task-based fMRI via a voxel-value approach. We adopted seed-based resting-state fMRI connectivity analysis together with parameters such as amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF). Resting-state fMRI connectivity maps for language networks were obtained from Broca and Wernicke areas in both hemispheres. We performed correlation analysis between the laterality index and the z scores of functional connectivity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, and fALFF. Pearson correlation analysis between signals obtained from the z score of fALFF and the laterality index yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.849 ( P laterality index yielded an R 2 value of 0.721, indicating that 72.1% of the variance in the laterality index of task-based fMRI could be predicted from the fALFF of resting-state fMRI. The present study demonstrates that fALFF can be used as an alternative to task-based fMRI for assessing language laterality. There was a strong positive correlation between the fALFF of the Broca area of resting-state fMRI with the laterality index of task-based fMRI. Furthermore, we demonstrated the efficacy of fALFF for predicting the laterality of task-based fMRI. © 2017 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

  16. Ageing differentially affects neural processing of different conflict types – an fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margarethe eKorsch

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Interference control and conflict resolution is affected by ageing. There is increasing evidence that ageing does not compromise interference control in general but rather shows distinctive effects on different components of interference control. Different conflict types, (e.g. stimulus-stimulus (S-S or stimulus-response (S-R conflicts trigger different cognitive processes and thus activate different neural networks. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study, we used a combined Flanker and Stimulus Response Conflict (SRC task to investigate the effect of ageing on S-S and S-R conflicts. Behavioral data analysis revealed larger SRC effects in elderly. fMRI Results show that both age groups recruited similar regions (caudate nucleus, cingulate gyrus and middle occipital gyrus during Flanker conflict processing. Furthermore, elderly show an additional activation pattern in parietal and frontal areas. In contrast, no common activation of both age groups was found in response to the SRC. These data suggest that ageing has distinctive effects on S-S and S-R conflicts.

  17. Classification of fMRI resting-state maps using machine learning techniques: A comparative study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallos, Ioannis; Siettos, Constantinos

    2017-11-01

    We compare the efficiency of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and nonlinear learning manifold algorithms (ISOMAP and Diffusion maps) for classifying brain maps between groups of schizophrenia patients and healthy from fMRI scans during a resting-state experiment. After a standard pre-processing pipeline, we applied spatial Independent component analysis (ICA) to reduce (a) noise and (b) spatial-temporal dimensionality of fMRI maps. On the cross-correlation matrix of the ICA components, we applied PCA, ISOMAP and Diffusion Maps to find an embedded low-dimensional space. Finally, support-vector-machines (SVM) and k-NN algorithms were used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms in classifying between the two groups.

  18. Effects of haloperidol and aripiprazole on the human mesolimbic motivational system: A pharmacological fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolstad, Ingeborg; Andreassen, Ole A; Groote, Inge; Server, Andres; Sjaastad, Ivar; Kapur, Shitij; Jensen, Jimmy

    2015-12-01

    The atypical antipsychotic drug aripiprazole is a partial dopamine (DA) D2 receptor agonist, which differentiates it from most other antipsychotics. This study compares the brain activation characteristic produced by aripiprazole with that of haloperidol, a typical D2 receptor antagonist. Healthy participants received an acute oral dose of haloperidol, aripiprazole or placebo, and then performed an active aversive conditioning task with aversive and neutral events presented as sounds, while blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was carried out. The fMRI task, targeting the mesolimbic motivational system that is thought to be disturbed in psychosis, was based on the conditioned avoidance response (CAR) animal model - a widely used test of therapeutic potential of antipsychotic drugs. In line with the CAR animal model, the present results show that subjects given haloperidol were not able to avoid more aversive than neutral task trials, even though the response times were shorter during aversive events. In the aripiprazole and placebo groups more aversive than neutral events were avoided. Accordingly, the task-related BOLD-fMRI response in the mesolimbic motivational system was diminished in the haloperidol group compared to the placebo group, particularly in the ventral striatum, whereas the aripiprazole group showed task-related activations intermediate of the placebo and haloperidol groups. The current results show differential effects on brain function by aripiprazole and haloperidol, probably related to altered DA transmission. This supports the use of pharmacological fMRI to study antipsychotic properties in humans. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

  19. Increased interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity after sleep deprivation: a resting-state fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yuanqiang; Feng, Zhiyan; Xu, Junling; Fu, Chang; Sun, Jinbo; Yang, Xuejuan; Shi, Dapeng; Qin, Wei

    2016-09-01

    Several functional imaging studies have investigated the regional effects of sleep deprivation (SD) on impaired brain function; however, potential changes in the functional interactions between the cerebral hemispheres after SD are not well understood. In this study, we used a recently validated approach, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC), to directly examine the changes in interhemispheric homotopic resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) after SD. Resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) was performed in 28 participants both after rest wakefulness (RW) and a total night of SD. An interhemispheric RSFC map was obtained by calculating the Pearson correlation (Fisher Z transformed) between each pair of homotopic voxel time series for each subject in each condition. The between-condition differences in interhemispheric RSFC were then examined at global and voxelwise levels separately. Significantly increased global VMHC was found after sleep deprivation; specifically, a significant increase in VMHC was found in specific brain regions, including the thalamus, paracentral lobule, supplementary motor area, postcentral gyrus and lingual gyrus. No regions showed significantly reduced VMHC after sleep deprivation. Further analysis indicates that these findings did not depend on the various sizes of smoothing kernels that were adopted in the preprocessing steps and that the differences in these regions were still significant with or without global signal regression. Our data suggest that the increased VMHC might reflect the compensatory involvement of bilateral brain areas, especially the bilateral thalamus, to prevent cognitive performance deterioration when sleep pressure is elevated after sleep deprivation. Our findings provide preliminary evidence of interhemispheric correlation changes after SD and contribute to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms of SD.

  20. Cerebellar induced differential polyglot aphasia: A neurolinguistic and fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mariën, Peter; van Dun, Kim; Van Dormael, Johanna; Vandenborre, Dorien; Keulen, Stefanie; Manto, Mario; Verhoeven, Jo; Abutalebi, Jubin

    2017-12-01

    Research has shown that linguistic functions in the bilingual brain are subserved by similar neural circuits as in monolinguals, but with extra-activity associated with cognitive and attentional control. Although a role for the right cerebellum in multilingual language processing has recently been acknowledged, a potential role of the left cerebellum remains largely unexplored. This paper reports the clinical and fMRI findings in a strongly right-handed (late) multilingual patient who developed differential polyglot aphasia, ataxic dysarthria and a selective decrease in executive function due to an ischemic stroke in the left cerebellum. fMRI revealed that lexical-semantic retrieval in the unaffected L1 was predominantly associated with activations in the left cortical areas (left prefrontal area and left postcentral gyrus), while naming in two affected non-native languages recruited a significantly larger bilateral functional network, including the cerebellum. It is hypothesized that the left cerebellar insult resulted in decreased right prefrontal hemisphere functioning due to a loss of cerebellar impulses through the cerebello-cerebral pathways. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. An fMRI Study of Intra-Individual Functional Topography in the Human Cerebellum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine J. Stoodley

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging studies report cerebellar activation during both motor and non-motor paradigms, and suggest a functional topography within the cerebellum. Sensorimotor tasks activate the anterior lobe, parts of lobule VI, and lobule VIII, whereas higher-level tasks activate lobules VI and VII in the posterior lobe. To determine whether these activation patterns are evident at a single-subject level, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during five tasks investigating sensorimotor (finger tapping, language (verb generation, spatial (mental rotation, working memory (N-back, and emotional processing (viewing images from the International Affective Picture System. Finger tapping activated the ipsilateral anterior lobe (lobules IV-V as well as lobules VI and VIII. Activation during verb generation was found in right lobules VII and VIIIA. Mental rotation activated left-lateralized clusters in lobules VII-VIIIA, VI-Crus I, and midline VIIAt. The N-back task showed bilateral activation in right lobules VI-Crus I and left lobules VIIB-VIIIA. Cerebellar activation was evident bilaterally in lobule VI while viewing arousing vs. neutral images. This fMRI study provides the first proof of principle demonstration that there is topographic organization of motor execution vs. cognitive/emotional domains within the cerebellum of a single individual, likely reflecting the anatomical specificity of cerebro-cerebellar circuits underlying different task domains. Inter-subject variability of motor and non-motor topography remains to be determined.

  2. Cerebral Blood Flow Measurement Using fMRI and PET: A Cross-Validation Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean J. Chen

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available An important aspect of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI is the study of brain hemodynamics, and MR arterial spin labeling (ASL perfusion imaging has gained wide acceptance as a robust and noninvasive technique. However, the cerebral blood flow (CBF measurements obtained with ASL fMRI have not been fully validated, particularly during global CBF modulations. We present a comparison of cerebral blood flow changes (ΔCBF measured using a flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR ASL perfusion method to those obtained using H2O15 PET, which is the current gold standard for in vivo imaging of CBF. To study regional and global CBF changes, a group of 10 healthy volunteers were imaged under identical experimental conditions during presentation of 5 levels of visual stimulation and one level of hypercapnia. The CBF changes were compared using 3 types of region-of-interest (ROI masks. FAIR measurements of CBF changes were found to be slightly lower than those measured with PET (average ΔCBF of 21.5±8.2% for FAIR versus 28.2±12.8% for PET at maximum stimulation intensity. Nonetheless, there was a strong correlation between measurements of the two modalities. Finally, a t-test comparison of the slopes of the linear fits of PET versus ASL ΔCBF for all 3 ROI types indicated no significant difference from unity (P>.05.

  3. Emotional sensitivity, emotion regulation and impulsivity in borderline personality disorder: a critical review of fMRI studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Zutphen, Linda; Siep, Nicolette; Jacob, Gitta A; Goebel, Rainer; Arntz, Arnoud

    2015-04-01

    Emotional sensitivity, emotion regulation and impulsivity are fundamental topics in research of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Studies using fMRI examining the neural correlates concerning these topics is growing and has just begun understanding the underlying neural correlates in BPD. However, there are strong similarities but also important differences in results of different studies. It is therefore important to know in more detail what these differences are and how we should interpret these. In present review a critical light is shed on the fMRI studies examining emotional sensitivity, emotion regulation and impulsivity in BPD patients. First an outline of the methodology and the results of the studies will be given. Thereafter important issues that remained unanswered and topics to improve future research are discussed. Future research should take into account the limited power of previous studies and focus more on BPD specificity with regard to time course responses, different regulation strategies, manipulation of self-regulation, medication use, a wider range of stimuli, gender effects and the inclusion of a clinical control group. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Decoding subjective mental states from fMRI activity patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tamaki, Masako; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

    2011-01-01

    In recent years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) decoding has emerged as a powerful tool to read out detailed stimulus features from multi-voxel brain activity patterns. Moreover, the method has been extended to perform a primitive form of 'mind-reading,' by applying a decoder 'objectively' trained using stimulus features to more 'subjective' conditions. In this paper, we first introduce basic procedures for fMRI decoding based on machine learning techniques. Second, we discuss the source of information used for decoding, in particular, the possibility of extracting information from subvoxel neural structures. We next introduce two experimental designs for decoding subjective mental states: the 'objective-to-subjective design' and the 'subjective-to-subjective design.' Then, we illustrate recent studies on the decoding of a variety of mental states, such as, attention, awareness, decision making, memory, and mental imagery. Finally, we discuss the challenges and new directions of fMRI decoding. (author)

  5. Advances in fMRI Real-Time Neurofeedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, Takeo; Sasaki, Yuka; Shibata, Kazuhisa; Kawato, Mitsuo

    2017-12-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback in which real-time online fMRI signals are used to self-regulate brain function. Since its advent in 2003 significant progress has been made in fMRI neurofeedback techniques. Specifically, the use of implicit protocols, external rewards, multivariate analysis, and connectivity analysis has allowed neuroscientists to explore a possible causal involvement of modified brain activity in modified behavior. These techniques have also been integrated into groundbreaking new neurofeedback technologies, specifically decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) and functional connectivity-based neurofeedback (FCNef). By modulating neural activity and behavior, DecNef and FCNef have substantially advanced both basic and clinical research. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  6. A new paradigm for individual subject language mapping: Movie-watching fMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tie, Yanmei; Rigolo, Laura; Ovalioglu, Aysegul Ozdemir; Olubiyi, Olutayo; Doolin, Kelly L.; Mukundan, Srinivasan; Golby, Alexandra J.

    2015-01-01

    Background Functional MRI (fMRI) based on language tasks has been used in pre-surgical language mapping in patients with lesions in or near putative language areas. However, if the patients have difficulty performing the tasks due to neurological deficits, it leads to unreliable or non-interpretable results. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using a movie-watching fMRI for language mapping. Methods A 7-min movie clip with contrasting speech and non-speech segments was shown to 22 right-handed healthy subjects. Based on all subjects' language functional regions-of-interest, six language response areas were defined, within which a language response model (LRM) was derived by extracting the main temporal activation profile. Using a leave-one-out procedure, individuals' language areas were identified as the areas that expressed highly correlated temporal responses with the LRM derived from an independent group of subjects. Results Compared with an antonym generation task-based fMRI, the movie-watching fMRI generated language maps with more localized activations in the left frontal language area, larger activations in the left temporoparietal language area, and significant activations in their right-hemisphere homologues. Results of two brain tumor patients' movie-watching fMRI using the LRM derived from the healthy subjects indicated its ability to map putative language areas; while their task-based fMRI maps were less robust and noisier. Conclusions These results suggest that it is feasible to use this novel “task-free” paradigm as a complementary tool for fMRI language mapping when patients cannot perform the tasks. Its deployment in more neurosurgical patients and validation against gold-standard techniques need further investigation. PMID:25962953

  7. Counterfactual thinking: an fMRI study on changing the past for a better future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Ning; Ampe, Lisa; Baetens, Kris; Van Overwalle, Frank

    2013-01-01

    Recent studies suggest that a brain network mainly associated with episodic memory has a more general function in imagining oneself in another time, place or perspective (e.g. episodic future thought, theory of mind, default mode). If this is true, counterfactual thinking (e.g. ‘If I had left the office earlier, I wouldn’t have missed my train.’) should also activate this network. Present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explores the common and distinct neural activity of counterfactual and episodic thinking by directly comparing the imagining of upward counterfactuals (creating better outcomes for negative past events) with the re-experiencing of negative past events and the imagining of positive future events. Results confirm that episodic and counterfactual thinking share a common brain network, involving a core memory network (hippocampal area, temporal lobes, midline, and lateral parietal lobes) and prefrontal areas that might be related to mentalizing (medial prefrontal cortex) and performance monitoring (right prefrontal cortex). In contrast to episodic past and future thinking, counterfactual thinking recruits some of these areas more strongly and extensively, and additionally activates the bilateral inferior parietal lobe and posterior medial frontal cortex. We discuss these findings in view of recent fMRI evidence on the working of episodic memory and theory of mind. PMID:22403155

  8. The influence of FMRI lie detection evidence on juror decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, David P; Castel, Alan D; Rhodes, Matthew G

    2011-01-01

    In the current study, we report on an experiment examining whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) lie detection evidence would influence potential jurors' assessment of guilt in a criminal trial. Potential jurors (N = 330) read a vignette summarizing a trial, with some versions of the vignette including lie detection evidence indicating that the defendant was lying about having committed the crime. Lie detector evidence was based on evidence from the polygraph, fMRI (functional brain imaging), or thermal facial imaging. Results showed that fMRI lie detection evidence led to more guilty verdicts than lie detection evidence based on polygraph evidence, thermal facial imaging, or a control condition that did not include lie detection evidence. However, when the validity of the fMRI lie detection evidence was called into question on cross-examination, guilty verdicts were reduced to the level of the control condition. These results provide important information about the influence of lie detection evidence in legal settings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Patterns of resting state connectivity in human primary visual cortical areas: a 7T fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Raemaekers, Mathijs; Schellekens, Wouter; van Wezel, Richard Jack Anton; Petridou, Natalia; Kristo, Gert; Ramsey, Nick F.

    2014-01-01

    The nature and origin of fMRI resting state fluctuations and connectivity are still not fully known. More detailed knowledge on the relationship between resting state patterns and brain function may help to elucidate this matter. We therefore performed an in depth study of how resting state

  10. Improving fMRI reliability in presurgical mapping for brain tumours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, M Tynan R; Clarke, David B; Stroink, Gerhard; Beyea, Steven D; D'Arcy, Ryan Cn

    2016-03-01

    Functional MRI (fMRI) is becoming increasingly integrated into clinical practice for presurgical mapping. Current efforts are focused on validating data quality, with reliability being a major factor. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a recently developed approach that uses receiver operating characteristic-reliability (ROC-r) to: (1) identify reliable versus unreliable data sets; (2) automatically select processing options to enhance data quality; and (3) automatically select individualised thresholds for activation maps. Presurgical fMRI was conducted in 16 patients undergoing surgical treatment for brain tumours. Within-session test-retest fMRI was conducted, and ROC-reliability of the patient group was compared to a previous healthy control cohort. Individually optimised preprocessing pipelines were determined to improve reliability. Spatial correspondence was assessed by comparing the fMRI results to intraoperative cortical stimulation mapping, in terms of the distance to the nearest active fMRI voxel. The average ROC-r reliability for the patients was 0.58±0.03, as compared to 0.72±0.02 in healthy controls. For the patient group, this increased significantly to 0.65±0.02 by adopting optimised preprocessing pipelines. Co-localisation of the fMRI maps with cortical stimulation was significantly better for more reliable versus less reliable data sets (8.3±0.9 vs 29±3 mm, respectively). We demonstrated ROC-r analysis for identifying reliable fMRI data sets, choosing optimal postprocessing pipelines, and selecting patient-specific thresholds. Data sets with higher reliability also showed closer spatial correspondence to cortical stimulation. ROC-r can thus identify poor fMRI data at time of scanning, allowing for repeat scans when necessary. ROC-r analysis provides optimised and automated fMRI processing for improved presurgical mapping. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence

  11. Probing the brain with molecular fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Souparno; Harvey, Peter; Simon, Jacob C; Jasanoff, Alan

    2018-04-09

    One of the greatest challenges of modern neuroscience is to incorporate our growing knowledge of molecular and cellular-scale physiology into integrated, organismic-scale models of brain function in behavior and cognition. Molecular-level functional magnetic resonance imaging (molecular fMRI) is a new technology that can help bridge these scales by mapping defined microscopic phenomena over large, optically inaccessible regions of the living brain. In this review, we explain how MRI-detectable imaging probes can be used to sensitize noninvasive imaging to mechanistically significant components of neural processing. We discuss how a combination of innovative probe design, advanced imaging methods, and strategies for brain delivery can make molecular fMRI an increasingly successful approach for spatiotemporally resolved studies of diverse neural phenomena, perhaps eventually in people. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Functional network centrality in obesity: A resting-state and task fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-García, Isabel; Jurado, María Ángeles; Garolera, Maite; Marqués-Iturria, Idoia; Horstmann, Annette; Segura, Bàrbara; Pueyo, Roser; Sender-Palacios, María José; Vernet-Vernet, Maria; Villringer, Arno; Junqué, Carme; Margulies, Daniel S; Neumann, Jane

    2015-09-30

    Obesity is associated with structural and functional alterations in brain areas that are often functionally distinct and anatomically distant. This suggests that obesity is associated with differences in functional connectivity of regions distributed across the brain. However, studies addressing whole brain functional connectivity in obesity remain scarce. Here, we compared voxel-wise degree centrality and eigenvector centrality between participants with obesity (n=20) and normal-weight controls (n=21). We analyzed resting state and task-related fMRI data acquired from the same individuals. Relative to normal-weight controls, participants with obesity exhibited reduced degree centrality in the right middle frontal gyrus in the resting-state condition. During the task fMRI condition, obese participants exhibited less degree centrality in the left middle frontal gyrus and the lateral occipital cortex along with reduced eigenvector centrality in the lateral occipital cortex and occipital pole. Our results highlight the central role of the middle frontal gyrus in the pathophysiology of obesity, a structure involved in several brain circuits signaling attention, executive functions and motor functions. Additionally, our analysis suggests the existence of task-dependent reduced centrality in occipital areas; regions with a role in perceptual processes and that are profoundly modulated by attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Brain areas associated with numbers and calculations in children: Meta-analyses of fMRI studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Arsalidou

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Children use numbers every day and typically receive formal mathematical training from an early age, as it is a main subject in school curricula. Despite an increase in children neuroimaging studies, a comprehensive neuropsychological model of mathematical functions in children is lacking. Using quantitative meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies, we identify concordant brain areas across articles that adhere to a set of selection criteria (e.g., whole-brain analysis, coordinate reports and report brain activity to tasks that involve processing symbolic and non-symbolic numbers with and without formal mathematical operations, which we called respectively number tasks and calculation tasks. We present data on children 14 years and younger, who solved these tasks. Results show activity in parietal (e.g., inferior parietal lobule and precuneus and frontal (e.g., superior and medial frontal gyri cortices, core areas related to mental-arithmetic, as well as brain regions such as the insula and claustrum, which are not typically discussed as part of mathematical problem solving models. We propose a topographical atlas of mathematical processes in children, discuss findings within a developmental constructivist theoretical model, and suggest practical methodological considerations for future studies. Keywords: Mathematical cognition, Meta-analyses, fMRI, Children, Development, Insula

  14. fMRI. Basics and clinical applications. 2. ed.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ulmer, Stephan [Medizinisch Radiologisces Institut (MRI), Zuerich (Switzerland); Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel (Germany). Inst. fuer Neuroradiologie; Jansen, Olav (eds.) [Universitaetsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel (Germany). Inst. fuer Neuroradiologie

    2013-11-01

    State of the art overview of fMRI. Covers technical issues, methods of statistical analysis, and the full range of clinical applications. Revised and expanded edition including discussion of novel aspects of analysis and further important applications. Includes comparisons with other brain mapping techniques and discussion of potential combined uses. Since functional MRI (fMRI) and the basic method of BOLD imaging were introduced in 1993 by Seiji Ogawa, fMRI has evolved into an invaluable clinical tool for routine brain imaging, and there have been substantial improvements in both the imaging technique itself and the associated statistical analysis. This book provides a state of the art overview of fMRI and its use in clinical practice. Experts in the field share their knowledge and explain how to overcome diverse potential technical barriers and problems. Starting from the very basics on the origin of the BOLD signal, the book covers technical issues, anatomical landmarks, the full range of clinical applications, methods of statistical analysis, and special issues in various clinical fields. Comparisons are made with other brain mapping techniques, such as DTI, PET, TMS, EEG, and MEG, and their combined use with fMRI is also discussed. Since the first edition, original chapters have been updated and new chapters added, covering both novel aspects of analysis and further important clinical applications.

  15. Processing and regulation of negative emotions in anorexia nervosa: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Seidel

    Full Text Available Theoretical models and recent advances in the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN have increasingly focused on the role of alterations in the processing and regulation of emotions. To date, however, our understanding of these changes is still limited and reports of emotional dysregulation in AN have been based largely on self-report data, and there is a relative lack of objective experimental evidence or neurobiological data.The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study investigated the hemodynamic correlates of passive viewing and voluntary downregulation of negative emotions by means of the reappraisal strategy detachment in AN patients. Detachment is regarded as adaptive regulation strategy associated with a reduction in emotion-related amygdala activity and increased recruitment of prefrontal brain regions associated with cognitive control processes. Emotion regulation efficacy was assessed via behavioral arousal ratings and fMRI activation elicited by an established experimental paradigm including negative images. Participants were instructed to either simply view emotional pictures or detach themselves from feelings triggered by the stimuli.The sample consisted of 36 predominantly adolescent female AN patients and a pairwise age-matched healthy control group. Behavioral and neuroimaging data analyses indicated a reduction of arousal and amygdala activity during the regulation condition for both patients and controls. However, compared with controls, individuals with AN showed increased activation in the amygdala as well as in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC during the passive viewing of aversive compared with neutral pictures.These results extend previous findings indicative of altered processing of salient emotional stimuli in AN, but do not point to a general deficit in the voluntary regulation of negative emotions. Increased dlPFC activation in AN during passive viewing of negative stimuli is in line with

  16. A SVM-based quantitative fMRI method for resting-state functional network detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Xiaomu; Chen, Nan-kuei

    2014-09-01

    Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) aims to measure baseline neuronal connectivity independent of specific functional tasks and to capture changes in the connectivity due to neurological diseases. Most existing network detection methods rely on a fixed threshold to identify functionally connected voxels under the resting state. Due to fMRI non-stationarity, the threshold cannot adapt to variation of data characteristics across sessions and subjects, and generates unreliable mapping results. In this study, a new method is presented for resting-state fMRI data analysis. Specifically, the resting-state network mapping is formulated as an outlier detection process that is implemented using one-class support vector machine (SVM). The results are refined by using a spatial-feature domain prototype selection method and two-class SVM reclassification. The final decision on each voxel is made by comparing its probabilities of functionally connected and unconnected instead of a threshold. Multiple features for resting-state analysis were extracted and examined using an SVM-based feature selection method, and the most representative features were identified. The proposed method was evaluated using synthetic and experimental fMRI data. A comparison study was also performed with independent component analysis (ICA) and correlation analysis. The experimental results show that the proposed method can provide comparable or better network detection performance than ICA and correlation analysis. The method is potentially applicable to various resting-state quantitative fMRI studies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Relational complexity modulates activity in the prefrontal cortex during numerical inductive reasoning: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Xiao; Peng, Li; Chang-Quan, Long; Yi, Lei; Hong, Li

    2014-09-01

    Most previous studies investigating relational reasoning have used visuo-spatial materials. This fMRI study aimed to determine how relational complexity affects brain activity during inductive reasoning, using numerical materials. Three numerical relational levels of the number series completion task were adopted for use: 0-relational (e.g., "23 23 23"), 1-relational ("32 30 28") and 2-relational ("12 13 15") problems. The fMRI results revealed that the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) showed enhanced activity associated with relational complexity. Bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL) activity was greater during the 1- and 2-relational level problems than during the 0-relational level problems. In addition, the left fronto-polar cortex (FPC) showed selective activity during the 2-relational level problems. The bilateral DLPFC may be involved in the process of hypothesis generation, whereas the bilateral IPL may be sensitive to calculation demands. Moreover, the sensitivity of the left FPC to the multiple relational problems may be related to the integration of numerical relations. The present study extends our knowledge of the prefrontal activity pattern underlying numerical relational processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Sequential neural processes in abacus mental addition: an EEG and FMRI case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ku, Yixuan; Hong, Bo; Zhou, Wenjing; Bodner, Mark; Zhou, Yong-Di

    2012-01-01

    Abacus experts are able to mentally calculate multi-digit numbers rapidly. Some behavioral and neuroimaging studies have suggested a visuospatial and visuomotor strategy during abacus mental calculation. However, no study up to now has attempted to dissociate temporally the visuospatial neural process from the visuomotor neural process during abacus mental calculation. In the present study, an abacus expert performed the mental addition tasks (8-digit and 4-digit addends presented in visual or auditory modes) swiftly and accurately. The 100% correct rates in this expert's task performance were significantly higher than those of ordinary subjects performing 1-digit and 2-digit addition tasks. ERPs, EEG source localizations, and fMRI results taken together suggested visuospatial and visuomotor processes were sequentially arranged during the abacus mental addition with visual addends and could be dissociated from each other temporally. The visuospatial transformation of the numbers, in which the superior parietal lobule was most likely involved, might occur first (around 380 ms) after the onset of the stimuli. The visuomotor processing, in which the superior/middle frontal gyri were most likely involved, might occur later (around 440 ms). Meanwhile, fMRI results suggested that neural networks involved in the abacus mental addition with auditory stimuli were similar to those in the visual abacus mental addition. The most prominently activated brain areas in both conditions included the bilateral superior parietal lobules (BA 7) and bilateral middle frontal gyri (BA 6). These results suggest a supra-modal brain network in abacus mental addition, which may develop from normal mental calculation networks.

  19. The Neurobiological Mechanism of Chemical Aversion (Emetic Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ralph L. Elkins

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A recent NIH epidemiology study found the lifetime prevalence of alcohol use disorder in the United States to be 29%. Alcohol drinking behavior is strongly “learned” via pleasure center activation/reinforcement. Alcohol craving is a powerful desire to drink alcoholic beverages. Craving was added as one of the defining criteria for alcohol use disorder in DSM5, and craving reduction is becoming an increasingly important treatment goal. In the current study, patients with alcohol use disorder received 10 days of inpatient multi-modal treatments at Schick Shadel Hospital (SSH of Seattle. The treatments included five chemical aversion conditioning sessions that associated alcohol cues (and alcohol with nausea and emesis. All patients met DSM4 criteria for alcohol use disorder, were heavy drinkers, and reported craving alcohol pre-treatment. Craving reduction was one of the primary treatment goals. This is the first fMRI study to measure the effects of chemical aversion therapy on alcohol craving-related brain activity. Patients were recruited as subjects for the University of Washington (UW brain scan study following SSH admission but before treatment onset. Prior to treatment, patients reported craving/desire for alcohol. After treatment (after four SSH chemical aversion treatments, again after five SSH chemical treatments, 30 and 90-days post-discharge, these same patients reported avoidance/aversion to alcohol. Most of the participants (69% reported being still sober 12 months post-treatment. Consistent with a craving reduction mechanism of how chemical aversion therapy facilitates sobriety, results of the UW fMRI brain scans showed significant pre- to post-treatment reductions in craving-related brain activity in the occipital cortex. Additional fMRI brain scan studies are needed to further explore the neurobiological mechanism of chemical aversion therapy treatment for alcohol use disorder, and other substance use disorders for which

  20. fMRI of the motor speech center using EPI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, In Kyu; Chang, Kee Hyun; Song, In Chan; Kim, Hong Dae; Seong, Su Ok; Jang, Hyun Jung; Han, Moon Hee; Lee, Sang Kun

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of functional MR imaging (fMRI) using the echo planar imaging (EPI) technique to map the motor speech center and to provide the basic data for motor speech fMRI during internal word generations. This study involved ten young, healthy, right-handed volunteers (M:F=8:2; age: 21-27); a 1.5T whole body scanner with multislice EPI was used. Brain activation was mapped using gradient echo single shot EPI (TR/TE of 3000/40, slice numbers 6, slice thicknesses mm, no interslice gap, matrix numbers 128 x 128, and FOV 30 x 30). The paradigm consisted of a series of alternating rest and activation tasks, repeated eight times. During the rest task, each of ten Korean nouns composed of two to four syllables was shown continuously every 3 seconds. The subjects were required to see the words but not to generate speech, whereas during the activation task, they were asked to internally generate as many words as possible from each of ten non-concrete one-syllabled Korean letters shown on the screen every 3 seconds. During an eight-minute period, a total of 960 axial images were acquired in each subject. Data were analyzed using the Z-score (p<0.05), and following color processing, the activated signals were overlapped on T1-weighted images. The location of the activated area, mean activated signal intensity were evaluated. The results of this study indicate that in most subjects, fMRI using EPI can effectively map the motor speech center. The data obtained may be useful for the clinical application of fMRI. (author). 34 refs., 3 tabs., 5 figs

  1. Differential parietal and temporal contributions to music perception in improvising and score-dependent musicians, an fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Robert Harris; Bauke M. de Jong

    2015-01-01

    Using fMRI, cerebral activations were studied in 24 classically-trained keyboard performers and 12 musically unskilled control subjects. Two groups of musicians were recruited: improvising (n=12) and score-dependent (non-improvising) musicians (n=12). While listening to both familiar and unfamiliar

  2. Frequency-dependent changes in amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in depression: A resting-state fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Li; Kong, Qingmei; Li, Ke; Su, Yunai; Zeng, Yawei; Zhang, Qinge; Dai, Wenji; Xia, Mingrui; Wang, Gang; Jin, Zhen; Yu, Xin; Si, Tianmei

    2016-02-12

    We conducted this fMRI study to examine whether the alterations in amplitudes of low-frequency oscillation (LFO) of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients were frequency dependent. The LFO amplitudes (as indexed by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation [ALFF] and fractional ALFF [fALFF]) within 4 narrowly-defined frequency bands (slow-5: 0.01-0.027Hz, slow-4: 0.027-0.073Hz, slow-3: 0.073-0.198Hz, and slow-2: 0.198-0.25Hz) were computed using resting-state fMRI data of 35 MDD patients and 32 healthy subjects. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on ALFF and fALFF both within the low frequency bands of slow-4 and slow-5 and within all of the four bands. We observed significant main effects of group and frequency on ALFF and fALFF in widely distributed brain regions. Importantly, significant group and frequency interaction effects were observed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, in a left-sided fashion, the bilateral posterior cingulate and precuneus, during ANOVA both within slow-4 and slow-5 bands and within all the frequency bands. The results suggest that the alterations of LFO amplitudes in specific brain regions in MDD patients could be more sensitively detected in the slow-5 rather than the slow-4 bands. The findings may provide guidance for the frequency choice of future resting-state fMRI studies of MDD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Role of emotional processing in depressive responses to sex-hormone manipulation: a pharmacological fMRI study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henningsson, S.; Madsen, Kristoffer Hougaard; Pinborg, A.

    2015-01-01

    resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate if sex-steroid hormone manipulation with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) influences emotional processing. Fifty-six healthy women were investigated twice: at baseline (follicular phase of menstrual cycle) and 16 +/- 3 days post intervention. At both...... sessions, fMRI-scans during exposure to faces expressing fear, anger, happiness or no emotion, depressive symptom scores and estradiol levels were acquired. The fMRI analyses focused on regions of interest for emotional processing. As expected, GnRHa initially increased and subsequently reduced estradiol...

  4. Activation Detection in fMRI Using Jeffrey Divergence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seghouane, Abd-Krim

    2009-12-01

    A statistical test for detecting activated pixels in functional MRI (fMRI) data is proposed. For the derivation of this test, the fMRI time series measured at each voxel is modeled as the sum of a response signal which arises due to the experimentally controlled activation-baseline pattern, a nuisance component representing effects of no interest, and Gaussian white noise. The test is based on comparing the dimension of the voxels fMRI time series fitted data models with and without controlled activation-baseline pattern. The Jeffrey divergence is used for this comparison. The test has the advantage of not requiring a level of significance or a threshold to be provided.

  5. Gender differences in the cognitive control of emotion: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Kathrin; Pauly, Katharina; Kellermann, Thilo; Seiferth, Nina Y; Reske, Martina; Backes, Volker; Stöcker, Tony; Shah, N Jon; Amunts, Katrin; Kircher, Tilo; Schneider, Frank; Habel, Ute

    2007-09-20

    The interaction of emotion and cognition has become a topic of major interest. However, the influence of gender on the interplay between the two processes, along with its neural correlates have not been fully analysed so far. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we induced negative emotion using negative olfactory stimulation while male (n=21) and female (n=19) participants performed an n-back verbal working memory task. Based on findings indicating increased emotional reactivity in women, we expected the female participants to exhibit stronger activation in characteristically emotion-associated areas during the interaction of emotional and cognitive processing in comparison to the male participants. Both groups were found to be significantly impaired in their working memory performance by negative emotion induction. However, fMRI analysis revealed distinct differences in neuronal activation between groups. In men, cognitive performance under negative emotion induction was associated with extended activation patterns in mainly prefrontal and superior parietal regions. In women, the interaction between emotion and working memory yielded a significantly stronger response in the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) compared to their male counterparts. Our data suggest that in women the interaction of verbal working memory and negative emotion is associated with relative hyperactivation in more emotion-associated areas whereas in men regions commonly regarded as important for cognition and cognitive control are activated. These results provide new insights in gender-specific cerebral mechanisms.

  6. Effective Connectivity of Cortical Sensorimotor Networks During Finger Movement Tasks: A Simultaneous fNIRS, fMRI, EEG Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anwar, A R; Muthalib, M; Perrey, S; Galka, A; Granert, O; Wolff, S; Heute, U; Deuschl, G; Raethjen, J; Muthuraman, Muthuraman

    2016-09-01

    Recently, interest has been growing to understand the underlying dynamic directional relationship between simultaneously activated regions of the brain during motor task performance. Such directionality analysis (or effective connectivity analysis), based on non-invasive electrophysiological (electroencephalography-EEG) and hemodynamic (functional near infrared spectroscopy-fNIRS; and functional magnetic resonance imaging-fMRI) neuroimaging modalities can provide an estimate of the motor task-related information flow from one brain region to another. Since EEG, fNIRS and fMRI modalities achieve different spatial and temporal resolutions of motor-task related activation in the brain, the aim of this study was to determine the effective connectivity of cortico-cortical sensorimotor networks during finger movement tasks measured by each neuroimaging modality. Nine healthy subjects performed right hand finger movement tasks of different complexity (simple finger tapping-FT, simple finger sequence-SFS, and complex finger sequence-CFS). We focused our observations on three cortical regions of interest (ROIs), namely the contralateral sensorimotor cortex (SMC), the contralateral premotor cortex (PMC) and the contralateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We estimated the effective connectivity between these ROIs using conditional Granger causality (GC) analysis determined from the time series signals measured by fMRI (blood oxygenation level-dependent-BOLD), fNIRS (oxygenated-O2Hb and deoxygenated-HHb hemoglobin), and EEG (scalp and source level analysis) neuroimaging modalities. The effective connectivity analysis showed significant bi-directional information flow between the SMC, PMC, and DLPFC as determined by the EEG (scalp and source), fMRI (BOLD) and fNIRS (O2Hb and HHb) modalities for all three motor tasks. However the source level EEG GC values were significantly greater than the other modalities. In addition, only the source level EEG showed a

  7. Signal Sampling for Efficient Sparse Representation of Resting State FMRI Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Bao; Makkie, Milad; Wang, Jin; Zhao, Shijie; Jiang, Xi; Li, Xiang; Lv, Jinglei; Zhang, Shu; Zhang, Wei; Han, Junwei; Guo, Lei; Liu, Tianming

    2015-01-01

    As the size of brain imaging data such as fMRI grows explosively, it provides us with unprecedented and abundant information about the brain. How to reduce the size of fMRI data but not lose much information becomes a more and more pressing issue. Recent literature studies tried to deal with it by dictionary learning and sparse representation methods, however, their computation complexities are still high, which hampers the wider application of sparse representation method to large scale fMRI datasets. To effectively address this problem, this work proposes to represent resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) signals of a whole brain via a statistical sampling based sparse representation. First we sampled the whole brain’s signals via different sampling methods, then the sampled signals were aggregate into an input data matrix to learn a dictionary, finally this dictionary was used to sparsely represent the whole brain’s signals and identify the resting state networks. Comparative experiments demonstrate that the proposed signal sampling framework can speed-up by ten times in reconstructing concurrent brain networks without losing much information. The experiments on the 1000 Functional Connectomes Project further demonstrate its effectiveness and superiority. PMID:26646924

  8. Resting-state fMRI and social cognition: An opportunity to connect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doruyter, Alex; Groenewold, Nynke A; Dupont, Patrick; Stein, Dan J; Warwick, James M

    2017-09-01

    Many psychiatric disorders are characterized by altered social cognition. The importance of social cognition has previously been recognized by the National Institute of Mental Health Research Domain Criteria project, in which it features as a core domain. Social task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) currently offers the most direct insight into how the brain processes social information; however, resting-state fMRI may be just as important in understanding the biology and network nature of social processing. Resting-state fMRI allows researchers to investigate the functional relationships between brain regions in a neutral state: so-called resting functional connectivity (RFC). There is evidence that RFC is predictive of how the brain processes information during social tasks. This is important because it shifts the focus from possibly context-dependent aberrations to context-independent aberrations in functional network architecture. Rather than being analysed in isolation, the study of resting-state brain networks shows promise in linking results of task-based fMRI results, structural connectivity, molecular imaging findings, and performance measures of social cognition-which may prove crucial in furthering our understanding of the social brain. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Adaptation of a haptic robot in a 3T fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snider, Joseph; Plank, Markus; May, Larry; Liu, Thomas T; Poizner, Howard

    2011-10-04

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides excellent functional brain imaging via the BOLD signal with advantages including non-ionizing radiation, millimeter spatial accuracy of anatomical and functional data, and nearly real-time analyses. Haptic robots provide precise measurement and control of position and force of a cursor in a reasonably confined space. Here we combine these two technologies to allow precision experiments involving motor control with haptic/tactile environment interaction such as reaching or grasping. The basic idea is to attach an 8 foot end effecter supported in the center to the robot allowing the subject to use the robot, but shielding it and keeping it out of the most extreme part of the magnetic field from the fMRI machine (Figure 1). The Phantom Premium 3.0, 6DoF, high-force robot (SensAble Technologies, Inc.) is an excellent choice for providing force-feedback in virtual reality experiments, but it is inherently non-MR safe, introduces significant noise to the sensitive fMRI equipment, and its electric motors may be affected by the fMRI's strongly varying magnetic field. We have constructed a table and shielding system that allows the robot to be safely introduced into the fMRI environment and limits both the degradation of the fMRI signal by the electrically noisy motors and the degradation of the electric motor performance by the strongly varying magnetic field of the fMRI. With the shield, the signal to noise ratio (SNR: mean signal/noise standard deviation) of the fMRI goes from a baseline of ~380 to ~330, and ~250 without the shielding. The remaining noise appears to be uncorrelated and does not add artifacts to the fMRI of a test sphere (Figure 2). The long, stiff handle allows placement of the robot out of range of the most strongly varying parts of the magnetic field so there is no significant effect of the fMRI on the robot. The effect of the handle on the robot's kinematics is minimal since it is lightweight (~2

  10. The supraspinal neural correlate of bladder cold sensation--an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehnert, Ulrich; Michels, Lars; Zempleni, Monika-Zita; Schurch, Brigitte; Kollias, Spyros

    2011-06-01

    In recent years, functional imaging studies have revealed a supraspinal network, which is involved in perception and processing of bladder distention. Very little information exists on the cortical representation of C-fiber transmitted temperature sensation of the human bladder, although C-fibers seem to be involved in the pathomechanisms of bladder dysfunctions. Our aim was, therefore, to evaluate the outcome of bladder cold stimulation on supraspinal activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A block design fMRI study was performed in 14 healthy females at the MR-center of the University of Zurich. After catheterization, all subjects were investigated in a 3.0-Tesla Scanner. The scanning consisted of 10 repetitive cycles. Each cycle consisted of five conditions: REST, INFUSION, SENSATION, DRAIN 1, and DRAIN 2. Cold saline was passively infused at 4-8°C during scanning. Not more than 100 ml were infused per cycle. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal analysis of the different conditions was compared to REST. All activations were evaluated on a random effects level at P = 0.001. Activation of brain regions for bladder cold stimulation (DRAIN 1 period) was found bilaterally in the inferior parietal lobe [Brodmann area (BA) 40], the right insula (BA 13), the right cerebellar posterior lobe, the right middle temporal gyrus (BA 20), and the right postcentral gyrus (BA 3). In conclusion, bladder cooling caused a different supraspinal activation pattern compared to what is known to occur during bladder distention. This supports our hypothesis that cold sensation is processed differently from bladder distension at the supraspinal level. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  11. Assessment of lexical semantic judgment abilities in alcohol-dependent subjects: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagga, D; Singh, N; Modi, S; Kumar, P; Bhattacharya, D; Garg, M L; Khushu, S

    2013-12-01

    Neuropsychological studies have shown that alcohol dependence is associated with neurocognitive deficits in tasks requiring memory, perceptual motor skills, abstraction and problem solving, whereas language skills are relatively spared in alcoholics despite structural abnormalities in the language-related brain regions. To investigate the preserved mechanisms of language processing in alcohol-dependents, functional brain imaging was undertaken in healthy controls (n=18) and alcohol-dependents (n=16) while completing a lexical semantic judgment task in a 3 T MR scanner. Behavioural data indicated that alcohol-dependents took more time than controls for performing the task but there was no significant difference in their response accuracy. fMRI data analysis revealed that while performing the task, the alcoholics showed enhanced activations in left supramarginal gyrus, precuneus bilaterally, left angular gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus as compared to control subjects. The extensive activations observed in alcoholics as compared to controls suggest that alcoholics recruit additional brain areas to meet the behavioural demands for equivalent task performance. The results are consistent with previous fMRI studies suggesting compensatory mechanisms for the execution of task for showing an equivalent performance or decreased neural efficiency of relevant brain networks. However, on direct comparison of the two groups, the results did not survive correction for multiple comparisons; therefore, the present findings need further exploration.

  12. The effect of ageing on fMRI: Correction for the confounding effects of vascular reactivity evaluated by joint fMRI and MEG in 335 adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henson, Richard N. A.; Tyler, Lorraine K.; Davis, Simon W.; Shafto, Meredith A.; Taylor, Jason R.; Williams, Nitin; Cam‐CAN; Rowe, James B.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research one is typically interested in neural activity. However, the blood‐oxygenation level‐dependent (BOLD) signal is a composite of both neural and vascular activity. As factors such as age or medication may alter vascular function, it is essential to account for changes in neurovascular coupling when investigating neurocognitive functioning with fMRI. The resting‐state fluctuation amplitude (RSFA) in the fMRI signal (rsfMRI) has been proposed as an index of vascular reactivity. The RSFA compares favourably with other techniques such as breath‐hold and hypercapnia, but the latter are more difficult to perform in some populations, such as older adults. The RSFA is therefore a candidate for use in adjusting for age‐related changes in vascular reactivity in fMRI studies. The use of RSFA is predicated on its sensitivity to vascular rather than neural factors; however, the extent to which each of these factors contributes to RSFA remains to be characterized. The present work addressed these issues by comparing RSFA (i.e., rsfMRI variability) to proxy measures of (i) cardiovascular function in terms of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) and (ii) neural activity in terms of resting state magnetoencephalography (rsMEG). We derived summary scores of RSFA, a sensorimotor task BOLD activation, cardiovascular function and rsMEG variability for 335 healthy older adults in the population‐based Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience cohort (Cam‐CAN; www.cam-can.com). Mediation analysis revealed that the effects of ageing on RSFA were significantly mediated by vascular factors, but importantly not by the variability in neuronal activity. Furthermore, the converse effects of ageing on the rsMEG variability were not mediated by vascular factors. We then examined the effect of RSFA scaling of task‐based BOLD in the sensorimotor task. The scaling analysis revealed that much of the effects

  13. Mental Time Travel into the Past and the Future in Healthy Aged Adults: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viard, Armelle; Chetelat, Gael; Lebreton, Karine; Desgranges, Beatrice; Landeau, Brigitte; de La Sayette, Vincent; Eustache, Francis; Piolino, Pascale

    2011-01-01

    Remembering the past and envisioning the future rely on episodic memory which enables mental time travel. Studies in young adults indicate that past and future thinking share common cognitive and neural underpinnings. No imaging data is yet available in healthy aged subjects. Using fMRI, we scanned older subjects while they remembered personal…

  14. Functional MR imaging of cerebral auditory cortex with linguistic and non-linguistic stimulation: preliminary study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Su Jin; Kim, Jae Hyoung; Shin, Tae Min

    1999-01-01

    To obtain preliminary data for understanding the central auditory neural pathway by means of functional MR imaging (fMRI) of the cerebral auditory cortex during linguistic and non-linguistic auditory stimulation. In three right-handed volunteers we conducted fMRI of auditory cortex stimulation at 1.5 T using a conventional gradient-echo technique (TR/TE/flip angle: 80/60/40 deg). Using a pulsed tone of 1000 Hz and speech as non-linguistic and linguistic auditory stimuli, respectively, images-including those of the superior temporal gyrus of both hemispheres-were obtained in sagittal plases. Both stimuli were separately delivered binaurally or monoaurally through a plastic earphone. Images were activated by processing with homemade software. In order to analyze patterns of auditory cortex activation according to type of stimulus and which side of the ear was stimulated, the number and extent of activated pixels were compared between both temporal lobes. Biaural stimulation led to bilateral activation of the superior temporal gyrus, while monoaural stimulation led to more activation in the contralateral temporal lobe than in the ipsilateral. A trend toward slight activation of the left (dominant) temporal lobe in ipsilateral stimulation, particularly with a linguistic stimulus, was observed. During both biaural and monoaural stimulation, a linguistic stimulus produced more widespread activation than did a non-linguistic one. The superior temporal gyri of both temporal lobes are associated with acoustic-phonetic analysis, and the left (dominant) superior temporal gyrus is likely to play a dominant role in this processing. For better understanding of physiological and pathological central auditory pathways, further investigation is needed

  15. Aging affects both perceptual and lexical/semantic components of word stem priming: An event-related fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daselaar, S.M.; Veltman, D.J.; Rombouts, S.A.R.B.; Raaijmakers, J.G.; Jonker, C.

    2005-01-01

    In this event-related fMRI study, brain activity patterns were compared in extensive groups of young (N = 25) and older (N = 38) adults, while they were performing a word stem completion priming task. Based on behavioral findings, we tested the hypothesis that aging affects only the

  16. Fully automated processing of fMRI data in SPM: from MRI scanner to PACS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldjian, Joseph A; Baer, Aaron H; Kraft, Robert A; Laurienti, Paul J; Burdette, Jonathan H

    2009-01-01

    Here we describe the Wake Forest University Pipeline, a fully automated method for the processing of fMRI data using SPM. The method includes fully automated data transfer and archiving from the point of acquisition, real-time batch script generation, distributed grid processing, interface to SPM in MATLAB, error recovery and data provenance, DICOM conversion and PACS insertion. It has been used for automated processing of fMRI experiments, as well as for the clinical implementation of fMRI and spin-tag perfusion imaging. The pipeline requires no manual intervention, and can be extended to any studies requiring offline processing.

  17. The role of the DLPFC in inductive reasoning of MCI patients and normal agings: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, YanHui; Liang, PeiPeng; Lu, ShengFu; Li, KunCheng; Zhong, Ning

    2009-08-01

    Previous studies of young people have revealed that the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an important role in inductive reasoning. An fMRI experiment was performed in this study to examine whether the left DLPFC was involved in inductive reasoning of MCI patients and normal aging, and whether the activation pattern of this region was different between MCI patients and normal aging. The fMRI results indicated that MCI patients had no difference from normal aging in behavior performance (reaction time and accuracy) and the activation pattern of DLPFC. However, the BOLD response of the DLPFC region for MCI patients was weaker than that for normal aging, and the functional connectivity between the bilateral DLPFC regions for MCI patients was significantly higher than for normal aging. Taken together, these results indicated that DLPFC plays an important role in inductive reasoning of aging, and the functional abnormity of DLPFC may be an earlier marker of MCI before structural alterations.

  18. Modeling fMRI signals can provide insights into neural processing in the cerebral cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanni, Simo; Sharifian, Fariba; Heikkinen, Hanna; Vigário, Ricardo

    2015-08-01

    Every stimulus or task activates multiple areas in the mammalian cortex. These distributed activations can be measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which has the best spatial resolution among the noninvasive brain imaging methods. Unfortunately, the relationship between the fMRI activations and distributed cortical processing has remained unclear, both because the coupling between neural and fMRI activations has remained poorly understood and because fMRI voxels are too large to directly sense the local neural events. To get an idea of the local processing given the macroscopic data, we need models to simulate the neural activity and to provide output that can be compared with fMRI data. Such models can describe neural mechanisms as mathematical functions between input and output in a specific system, with little correspondence to physiological mechanisms. Alternatively, models can be biomimetic, including biological details with straightforward correspondence to experimental data. After careful balancing between complexity, computational efficiency, and realism, a biomimetic simulation should be able to provide insight into how biological structures or functions contribute to actual data processing as well as to promote theory-driven neuroscience experiments. This review analyzes the requirements for validating system-level computational models with fMRI. In particular, we study mesoscopic biomimetic models, which include a limited set of details from real-life networks and enable system-level simulations of neural mass action. In addition, we discuss how recent developments in neurophysiology and biophysics may significantly advance the modelling of fMRI signals. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  19. The effects of background noise on dichotic listening to consonant-vowel syllables: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dos Santos Sequeira, Sarah; Specht, Karsten; Moosmann, Matthias; Westerhausen, Rene; Hugdahl, Kenneth

    2010-11-01

    The present fMRI study attempts to identify brain areas that may underlie the effect of different background noises on functional brain asymmetry in a dichotic listening task. Previous studies have shown that the prominent right ear advantage in dichotic listening to consonant-vowel syllables is affected by background noise. To explore the underlying neuronal processes, haemodynamic brain responses using fMRI were recorded while participants performed the dichotic listening task in two different noisy backgrounds (conversational "babble" and traffic noise). The behavioural results showed a reduction of the right ear advantage in the background noise conditions, especially in the traffic noise condition. The behavioural results are discussed in terms of alertness-attentional mechanisms. The effects of background noise on brain activation involved significant activations in a speech-processing network. Specifically the changes in activations in the peri-Sylvian region of the superior temporal gyrus and in the temporo-parietal junction part in the left hemisphere, as well as in the superior temporal gyrus/sulcus area in the right hemisphere may mirror the effects of noise on behavioural performance. The effects of noise on brain activation are discussed with regard to pre-activation mechanisms.

  20. Task-related fMRI in hemiplegic cerebral palsy-A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaberova, Katerina; Pacheva, Iliyana; Ivanov, Ivan

    2018-04-27

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used widely to study reorganization after early brain injuries. Unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) is an appealing model for studying brain plasticity by fMRI. To summarize the results of task-related fMRI studies in UCP in order to get better understanding of the mechanism of neuroplasticity of the developing brain and its reorganization potential and better translation of this knowledge to clinical practice. A systematic search was conducted on the PubMed database by keywords: "cerebral palsy", "congenital hemiparesis", "unilateral", "Magnetic resonance imaging" , "fMRI", "reorganization", and "plasticity" The exclusion criteria were as follows: case reports; reviews; studies exploring non-UCP patients; and studies with results of rehabilitation. We found 7 articles investigated sensory tasks; 9 studies-motor tasks; 12 studies-speech tasks. Ipsilesional reorganization is dominant in sensory tasks (in 74/77 patients), contralesional-in only 3/77. In motor tasks, bilateral activation is found in 64/83, only contralesional-in 11/83, and only ipsilesional-8/83. Speech perception is bilateral in 35/51, only or dominantly ipsilesional (left-sided) in 8/51, and dominantly contralesional (right-sided) in 8/51. Speech production is only or dominantly contralesional (right-sided) in 88/130, bilateral-26/130, and only or dominantly ipsilesional (left-sided)-in 16/130. The sensory system is the most "rigid" to reorganization probably due to absence of ipsilateral (contralesional) primary somatosensory representation. The motor system is more "flexible" due to ipsilateral (contralesional) motor pathways. The speech perception and production show greater flexibility resulting in more bilateral or contralateral activation. The models of reorganization are variable, depending on the development and function of each neural system and the extent and timing of the damage. The plasticity patterns may guide therapeutic intervention and

  1. Combining fMRI and behavioral measures to examine the process of human learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karuza, Elisabeth A; Emberson, Lauren L; Aslin, Richard N

    2014-03-01

    Prior to the advent of fMRI, the primary means of examining the mechanisms underlying learning were restricted to studying human behavior and non-human neural systems. However, recent advances in neuroimaging technology have enabled the concurrent study of human behavior and neural activity. We propose that the integration of behavioral response with brain activity provides a powerful method of investigating the process through which internal representations are formed or changed. Nevertheless, a review of the literature reveals that many fMRI studies of learning either (1) focus on outcome rather than process or (2) are built on the untested assumption that learning unfolds uniformly over time. We discuss here various challenges faced by the field and highlight studies that have begun to address them. In doing so, we aim to encourage more research that examines the process of learning by considering the interrelation of behavioral measures and fMRI recording during learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Improving language mapping in clinical fMRI through assessment of grammar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Połczyńska, Monika; Japardi, Kevin; Curtiss, Susan; Moody, Teena; Benjamin, Christopher; Cho, Andrew; Vigil, Celia; Kuhn, Taylor; Jones, Michael; Bookheimer, Susan

    2017-01-01

    Brain surgery in the language dominant hemisphere remains challenging due to unintended post-surgical language deficits, despite using pre-surgical functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Moreover, patients are often recommended not to undergo surgery if the accompanying risk to language appears to be too high. While standard fMRI language mapping protocols may have relatively good predictive value at the group level, they remain sub-optimal on an individual level. The standard tests used typically assess lexico-semantic aspects of language, and they do not accurately reflect the complexity of language either in comprehension or production at the sentence level. Among patients who had left hemisphere language dominance we assessed which tests are best at activating language areas in the brain. We compared grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh -subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking) with standard tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming), using pre-operative fMRI. Twenty-five surgical candidates (13 females) participated in this study. Sixteen patients presented with a brain tumor, and nine with epilepsy. All participants underwent two pre-operative fMRI protocols: one including CYCLE-N grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking); and a second one with standard fMRI tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming). fMRI activations during performance in both protocols were compared at the group level, as well as in individual candidates. The grammar tests generated more volume of activation in the left hemisphere (left/right angular gyrus, right anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests (e.g., left anterior

  3. Effects of hypoglycemia on human brain activation measured with fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Adam W; Heptulla, Rubina A; Driesen, Naomi; Flanagan, Daniel; Goldberg, Philip A; Jones, Timothy W; Rife, Fran; Sarofin, Hedy; Tamborlane, William; Sherwin, Robert; Gore, John C

    2006-07-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure the effects of acute hypoglycemia caused by passive sensory stimulation on brain activation. Visual stimulation was used to generate blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast, which was monitored during hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemic and euglycemic clamp studies. Hypoglycemia (50 +/- 1 mg glucose/dl) decreased the fMRI signal relative to euglycemia in 10 healthy human subjects: the fractional signal change was reduced by 28 +/- 12% (P variations in blood glucose levels may modulate BOLD signals in the healthy brain.

  4. Are batterers different from other criminals? An fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdejo-Román, Juan; Contreras-Rodríguez, Oren; Carmona-Perera, Martina; Pérez-García, Miguel; Hidalgo-Ruzzante, Natalia

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex and global phenomenon that requires a multi-perspective analysis. Nevertheless, the number of neuroscientific studies conducted on this issue is scarce as compared with studies of other types of violence, and no neuroimaging studies comparing batterers to other criminals have been conducted. Thus, the main aim of this study was to compare the brain functioning of batterers to that of other criminals when they are exposed to IPV or general violence pictures. An fMRI study was conducted in 21 batterers and 20 other criminals while they observed IPV images (IPVI), general violence images (GVI) and neutral images (NI). Results demonstrated that batterers, compared with other criminals, exhibited a higher activation in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and in the middle prefrontal cortex and a decreased activation in the superior prefrontal cortex to IPVI compared to NI. The paired t-test comparison between IPVI and GVI for each group showed engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate and the left angular cortices to IPVI in the batterer group only. These results could have important implications for a better understanding of the IPV phenomenon. PMID:26884544

  5. Neurobiology of Insight Deficits in Schizophrenia: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shad, Mujeeb U.; Keshavan, Matcheri S.

    2015-01-01

    Prior research has shown insight deficits in schizophrenia to be associated with specific neuroimaging changes (primarily structural) especially in the prefrontal sub-regions. However, little is known about the functional correlates of impaired insight. Seventeen patients with schizophrenia (mean age 40.0±10.3; M/F= 14/3) underwent fMRI on a Philips 3.0 T Achieva system while performing on a self-awareness task containing self- vs. other-directed sentence stimuli. SPM5 was used to process the imaging data. Preprocessing consisted of realignment, coregistration, and normalization, and smoothing. A regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between brain activation in response to self-directed versus other-directed sentence stimuli and average scores on behavioral measures of awareness of symptoms and attribution of symptoms to the illness from Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorders. Family Wise Error correction was employed in the fMRI analysis. Average scores on awareness of symptoms (1 = aware; 5 = unaware) were associated with activation of multiple brain regions, including prefrontal, parietal and limbic areas as well as basal ganglia. However, average scores on correct attribution of symptoms (1 = attribute; 5 = misattribute) were associated with relatively more localized activation of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. These findings suggest that unawareness and misattribution of symptoms may have different neurobiological basis in schizophrenia. While symptom unawareness may be a function of a more complex brain network, symptom misattribution may be mediated by specific brain regions. PMID:25957484

  6. An Emotional Go/No-Go fMRI study in adolescents with depressive symptoms following concussion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Rachelle A; Hall, Geoffrey B; Noseworthy, Michael D; DeMatteo, Carol

    2017-10-03

    Following concussion, adolescents may experience both poor inhibitory control and increased depressive symptoms. fMRI research suggests that adolescents with major depressive disorder have abnormal physiological responses in the frontostriatal pathway, and exhibit poorer inhibitory control in the presence of negatively-aroused images. The scarcity of information surrounding depression following concussion in adolescents makes it difficult to identify patients at risk of depression after injury. This is the first study to examine neural activity patterns in adolescents with post-concussive depressive symptoms. To explore the effect of depressive symptoms on inhibitory control in adolescents with concussion in the presence of emotional stimuli using fMRI. Using a prospective cohort design, 30 adolescents diagnosed with concussion between 10 and 17years were recruited. The Children's Depression Inventory questionnaire was used to divide participants into two groups: average or elevated levels of depressive symptoms. Participants completed an Emotional Go/No-Go task involving angry or neutral faces in a 3Telsa MRI scanner. Eleven participants had elevated depressive symptoms, of which 72% were hit in the occipital region of the head at the time of injury. fMRI results from the Emotional Go/No-Go task revealed activity patterns in the overall sample. Faces activated regions associated with both facial and cognitive processing. However, frontal regions that are usually associated with inhibitory control were not activated. Adolescents with elevated levels of depressive symptoms engaged more frontal lobe regions during the task than the average group. They also showed a trend towards worse symptoms following MRI scanning. Adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms engaged brain regions subserving evaluative processing of social interactions. This finding provides insight into the role the environment plays in contributing to the cognitive demands placed on adolescents

  7. An fMRI study of semantic processing in men with schizophrenia

    OpenAIRE

    Kubicki, M.; McCarley, R.W.; Nestor, P.G.; Huh, T.; Kikinis, R.; Shenton, M.E.; Wible, C.G.

    2003-01-01

    As a means toward understanding the neural bases of schizophrenic thought disturbance, we examined brain activation patterns in response to semantically and superficially encoded words in patients with schizophrenia. Nine male schizophrenic and 9 male control subjects were tested in a visual levels of processing (LOP) task first outside the magnet and then during the fMRI scanning procedures (using a different set of words). During the experiments visual words were presented under two conditi...

  8. Resting States Are Resting Traits – An fMRI Study of Sex Differences and Menstrual Cycle Effects in Resting State Cognitive Control Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Hjelmervik, Helene; Hausmann, Markus; Osnes, Berge; Westerhausen, René; Specht, Karsten

    2014-01-01

    To what degree resting state fMRI is stable or susceptible to internal mind states of the individual is currently an issue of debate. To address this issue, the present study focuses on sex differences and investigates whether resting state fMRI is stable in men and women or changes within relative short-term periods (i.e., across the menstrual cycle). Due to the fact that we recently reported menstrual cycle effects on cognitive control based on data collected during the same sessions, the c...

  9. Dual-Tasking Alleviated Sleep Deprivation Disruption in Visuomotor Tracking: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gazes, Yunglin; Rakitin, Brian C.; Steffener, Jason; Habeck, Christian; Butterfield, Brady; Basner, Robert C.; Ghez, Claude; Stern, Yaakov

    2012-01-01

    Effects of dual-responding on tracking performance after 49-h of sleep deprivation (SD) were evaluated behaviorally and with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Continuous visuomotor tracking was performed simultaneously with an intermittent color-matching visual detection task in which a pair of color-matched stimuli constituted a…

  10. Human amygdala activation by the sound produced during dental treatment: A fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jen-Fang Yu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available During dental treatments, patients may experience negative emotions associated with the procedure. This study was conducted with the aim of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to visualize cerebral cortical stimulation among dental patients in response to auditory stimuli produced by ultrasonic scaling and power suction equipment. Subjects (n = 7 aged 23-35 years were recruited for this study. All were right-handed and underwent clinical pure-tone audiometry testing to reveal a normal hearing threshold below 20 dB hearing level (HL. As part of the study, subjects initially underwent a dental calculus removal treatment. During the treatment, subjects were exposed to ultrasonic auditory stimuli originating from the scaling handpiece and salivary suction instruments. After dental treatment, subjects were imaged with fMRI while being exposed to recordings of the noise from the same dental instrument so that cerebral cortical stimulation in response to aversive auditory stimulation could be observed. The independent sample confirmatory t-test was used. Subjects also showed stimulation in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, indicating that the ultrasonic auditory stimuli elicited an unpleasant response in the subjects. Patients experienced unpleasant sensations caused by contact stimuli in the treatment procedure. In addition, this study has demonstrated that aversive auditory stimuli such as sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece also cause aversive emotions. This study was indicated by observed stimulation of the auditory cortex as well as the amygdala, indicating that noise from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece was perceived as an aversive auditory stimulus by the subjects. Subjects can experience unpleasant sensations caused by the sounds from the ultrasonic scaling handpiece based on their auditory stimuli.

  11. Abnormal regional homogeneity in Parkinson's disease: a resting state fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Y.; Liang, P.; Jia, X.; Li, K.

    2016-01-01

    Aim: To examine the functional brain alterations in Parkinson's disease (PD) by measuring blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signals at rest while controlling for the structural atrophy. Materials and methods: Twenty-three PD patients and 20 age, gender, and education level matched normal controls (NC) were included in this study. Resting state fMRI and structural MRI data were acquired. The resting state brain activity was measured by the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method and the grey matter (GM) volume was attained by the voxel-based morphology (VBM) analysis. Two-sample t-test was then performed to detect the group differences with structural atrophy as a covariate. Results: VBM analysis showed GM volume reductions in the left superior frontal gyrus, left paracentral lobule, and left middle frontal gyrus in PD patients as compared to NC. There were widespread ReHo differences between NC and PD patients. Compared to NC, PD patients showed significant alterations in the motor network, including decreased ReHo in the right primary sensory cortex (S1), while increased ReHo in the left premotor area (PMA) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In addition, a cluster in the left superior occipital gyrus (SOG) also showed increased ReHo in PD patients. Conclusion: The current findings indicate that significant changes of ReHo in the motor and non-motor cortices have been detected in PD patients, independent of age, gender, education level, and structural atrophy. The present study thus suggests ReHo abnormalities as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of PD and further provides insights into the biological mechanism of the disease. - Highlights: • Functional changes were found in PD patients independent of structural atrophy. • Both increased and decreased ReHo were observed in motor network regions in PD. • Increased ReHo was detected in visual association cortex for PD patients.

  12. Application of calibrated fMRI in Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lajoie, Isabelle; Nugent, Scott; Debacker, Clément; Dyson, Kenneth; Tancredi, Felipe B; Badhwar, AmanPreet; Belleville, Sylvie; Deschaintre, Yan; Bellec, Pierre; Doyon, Julien; Bocti, Christian; Gauthier, Serge; Arnold, Douglas; Kergoat, Marie-Jeanne; Chertkow, Howard; Monchi, Oury; Hoge, Richard D

    2017-01-01

    Calibrated fMRI based on arterial spin-labeling (ASL) and blood oxygen-dependent contrast (BOLD), combined with periods of hypercapnia and hyperoxia, can provide information on cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), resting blood flow (CBF), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), and resting oxidative metabolism (CMRO 2 ). Vascular and metabolic integrity are believed to be affected in Alzheimer's disease (AD), thus, the use of calibrated fMRI in AD may help understand the disease and monitor therapeutic responses in future clinical trials. In the present work, we applied a calibrated fMRI approach referred to as Quantitative O2 (QUO2) in a cohort of probable AD dementia and age-matched control participants. The resulting CBF, OEF and CMRO 2 values fell within the range from previous studies using positron emission tomography (PET) with 15 O labeling. Moreover, the typical parietotemporal pattern of hypoperfusion and hypometabolism in AD was observed, especially in the precuneus, a particularly vulnerable region. We detected no deficit in frontal CBF, nor in whole grey matter CVR, which supports the hypothesis that the effects observed were associated specifically with AD rather than generalized vascular disease. Some key pitfalls affecting both ASL and BOLD methods were encountered, such as prolonged arterial transit times (particularly in the occipital lobe), the presence of susceptibility artifacts obscuring medial temporal regions, and the challenges associated with the hypercapnic manipulation in AD patients and elderly participants. The present results are encouraging and demonstrate the promise of calibrated fMRI measurements as potential biomarkers in AD. Although CMRO 2 can be imaged with 15 O PET, the QUO2 method uses more widely available imaging infrastructure, avoids exposure to ionizing radiation, and integrates with other MRI-based measures of brain structure and function.

  13. Application of calibrated fMRI in Alzheimer's disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabelle Lajoie

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Calibrated fMRI based on arterial spin-labeling (ASL and blood oxygen-dependent contrast (BOLD, combined with periods of hypercapnia and hyperoxia, can provide information on cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR, resting blood flow (CBF, oxygen extraction fraction (OEF, and resting oxidative metabolism (CMRO2. Vascular and metabolic integrity are believed to be affected in Alzheimer's disease (AD, thus, the use of calibrated fMRI in AD may help understand the disease and monitor therapeutic responses in future clinical trials. In the present work, we applied a calibrated fMRI approach referred to as Quantitative O2 (QUO2 in a cohort of probable AD dementia and age-matched control participants. The resulting CBF, OEF and CMRO2 values fell within the range from previous studies using positron emission tomography (PET with 15O labeling. Moreover, the typical parietotemporal pattern of hypoperfusion and hypometabolism in AD was observed, especially in the precuneus, a particularly vulnerable region. We detected no deficit in frontal CBF, nor in whole grey matter CVR, which supports the hypothesis that the effects observed were associated specifically with AD rather than generalized vascular disease. Some key pitfalls affecting both ASL and BOLD methods were encountered, such as prolonged arterial transit times (particularly in the occipital lobe, the presence of susceptibility artifacts obscuring medial temporal regions, and the challenges associated with the hypercapnic manipulation in AD patients and elderly participants. The present results are encouraging and demonstrate the promise of calibrated fMRI measurements as potential biomarkers in AD. Although CMRO2 can be imaged with 15O PET, the QUO2 method uses more widely available imaging infrastructure, avoids exposure to ionizing radiation, and integrates with other MRI-based measures of brain structure and function.

  14. Diagnostic benefits of presurgical fMRI in patients with brain tumours in the primary sensorimotor cortex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wengenroth, Martina; Blatow, M.; Guenther, J. [University of Heidelberg Medical School, Department of Neuroradiology, Heidelberg (Germany); Akbar, M. [University of Heidelberg Medical School, Department of Orthopaedics, Heidelberg (Germany); Tronnier, V.M. [University of Schleswig-Holstein, Department of Neurosurgery, Luebeck (Germany); Stippich, C. [University Hospital Basle, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Basle (Switzerland)

    2011-07-15

    Reliable imaging of eloquent tumour-adjacent brain areas is necessary for planning function-preserving neurosurgery. This study evaluates the potential diagnostic benefits of presurgical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in comparison to a detailed analysis of morphological MRI data. Standardised preoperative functional and structural neuroimaging was performed on 77 patients with rolandic mass lesions at 1.5 Tesla. The central region of both hemispheres was allocated using six morphological and three functional landmarks. fMRI enabled localisation of the motor hand area in 76/77 patients, which was significantly superior to analysis of structural MRI (confident localisation of motor hand area in 66/77 patients; p < 0.002). FMRI provided additional diagnostic information in 96% (tongue representation) and 97% (foot representation) of patients. FMRI-based presurgical risk assessment correlated in 88% with a positive postoperative clinical outcome. Routine presurgical FMRI allows for superior assessment of the spatial relationship between brain tumour and motor cortex compared with a very detailed analysis of structural 3D MRI, thus significantly facilitating the preoperative risk-benefit assessment and function-preserving surgery. The additional imaging time seems justified. FMRI has the potential to reduce postoperative morbidity and therefore hospitalisation time. (orig.)

  15. Hypoactivation of the primary sensorimotor cortex in de novo Parkinson's disease. A motor fMRI study under controlled conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tessa, Carlo; Vignali, Claudio; Lucetti, Claudio; Diciotti, Stefano; Paoli, Lorenzo; Ginestroni, Andrea; Mascalchi, Mario; Cecchi, Paolo; Baldacci, Filippo; Giannelli, Marco; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo

    2012-01-01

    Nuclear medicine studies in Parkinson's disease (PD) indicate that nigrostriatal damage causes a widespread cortical hypoactivity assumed to be due to reduced excitatory thalamic outflow. However, so far, functional MRI (fMRI) studies have provided controversial data about this ''functional deafferentation'' phenomenon. To further clarify this issue, we assessed, with fMRI, de novo drug-naive PD patients using a relatively complex motor task under strictly controlled conditions. Nineteen de novo PD patients with right-predominant or bilateral symptoms and 13 age-matched healthy volunteers performed continuous writing of ''8'' figures with the right-dominant hand using a MR-compatible device that enables identification of incorrectly performed tasks and measures the size and the frequency of the ''8''s. The data were analyzed with FSL software and correlated with the clinical severity rated according to the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) staging system. Fifteen (89%) of 19 PD patients and 12 (92%) of 13 controls correctly executed the task. PD patients showed significant hypoactivation of the left primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) and cerebellum and no hyperactive areas as compared to controls. However, activation in SM1 and supplementary motor area bilaterally, in left supramarginal, parietal inferior, parietal superior and frontal superior gyri as well as in right parietal superior and angular gyri paralleled increasing disease severity as assessed with the HY stage. In line with the ''deafferentation hypothesis'', fMRI demonstrates hypoactivation of the SM1 in the early clinical stage of PD. (orig.)

  16. How Verbal and Spatial Manipulation Networks Contribute to Calculation: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zago, Laure; Petit, Laurent; Turbelin, Marie-Renee; Andersson, Frederic; Vigneau, Mathieu; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

    2008-01-01

    The manipulation of numbers required during calculation is known to rely on working memory (WM) resources. Here, we investigated the respective contributions of verbal and/or spatial WM manipulation brain networks during the addition of four numbers performed by adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both manipulation and…

  17. Bayesian spatiotemporal model of fMRI data using transfer functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quirós, Alicia; Diez, Raquel Montes; Wilson, Simon P

    2010-09-01

    This research describes a new Bayesian spatiotemporal model to analyse BOLD fMRI studies. In the temporal dimension, we describe the shape of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) with a transfer function model. The spatial continuity and local homogeneity of the evoked responses are modelled by a Gaussian Markov random field prior on the parameter indicating activations. The proposal constitutes an extension of the spatiotemporal model presented in a previous approach [Quirós, A., Montes Diez, R. and Gamerman, D., 2010. Bayesian spatiotemporal model of fMRI data, Neuroimage, 49: 442-456], offering more flexibility in the estimation of the HRF and computational advantages in the resulting MCMC algorithm. Simulations from the model are performed in order to ascertain the performance of the sampling scheme and the ability of the posterior to estimate model parameters, as well as to check the model sensitivity to signal to noise ratio. Results are shown on synthetic data and on a real data set from a block-design fMRI experiment. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Determination of hemispheric dominance with mental rotation using functional transcranial Doppler sonography and FMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hattemer, Katja; Plate, Annika; Heverhagen, Johannes T; Haag, Anja; Keil, Boris; Klein, Karl Martin; Hermsen, Anke; Oertel, Wolfgang H; Hamer, Hajo M; Rosenow, Felix; Knake, Susanne

    2011-01-01

    the aim of this study was to investigate specific activation patterns and potential gender differences during mental rotation and to investigate whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) lateralize hemispheric dominance concordantly. regional brain activation and hemispheric dominance during mental rotation (cube perspective test) were investigated in 10 female and 10 male healthy subjects using fMRI and fTCD. significant activation was found in the superior parietal lobe, at the parieto-occipital border, in the middle and superior frontal gyrus bilaterally, and the right inferior frontal gyrus using fMRI. Men showed a stronger lateralization to the right hemisphere during fMRI and a tendency toward stronger right-hemispheric activation during fTCD. Furthermore, more activation in frontal and parieto-occipital regions of the right hemisphere was observed using fMRI. Hemispheric dominance for mental rotation determined by the 2 methods correlated well (P= .008), but did not show concordant results in every single subject. the neural basis of mental rotation depends on a widespread bilateral network. Hemispheric dominance for mental rotation determined by fMRI and fTCD, though correlating well, is not always concordant. Hemispheric lateralization of complex cortical functions such as spatial rotation therefore should be investigated using multimodal imaging approaches, especially if used clinically as a tool for the presurgical evaluation of patients undergoing neurosurgery. Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

  19. Brain Hypoactivation, Autonomic Nervous System Dysregulation, and Gonadal Hormones in Depression: A Preliminary Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holsen, Laura M.; Lee, Jong-Hwan; Spaeth, Sarah B.; Ogden, Lauren A.; Klibanski, Anne; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Sloan, Richard P.; Goldstein, Jill M.

    2012-01-01

    The comorbidity of major depressive disorder (MDD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is among the 10th leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Thus, understanding the co-occurrence of these disorders will have major public health significance. MDD is associated with an abnormal stress response, manifested in brain circuitry deficits, gonadal dysfunction, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation. Contribution of the relationships between these systems to the pathophysiology of MDD is not well understood. The objective of this preliminary study was to investigate, in parallel, relationships between HPG-axis functioning, stress response circuitry activation, and parasympathetic reactivity in healthy controls and women with MDD. Using fMRI with pulse oximetry [from which we calculated the high frequency (HF) component of R-R interval variability (HF-RRV), a measure of parasympathetic modulation] and hormone data, we studied eight women with recurrent MDD in remission and six controls during a stress response paradigm. We demonstrated that hypoactivations of hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and subgenual ACC were associated with lower parasympathetic cardiac modulation in MDD women. Estradiol and progesterone attenuated group differences in the effect of HF-RRV on hypoactivation in the amygdala, hippocampus, ACC, and OFC in MDD women. Findings have implications for understanding the relationship between mood, arousal, heart regulation, and gonadal hormones, and may provide insights into MDD and CVD risk comorbidity. PMID:22395084

  20. Learning by strategies and learning by drill--evidence from an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delazer, M; Ischebeck, A; Domahs, F; Zamarian, L; Koppelstaetter, F; Siedentopf, C M; Kaufmann, L; Benke, T; Felber, S

    2005-04-15

    The present fMRI study investigates, first, whether learning new arithmetic operations is reflected by changing cerebral activation patterns, and second, whether different learning methods lead to differential modifications of brain activation. In a controlled design, subjects were trained over a week on two new complex arithmetic operations, one operation trained by the application of back-up strategies, i.e., a sequence of arithmetic operations, the other by drill, i.e., by learning the association between the operands and the result. In the following fMRI session, new untrained items, items trained by strategy and items trained by drill, were assessed using an event-related design. Untrained items as compared to trained showed large bilateral parietal activations, with the focus of activation along the right intraparietal sulcus. Further foci of activation were found in both inferior frontal gyri. The reverse contrast, trained vs. untrained, showed a more focused activation pattern with activation in both angular gyri. As suggested by the specific activation patterns, newly acquired expertise was implemented in previously existing networks of arithmetic processing and memory. Comparisons between drill and strategy conditions suggest that successful retrieval was associated with different brain activation patterns reflecting the underlying learning methods. While the drill condition more strongly activated medial parietal regions extending to the left angular gyrus, the strategy condition was associated to the activation of the precuneus which may be accounted for by visual imagery in memory retrieval.

  1. Brain activation in response to visceral stimulation in rats with amygdala implants of corticosterone: an FMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony C Johnson

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Although visceral pain of gastrointestinal (GI origin is the major complaint in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS it remains poorly understood. Brain imaging studies suggest a defect in brain-gut communication in IBS with a greater activation of central arousal circuits including the amygdala. Previously, we found that stereotaxic implantation of corticosterone (CORT onto the amygdala in rats induced anxiety and colonic hypersensitivity. In the present study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to identify specific brain sites activated in a rat model characterized by anxiety and colonic hypersensitivity.Anesthetized male rats received micropellets (30 microg each of either CORT or cholesterol (CHOL, to serve as a control, implanted stereotaxically on the dorsal margin of each amygdala. Seven days later, rats were anesthetized and placed in the fMRI magnet (7T. A series of isobaric colorectal balloon distensions (CRD - 90s 'off', 30s 'on', 8 replicates at two pressures (40 and 60 mmHg were performed in a standard block-design. Cross correlation statistical analysis was used to determine significant differences between distended and non-distended states in CORT and CHOL-treated animals. Analysis of the imaging data demonstrated greater overall brain activation in response to CRD in rats with CORT implants compared to CHOL controls. Additionally, CORT implants produced significant positive bilateral increases in MRI signal in response to CRD in specific nuclei known as integration sites important in anxiety and pain perception.These data indicate that chronic exposure of the amygdala to elevated levels of CORT enhances overall brain activation in response to CRD, and identified other specific brain regions activated in response to mechanical distension of the colon. These results demonstrate the feasibility of performing fMRI imaging in a rodent model that supports clinical observations in IBS patients with enhanced

  2. Virtual visual reminiscing pain stimulation of allodynia patients activates cortical representation of pain and emotions. fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ikemoto, Tatsunori; Ushida, Takahiro; Taniguchi, Shinichirou; Tania, Toshikazu; Zinchuk, V.; Morio, Kazuo; Sasaki, Toshikazu

    2004-01-01

    It is widely known that sensation of the pain is derived from sensory-discriminative factor and emotional factor. Especially in chronic pain, emotional factors and psychosocial backgrounds are more likely to contribute for the patients' discomfort. The aim of this study is to investigate how emotional factor of pain participates in intractable pain. We employed functional MRI (fMRI) to compare the brain activations occurring in the orthopaedic neuropathic pain patients with allodynia and normal individuals in response to the visual virtual painful experience. During fMRI scanning, a video demonstrating an actual tactile stimulation of the palm and its imitation were shown to participants. In contrast to normal individuals, allodynia patients also displayed activation of the areas reflecting emotions: frontal lobe and anterior cingulate. These findings suggest that brain have important role in the development and maintaining of peripheral originated chronic painful condition. (author)

  3. Topologic analysis and comparison of brain activation in children with epilepsy versus controls: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oweis, Khalid J.; Berl, Madison M.; Gaillard, William D.; Duke, Elizabeth S.; Blackstone, Kaitlin; Loew, Murray H.; Zara, Jason M.

    2010-03-01

    This paper describes the development of novel computer-aided analysis algorithms to identify the language activation patterns at a certain Region of Interest (ROI) in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Previous analysis techniques have been used to compare typical and pathologic activation patterns in fMRI images resulting from identical tasks but none of them analyzed activation topographically in a quantitative manner. This paper presents new analysis techniques and algorithms capable of identifying a pattern of language activation associated with localization related epilepsy. fMRI images of 64 healthy individuals and 31 patients with localization related epilepsy have been studied and analyzed on an ROI basis. All subjects are right handed with normal MRI scans and have been classified into three age groups (4-6, 7-9, 10-12 years). Our initial efforts have focused on investigating activation in the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (LIFG). A number of volumetric features have been extracted from the data. The LIFG has been cut into slices and the activation has been investigated topographically on a slice by slice basis. Overall, a total of 809 features have been extracted, and correlation analysis was applied to eliminate highly correlated features. Principal Component analysis was then applied to account only for major components in the data and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) has been applied to test for significantly different features between normal and patient groups. Twenty Nine features have were found to be significantly different (p<0.05) between patient and control groups

  4. Neural correlates of vocal learning in songbirds and humans: cross-species fMRI studies into individual differences

    OpenAIRE

    Kant, Anne Marie van der

    2015-01-01

    Animal models, songbirds particularly, are increasingly used to study the human capacity for speech and language. In the light of understanding both language evolution and individual language acquisition these models are highly valuable, provided that they are studied within a valid comparative framework. In the past few decades, non-invasive methods such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) have become available for human as well as animal bra...

  5. Autogenic training alters cerebral activation patterns in fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlamann, Marc; Naglatzki, Ryan; de Greiff, Armin; Forsting, Michael; Gizewski, Elke R

    2010-10-01

    Cerebral activation patterns during the first three auto-suggestive phases of autogenic training (AT) were investigated in relation to perceived experiences. Nineteen volunteers trained in AT and 19 controls were studied with fMRI during the first steps of autogenic training. FMRI revealed activation of the left postcentral areas during AT in those with experience in AT, which also correlated with the level of AT experience. Activation of prefrontal and insular cortex was significantly higher in the group with experience in AT while insular activation was correlated with number years of simple relaxation exercises. Specific activation in subjects experienced in AT may represent a training effect. Furthermore, the correlation of insular activation suggests that these subjects are different from untrained subjects in emotional processing or self-awareness.

  6. RETROSPECTIVE DETECTION OF INTERLEAVED SLICE ACQUISITION PARAMETERS FROM FMRI DATA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, David; Rotival, Georges; Laine, Andrew; Razlighi, Qolamreza R.

    2015-01-01

    To minimize slice excitation leakage to adjacent slices, interleaved slice acquisition is nowadays performed regularly in fMRI scanners. In interleaved slice acquisition, the number of slices skipped between two consecutive slice acquisitions is often referred to as the ‘interleave parameter’; the loss of this parameter can be catastrophic for the analysis of fMRI data. In this article we present a method to retrospectively detect the interleave parameter and the axis in which it is applied. Our method relies on the smoothness of the temporal-distance correlation function, which becomes disrupted along the axis on which interleaved slice acquisition is applied. We examined this method on simulated and real data in the presence of fMRI artifacts such as physiological noise, motion, etc. We also examined the reliability of this method in detecting different types of interleave parameters and demonstrated an accuracy of about 94% in more than 1000 real fMRI scans. PMID:26161244

  7. Resting-state fMRI study of acute migraine treatment with kinetic oscillation stimulation in nasal cavity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tie-Qiang Li

    2016-01-01

    The result of this study confirms the efficacy of KOS treatment for relieving acute migraine symptoms and reducing attack frequency. Resting-state fMRI measurements demonstrate that migraine is associated with aberrant intrinsic functional activity in the limbic and primary sensory systems. KOS in the nasal cavity gives rise to the adjustment of the intrinsic functional activity in the limbic and primary sensory networks and restores the physiological homeostasis in the autonomic nervous system.

  8. Sex-dependent dissociation between emotional appraisal and memory: a large-scale behavioral and fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spalek, Klara; Fastenrath, Matthias; Ackermann, Sandra; Auschra, Bianca; Coynel, David; Frey, Julia; Gschwind, Leo; Hartmann, Francina; van der Maarel, Nadine; Papassotiropoulos, Andreas; de Quervain, Dominique; Milnik, Annette

    2015-01-21

    Extensive evidence indicates that women outperform men in episodic memory tasks. Furthermore, women are known to evaluate emotional stimuli as more arousing than men. Because emotional arousal typically increases episodic memory formation, the females' memory advantage might be more pronounced for emotionally arousing information than for neutral information. Here, we report behavioral data from 3398 subjects, who performed picture rating and memory tasks, and corresponding fMRI data from up to 696 subjects. We were interested in the interaction between sex and valence category on emotional appraisal, memory performances, and fMRI activity. The behavioral results showed that females evaluate in particular negative (p pictures, as emotionally more arousing (pinteraction recall females outperformed males not only in positive (p picture recall (p pictures (pinteraction memory advantage during free recall was absent in a recognition setting. We identified activation differences in fMRI, which corresponded to the females' stronger appraisal of especially negative pictures, but no activation differences that reflected the interaction effect in the free recall memory task. In conclusion, females' valence-category-specific memory advantage is only observed in a free recall, but not a recognition setting and does not depend on females' higher emotional appraisal. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/350920-16$15.00/0.

  9. Nonlinear complexity analysis of brain FMRI signals in schizophrenia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moses O Sokunbi

    Full Text Available We investigated the differences in brain fMRI signal complexity in patients with schizophrenia while performing the Cyberball social exclusion task, using measures of Sample entropy and Hurst exponent (H. 13 patients meeting diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM IV criteria for schizophrenia and 16 healthy controls underwent fMRI scanning at 1.5 T. The fMRI data of both groups of participants were pre-processed, the entropy characterized and the Hurst exponent extracted. Whole brain entropy and H maps of the groups were generated and analysed. The results after adjusting for age and sex differences together show that patients with schizophrenia exhibited higher complexity than healthy controls, at mean whole brain and regional levels. Also, both Sample entropy and Hurst exponent agree that patients with schizophrenia have more complex fMRI signals than healthy controls. These results suggest that schizophrenia is associated with more complex signal patterns when compared to healthy controls, supporting the increase in complexity hypothesis, where system complexity increases with age or disease, and also consistent with the notion that schizophrenia is characterised by a dysregulation of the nonlinear dynamics of underlying neuronal systems.

  10. Test-retest reliability of evoked BOLD signals from a cognitive-emotive fMRI test battery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plichta, Michael M; Schwarz, Adam J; Grimm, Oliver; Morgen, Katrin; Mier, Daniela; Haddad, Leila; Gerdes, Antje B M; Sauer, Carina; Tost, Heike; Esslinger, Christine; Colman, Peter; Wilson, Frederick; Kirsch, Peter; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas

    2012-04-15

    Even more than in cognitive research applications, moving fMRI to the clinic and the drug development process requires the generation of stable and reliable signal changes. The performance characteristics of the fMRI paradigm constrain experimental power and may require different study designs (e.g., crossover vs. parallel groups), yet fMRI reliability characteristics can be strongly dependent on the nature of the fMRI task. The present study investigated both within-subject and group-level reliability of a combined three-task fMRI battery targeting three systems of wide applicability in clinical and cognitive neuroscience: an emotional (face matching), a motivational (monetary reward anticipation) and a cognitive (n-back working memory) task. A group of 25 young, healthy volunteers were scanned twice on a 3T MRI scanner with a mean test-retest interval of 14.6 days. FMRI reliability was quantified using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) applied at three different levels ranging from a global to a localized and fine spatial scale: (1) reliability of group-level activation maps over the whole brain and within targeted regions of interest (ROIs); (2) within-subject reliability of ROI-mean amplitudes and (3) within-subject reliability of individual voxels in the target ROIs. Results showed robust evoked activation of all three tasks in their respective target regions (emotional task=amygdala; motivational task=ventral striatum; cognitive task=right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortices) with high effect sizes (ES) of ROI-mean summary values (ES=1.11-1.44 for the faces task, 0.96-1.43 for the reward task, 0.83-2.58 for the n-back task). Reliability of group level activation was excellent for all three tasks with ICCs of 0.89-0.98 at the whole brain level and 0.66-0.97 within target ROIs. Within-subject reliability of ROI-mean amplitudes across sessions was fair to good for the reward task (ICCs=0.56-0.62) and, dependent on the particular ROI

  11. Encoding and retrieval of landmark-related spatial cues during navigation: An fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wegman, J.B.T.; Tyborowska, A.B.; Janzen, G.

    2014-01-01

    To successfully navigate, humans can use different cues from their surroundings. Learning locations in an environment can be supported by parallel subsystems in the hippocampus and the striatum. We used fMRI to look at differences in the use of object-related spatial cues while 47 participants

  12. Visual Network Asymmetry and Default Mode Network Function in ADHD: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Sigi eHale

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: A growing body of research has identified abnormal visual information processing in ADHD. In particular, slow processing speed and increased reliance on visuo-perceptual strategies have become evident. Objective: The current study used recently developed fMRI methods to replicate and further examine abnormal rightward biased visual information processing in ADHD and to further characterize the nature of this effect; we tested its association to several large-scale distributed network systems. Method: We examined fMRI BOLD response during letter and location judgment tasks, and directly assessed visual network asymmetry and its association to large-scale networks using both a voxelwise and an averaged signal approach. Results: Initial within-group analyses revealed a pattern of left lateralized visual cortical activity in controls but right lateralized visual cortical activity in ADHD children. Direct analyses of visual network asymmetry confirmed atypical rightward bias in ADHD children compared to controls. This ADHD characteristic was atypically associated with reduced activation across several extra-visual networks, including the default mode network (DMN. We also found atypical associations between DMN activation and ADHD subjects’ inattentive symptoms and task performance. Conclusion: The current study demonstrated rightward VNA in ADHD during a simple letter discrimination task. This result adds an important novel consideration to the growing literature identifying abnormal visual processing in ADHD. We postulate that this characteristic reflects greater perceptual engagement of task-extraneous content, and that it may be a basic feature of less efficient top-down task-directed control over visual processing. We additionally argue that abnormal DMN function may contribute to this characteristic.

  13. Serial changes of humor comprehension for four-frame comic Manga: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osaka, Mariko; Yaoi, Ken; Minamoto, Takehiro; Osaka, Naoyuki

    2014-07-25

    Serial changes of humor comprehension evoked by a well organized four-frame comic Manga were investigated by fMRI in each step of humor comprehension. The neural substrates underlying the amusing effects in response to funny and mixed order manga were compared. In accordance with the time course of the four frames, fMRI activations changed serially. Beginning with the second frame (development scene), activation of the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) was observed, followed by activations in the temporal and frontal areas during viewing of the third frame (turn scene). For the fourth frame (punch line), strong increased activations were confirmed in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and cerebellum. Interestingly, distinguishable activation differences in the cerebellum between funny and non-funny conditions were also found for the fourth frame. These findings suggest that humor comprehension evokes activation that initiates in the TPJ and expands to the MPFC and cerebellum at the convergence level.

  14. Functional connectivity associated with social networks in older adults: A resting-state fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillemer, Sarah; Holtzer, Roee; Blumen, Helena M

    2017-06-01

    Poor social networks and decreased levels of social support are associated with worse mood, health, and cognition in younger and older adults. Yet, we know very little about the brain substrates associated with social networks and social support, particularly in older adults. This study examined functional brain substrates associated with social networks using the Social Network Index (SNI) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting-state fMRI data from 28 non-demented older adults were analyzed with independent components analyses. As expected, four established resting-state networks-previously linked to motor, vision, speech, and other language functions-correlated with the quality (SNI-1: total number of high-contact roles of a respondent) and quantity (SNI-2: total number of individuals in a respondent's social network) of social networks: a sensorimotor, a visual, a vestibular/insular, and a left frontoparietal network. Moreover, SNI-1 was associated with greater functional connectivity in the lateral prefrontal regions of the left frontoparietal network, while SNI-2 was associated with greater functional connectivity in the medial prefrontal regions of this network. Thus, lateral prefrontal regions may be particularly linked to the quality of social networks while medial prefrontal regions may be particularly linked to the quantity of social networks.

  15. Applying independent component analysis to clinical fMRI at 7 T

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Daniel Robinson

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Increased BOLD sensitivity at 7 T offers the possibility to increase the reliability of fMRI, but ultra-high field is also associated with an increase in artifacts related to head motion, Nyquist ghosting and parallel imaging reconstruction errors. In this study, the ability of Independent Component Analysis (ICA to separate activation from these artifacts was assessed in a 7 T study of neurological patients performing chin and hand motor tasks. ICA was able to isolate primary motor activation with negligible contamination by motion effects. The results of General Linear Model (GLM analysis of these data were, in contrast, heavily contaminated by motion. Secondary motor areas, basal ganglia and thalamus involvement were apparent in ICA results, but there was low capability to isolate activation in the same brain regions in the GLM analysis, indicating that ICA was more sensitive as well as more specific. A method was developed to simplify the assessment of the large number of independent components. Task-related activation components could be automatically identified via intuitive and effective features. These findings demonstrate that ICA is a practical and sensitive analysis approach in high field fMRI studies, particularly where motion is evoked. Promising applications of ICA in clinical fMRI include presurgical planning and the study of pathologies affecting subcortical brain areas.

  16. Coping with Self-Threat and the Evaluation of Self-Related Traits: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Hoefler

    Full Text Available A positive view of oneself is important for a healthy lifestyle. Self-protection mechanisms such as suppressing negative self-related information help us to maintain a positive view of ourselves. This is of special relevance when, for instance, a negative test result threatens our positive self-view. To date, it is not clear which brain areas support self-protective mechanisms under self-threat. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study the participants (N = 46 received a (negative vs. positive performance test feedback before entering the scanner. In the scanner, the participants were instructed to ascribe personality traits either to themselves or to a famous other. Our results showed that participants responded slower to negative self-related traits compared to positive self-related traits. High self-esteem individuals responded slower to negative traits compared to low self-esteem individuals following a self-threat. This indicates that high self-esteem individuals engage more in self-enhancing strategies after a threat by inhibiting negative self-related information more successfully than low self-esteem individuals. This behavioral pattern was mirrored in the fMRI data as dACC correlated positively with trait self-esteem. Generally, ACC activation was attenuated under threat when participants evaluated self-relevant traits and even more for negative self-related traits. We also found that activation in the ACC was negatively correlated with response times, indicating that greater activation of the ACC is linked to better access (faster response to positive self-related traits and to impaired access (slower response to negative self-related traits. These results confirm the ACC function as important in managing threatened self-worth but indicate differences in trait self-esteem levels. The fMRI analyses also revealed a decrease in activation within the left Hippocampus and the right thalamus under threat. This

  17. Coping with Self-Threat and the Evaluation of Self-Related Traits: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corcoran, Katja; Ebner, Franz

    2015-01-01

    A positive view of oneself is important for a healthy lifestyle. Self-protection mechanisms such as suppressing negative self-related information help us to maintain a positive view of ourselves. This is of special relevance when, for instance, a negative test result threatens our positive self-view. To date, it is not clear which brain areas support self-protective mechanisms under self-threat. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study the participants (N = 46) received a (negative vs. positive) performance test feedback before entering the scanner. In the scanner, the participants were instructed to ascribe personality traits either to themselves or to a famous other. Our results showed that participants responded slower to negative self-related traits compared to positive self-related traits. High self-esteem individuals responded slower to negative traits compared to low self-esteem individuals following a self-threat. This indicates that high self-esteem individuals engage more in self-enhancing strategies after a threat by inhibiting negative self-related information more successfully than low self-esteem individuals. This behavioral pattern was mirrored in the fMRI data as dACC correlated positively with trait self-esteem. Generally, ACC activation was attenuated under threat when participants evaluated self-relevant traits and even more for negative self-related traits. We also found that activation in the ACC was negatively correlated with response times, indicating that greater activation of the ACC is linked to better access (faster response) to positive self-related traits and to impaired access (slower response) to negative self-related traits. These results confirm the ACC function as important in managing threatened self-worth but indicate differences in trait self-esteem levels. The fMRI analyses also revealed a decrease in activation within the left Hippocampus and the right thalamus under threat. This indicates that a down

  18. Blood Flow and Brain Function: Investigations of neurovascular coupling using BOLD fMRI at 7 tesla

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Siero, J.C.W.

    2013-01-01

    The advent of ultra high field (7 tesla) MRI systems has opened the possibility to probe biological processes of the human body in great detail. Especially for studying brain function using BOLD fMRI there is a large benefit from the increased magnetic field strength. BOLD fMRI is the working horse

  19. Differential involvement of cortical and cerebellar areas using dominant and nondominant hands: An FMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pardini, Matteo; Samson, Rebecca S.; D'Angelo, Egidio; Friston, Karl J.; Toosy, Ahmed T.; Gandini Wheeler‐Kingshott, Claudia A.M.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Motor fMRI studies, comparing dominant (DH) and nondominant (NDH) hand activations have reported mixed findings, especially for the extent of ipsilateral (IL) activations and their relationship with task complexity. To date, no study has directly compared DH and NDH activations using an event‐related visually guided dynamic power‐grip paradigm with parametric (three) forces (GF) in healthy right‐handed subjects. We implemented a hierarchical statistical approach aimed to: (i) identify the main effect networks engaged when using either hand; (ii) characterise DH/NDH responses at different GFs; (iii) assess contralateral (CL)/IL‐specific and hemisphere‐specific activations. Beyond confirming previously reported results, this study demonstrated that increasing GF has an effect on motor response that is contextualised also by the use of DH or NDH. Linear analysis revealed increased activations in sensorimotor areas, with additional increased recruitments of subcortical and cerebellar areas when using the NDH. When looking at CL/IL‐specific activations, CL sensorimotor areas and IL cerebellum were activated with both hands. When performing the task with the NDH, several areas were also recruited including the CL cerebellum. Finally, there were hand‐side‐independent activations of nonmotor‐specific areas in the right and left hemispheres, with the right hemisphere being involved more extensively in sensori‐motor integration through associative areas while the left hemisphere showing greater activation at higher GF. This study shows that the functional networks subtending DH/NDH power‐grip visuomotor functions are qualitatively and quantitatively distinct and this should be taken into consideration when performing fMRI studies, particularly when planning interventions in patients with specific impairments. Hum Brain Mapp 36:5079–5100, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:26415818

  20. Categorical speech processing in Broca's area: an fMRI study using multivariate pattern-based analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yune-Sang; Turkeltaub, Peter; Granger, Richard; Raizada, Rajeev D S

    2012-03-14

    Although much effort has been directed toward understanding the neural basis of speech processing, the neural processes involved in the categorical perception of speech have been relatively less studied, and many questions remain open. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we probed the cortical regions mediating categorical speech perception using an advanced brain-mapping technique, whole-brain multivariate pattern-based analysis (MVPA). Normal healthy human subjects (native English speakers) were scanned while they listened to 10 consonant-vowel syllables along the /ba/-/da/ continuum. Outside of the scanner, individuals' own category boundaries were measured to divide the fMRI data into /ba/ and /da/ conditions per subject. The whole-brain MVPA revealed that Broca's area and the left pre-supplementary motor area evoked distinct neural activity patterns between the two perceptual categories (/ba/ vs /da/). Broca's area was also found when the same analysis was applied to another dataset (Raizada and Poldrack, 2007), which previously yielded the supramarginal gyrus using a univariate adaptation-fMRI paradigm. The consistent MVPA findings from two independent datasets strongly indicate that Broca's area participates in categorical speech perception, with a possible role of translating speech signals into articulatory codes. The difference in results between univariate and multivariate pattern-based analyses of the same data suggest that processes in different cortical areas along the dorsal speech perception stream are distributed on different spatial scales.

  1. Comparison of fMRI paradigms assessing visuospatial processing: Robustness and reproducibility.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Verena Schuster

    Full Text Available The development of brain imaging techniques, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, made it possible to non-invasively study the hemispheric lateralization of cognitive brain functions in large cohorts. Comprehensive models of hemispheric lateralization are, however, still missing and should not only account for the hemispheric specialization of individual brain functions, but also for the interactions among different lateralized cognitive processes (e.g., language and visuospatial processing. This calls for robust and reliable paradigms to study hemispheric lateralization for various cognitive functions. While numerous reliable imaging paradigms have been developed for language, which represents the most prominent left-lateralized brain function, the reliability of imaging paradigms investigating typically right-lateralized brain functions, such as visuospatial processing, has received comparatively less attention. In the present study, we aimed to establish an fMRI paradigm that robustly and reliably identifies right-hemispheric activation evoked by visuospatial processing in individual subjects. In a first study, we therefore compared three frequently used paradigms for assessing visuospatial processing and evaluated their utility to robustly detect right-lateralized brain activity on a single-subject level. In a second study, we then assessed the test-retest reliability of the so-called Landmark task-the paradigm that yielded the most robust results in study 1. At the single-voxel level, we found poor reliability of the brain activation underlying visuospatial attention. This suggests that poor signal-to-noise ratios can become a limiting factor for test-retest reliability. This represents a common detriment of fMRI paradigms investigating visuospatial attention in general and therefore highlights the need for careful considerations of both the possibilities and limitations of the respective fMRI paradigm-in particular

  2. In vivo functional connectome of human brainstem nuclei of the ascending arousal, autonomic, and motor systems by high spatial resolution 7-Tesla fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bianciardi, Marta; Toschi, Nicola; Eichner, Cornelius; Polimeni, Jonathan R; Setsompop, Kawin; Brown, Emery N; Hämäläinen, Matti S; Rosen, Bruce R; Wald, Lawrence L

    2016-06-01

    Our aim was to map the in vivo human functional connectivity of several brainstem nuclei with the rest of the brain by using seed-based correlation of ultra-high magnetic field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. We used the recently developed template of 11 brainstem nuclei derived from multi-contrast structural MRI at 7 Tesla as seed regions to determine their connectivity to the rest of the brain. To achieve this, we used the increased contrast-to-noise ratio of 7-Tesla fMRI compared with 3 Tesla and time-efficient simultaneous multi-slice imaging to cover the brain with high spatial resolution (1.1-mm isotropic nominal resolution) while maintaining a short repetition time (2.5 s). The delineated Pearson's correlation-based functional connectivity diagrams (connectomes) of 11 brainstem nuclei of the ascending arousal, motor, and autonomic systems from 12 controls are presented and discussed in the context of existing histology and animal work. Considering that the investigated brainstem nuclei play a crucial role in several vital functions, the delineated preliminary connectomes might prove useful for future in vivo research and clinical studies of human brainstem function and pathology, including disorders of consciousness, sleep disorders, autonomic disorders, Parkinson's disease, and other motor disorders.

  3. Convergence of EEG and fMRI measures of reward anticipation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorka, Stephanie M; Phan, K Luan; Shankman, Stewart A

    2015-12-01

    Deficits in reward anticipation are putative mechanisms for multiple psychopathologies. Research indicates that these deficits are characterized by reduced left (relative to right) frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal abnormalities in mesolimbic and prefrontal neural regions during reward anticipation. Although it is often assumed that these two measures capture similar mechanisms, no study to our knowledge has directly examined the convergence between frontal EEG alpha asymmetry and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during reward anticipation in the same sample. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate if and where in the brain frontal EEG alpha asymmetry and fMRI measures were correlated in a sample of 40 adults. All participants completed two analogous reward anticipation tasks--once during EEG data collection and the other during fMRI data collection. Results indicated that the two measures do converge and that during reward anticipation, increased relative left frontal activity is associated with increased left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activation. This suggests that the two measures may similarly capture PFC functioning, which is noteworthy given the role of these regions in reward processing and the pathophysiology of disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Application of fMRI to obesity research: differences in reward pathway activation measured with fMRI BOLD during visual presentation of high and low calorie foods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsao, Sinchai; Adam, Tanja C.; Goran, Michael I.; Singh, Manbir

    2012-03-01

    The factors behind the neural mechanisms that motivate food choice and obesity are not well known. Furthermore, it is not known when these neural mechanisms develop and how they are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. This study uses fMRI together with clinical data to shed light on the aforementioned questions by investigating how appetite-related activation in the brain changes with low versus high caloric foods in pre-pubescent girls. Previous studies have shown that obese adults have less striatal D2 receptors and thus reduced Dopamine (DA) signaling leading to the reward-deficit theory of obesity. However, overeating in itself reduces D2 receptor density, D2 sensitivity and thus reward sensitivity. The results of this study will show how early these neural mechanisms develop and what effect the drastic endocrinological changes during puberty has on these mechanisms. Our preliminary results showed increased activations in the Putamen, Insula, Thalamus and Hippocampus when looking at activations where High Calorie > Low Calorie. When comparing High Calorie > Control and Low Calorie > Control, the High > Control test showed increased significant activation in the frontal lobe. The Low > Control also yielded significant activation in the Left and Right Fusiform Gyrus, which did not appear in the High > Control test. These results indicate that the reward pathway activations previously shown in post-puberty and adults are present in pre-pubescent teens. These results may suggest that some of the preferential neural mechanisms of reward are already present pre-puberty.

  5. Psychophysiological interaction between superior temporal gyrus (STG) and cerebellum: An fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yusoff, A. N.; Teng, X. L.; Ng, S. B.; Hamid, A. I. A.; Mukari, S. Z. M.

    2016-03-01

    This study aimed to model the psychophysiological interaction (PPI) between the bilateral STG and cerebellum (lobule VI and lobule VII) during an arithmetic addition task. Eighteen young adults participated in this study. They were instructed to solve single-digit addition tasks in quiet and noisy backgrounds during an fMRI scan. Results showed that in both hemispheres, the response in the cerebellum was found to be linearly influenced by the activity in STG (vice-versa) for both in-quiet and in-noise conditions. However, the influence of the cerebellum on STG seemed to be modulated by noise. A two-way PPI model between STG and cerebellum is suggested. The connectivity between the two regions during a simple addition task in a noisy condition is modulated by the participants’ higher attention to perceive.

  6. Reorganization of Language Areas in Patient with a Frontal Lobe Low Grade Glioma – fMRI Case Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kośla, Katarzyna; Bryszewski, Bartosz; Jaskólski, Dariusz; Błasiak-Kołacińska, Nina; Stefańczyk, Ludomir; Majos, Agata

    2015-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies results in case of an adult patient with low grade glioma (LGG) in dominant hemisphere suggest brain plasticity process with acquisition of language functions by the non-dominant hemisphere speech regions. A 36-years old right-handed woman was admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery for surgical treatment of brain tumor. An MRI examination revealed a pathological mass in the left frontal lobe, in close topographical relationship to the Broca’s area. A left fronto-parietal craniotomy was performed, with an intraoperative awake language mapping procedure. A total resection of the pathological mass was achieved. The tumor was examined histologically as LGG. In the follow-up MRI exam 32 months after the operation a tumor recurrence was suggested. The fMRI exams performed preoperative and 3, 32 and 41 months after the operation showed changes in language regions activation patterns, with a progressive right-sided activation of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Pre- and postoperative cognitive evaluation by a neuropsychologist did not detect any language impairment. We present a running process of reorganization of language areas in a patient after brain tumor resection, from strong left-sided to symmetrical lateralization. 1. FMRI results in comparison with the psychological status of the patient proved contribution of functional reorganization to the preservation of language performance. 2. A slow growing LGG as well as the recurrence of the tumor near the left Broca’s area might be the factors leading to reorganization of language-related areas by recruiting the right hemisphe

  7. Age-Dependent Mesial Temporal Lobe Lateralization in Language FMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sepeta, Leigh N.; Berl, Madison M.; Wilke, Marko; You, Xiaozhen; Mehta, Meera; Xu, Benjamin; Inati, Sara; Dustin, Irene; Khan, Omar; Austermuehle, Alison; Theodore, William H.; Gaillard, William D.

    2015-01-01

    Objective FMRI activation of the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) may be important for epilepsy surgical planning. We examined MTL activation and lateralization during language fMRI in children and adults with focal epilepsy. Methods 142 controls and patients with left hemisphere focal epilepsy (Pediatric: epilepsy, n = 17, mean age = 9.9 ± 2.0; controls, n = 48; mean age = 9.1 ± 2.6; Adult: epilepsy, n = 20, mean age = 26.7 ± 5.8; controls, n = 57, mean age = 26.2 ± 7.5) underwent 3T fMRI using a language task (auditory description decision task). Image processing and analyses were conducted in SPM8; ROIs included MTL, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area. We assessed group and individual MTL activation, and examined degree of lateralization. Results Patients and controls (pediatric and adult) demonstrated group and individual MTL activation during language fMRI. MTL activation was left lateralized for adults but less so in children (p’s < 0.005). Patients did not differ from controls in either age group. Stronger left-lateralized MTL activation was related to older age (p = 0.02). Language lateralization (Broca’s and Wernicke’s) predicted 19% of the variance in MTL lateralization for adults (p = 0.001), but not children. Significance Language fMRI may be used to elicit group and individual MTL activation. The developmental difference in MTL lateralization and its association with language lateralization suggests a developmental shift in lateralization of MTL function, with increased left lateralization across the age span. This shift may help explain why children have better memory outcomes following resection compared to adults. PMID:26696589

  8. Multivoxel Pattern Analysis for fMRI Data: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdelhak Mahmoudi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI exploits blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD contrasts to map neural activity associated with a variety of brain functions including sensory processing, motor control, and cognitive and emotional functions. The general linear model (GLM approach is used to reveal task-related brain areas by searching for linear correlations between the fMRI time course and a reference model. One of the limitations of the GLM approach is the assumption that the covariance across neighbouring voxels is not informative about the cognitive function under examination. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA represents a promising technique that is currently exploited to investigate the information contained in distributed patterns of neural activity to infer the functional role of brain areas and networks. MVPA is considered as a supervised classification problem where a classifier attempts to capture the relationships between spatial pattern of fMRI activity and experimental conditions. In this paper , we review MVPA and describe the mathematical basis of the classification algorithms used for decoding fMRI signals, such as support vector machines (SVMs. In addition, we describe the workflow of processing steps required for MVPA such as feature selection, dimensionality reduction, cross-validation, and classifier performance estimation based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC curves.

  9. Multivoxel Pattern Analysis for fMRI Data: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takerkart, Sylvain; Regragui, Fakhita; Boussaoud, Driss; Brovelli, Andrea

    2012-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) exploits blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrasts to map neural activity associated with a variety of brain functions including sensory processing, motor control, and cognitive and emotional functions. The general linear model (GLM) approach is used to reveal task-related brain areas by searching for linear correlations between the fMRI time course and a reference model. One of the limitations of the GLM approach is the assumption that the covariance across neighbouring voxels is not informative about the cognitive function under examination. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) represents a promising technique that is currently exploited to investigate the information contained in distributed patterns of neural activity to infer the functional role of brain areas and networks. MVPA is considered as a supervised classification problem where a classifier attempts to capture the relationships between spatial pattern of fMRI activity and experimental conditions. In this paper , we review MVPA and describe the mathematical basis of the classification algorithms used for decoding fMRI signals, such as support vector machines (SVMs). In addition, we describe the workflow of processing steps required for MVPA such as feature selection, dimensionality reduction, cross-validation, and classifier performance estimation based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. PMID:23401720

  10. A task-related and resting state realistic fMRI simulator for fMRI data validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Jason E.; Liu, Xiangyu; Nutter, Brian; Mitra, Sunanda

    2017-02-01

    After more than 25 years of published functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, careful scrutiny reveals that most of the reported results lack fully decisive validation. The complex nature of fMRI data generation and acquisition results in unavoidable uncertainties in the true estimation and interpretation of both task-related activation maps and resting state functional connectivity networks, despite the use of various statistical data analysis methodologies. The goal of developing the proposed STANCE (Spontaneous and Task-related Activation of Neuronally Correlated Events) simulator is to generate realistic task-related and/or resting-state 4D blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals, given the experimental paradigm and scan protocol, by using digital phantoms of twenty normal brains available from BrainWeb (http://brainweb.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/brainweb/). The proposed simulator will include estimated system and modelled physiological noise as well as motion to serve as a reference to measured brain activities. In its current form, STANCE is a MATLAB toolbox with command line functions serving as an open-source add-on to SPM8 (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/software/spm8/). The STANCE simulator has been designed in a modular framework so that the hemodynamic response (HR) and various noise models can be iteratively improved to include evolving knowledge about such models.

  11. R and D Requirements, RF Gun Mode Studies, FEL-2 Steady-State Studies, Preliminary FEL-1 Time-Dependent Studies, and Preliminary Layout Option Investigation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byrd, John; Corlett, John; Doolittle, Larry; Fawley, William; Lidia, Steven; Penn, Gregory; Ratti, Alex; Staples, John; Wilcox Russell; Wurtele, Jonathan; Zholents, Alexander

    2005-01-01

    This report constitutes the third deliverable of LBNLs contracted role in the FERMI (at) Elettra Technical Optimization study. It describes proposed RandD activities for the baseline design of the Technical Optimization Study, initial studies of the RF gun mode-coupling and potential effects on beam dynamics, steady-state studies of FEL-2 performance to 10 nm, preliminary studies of time-dependent FEL-1 performance using electron bunch distribution from the start-to-end studies, and a preliminary investigation of a configuration with FEL sinclined at a small angle from the line of the linac

  12. Cerebral somatic pain modulation during autogenic training in fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naglatzki, R P; Schlamann, M; Gasser, T; Ladd, M E; Sure, U; Forsting, M; Gizewski, E R

    2012-10-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are increasingly employed in different conscious states. Autogenic training (AT) is a common clinically used relaxation method. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cerebral modulation of pain activity patterns due to AT and to correlate the effects to the degree of experience with AT and strength of stimuli. Thirteen volunteers familiar with AT were studied with fMRI during painful electrical stimulation in a block design alternating between resting state and electrical stimulation, both without AT and while employing the same paradigm when utilizing their AT abilities. The subjective rating of painful stimulation and success in modulation during AT was assessed. During painful electrical stimulation without AT, fMRI revealed activation of midcingulate, right secondary sensory, right supplementary motor, and insular cortices, the right thalamus and left caudate nucleus. In contrast, utilizing AT only activation of left insular and supplementary motor cortices was revealed. The paired t-test revealed pain-related activation in the midcingulate, posterior cingulate and left anterior insular cortices for the condition without AT, and activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex under AT. Activation of the posterior cingulate cortex and thalamus correlated with the amplitude of electrical stimulation. This study revealed an effect on cerebral pain processing while performing AT. This might represent the cerebral correlate of different painful stimulus processing by subjects who are trained in performing relaxation techniques. However, due to the absence of a control group, further studies are needed to confirm this theory. © 2012 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters.

  13. Origins of spatial working memory deficits in schizophrenia: an event-related FMRI and near-infrared spectroscopy study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junghee Lee

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Abnormal prefrontal functioning plays a central role in the working memory (WM deficits of schizophrenic patients, but the nature of the relationship between WM and prefrontal activation remains undetermined. Using two functional neuroimaging methods, we investigated the neural correlates of remembering and forgetting in schizophrenic and healthy participants. We focused on the brain activation during WM maintenance phase with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. We also examined oxygenated hemoglobin changes in relation to memory performance with the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS using the same spatial WM task. Distinct types of correct and error trials were segregated for analysis. fMRI data indicated that prefrontal activation was increased during WM maintenance on correct trials in both schizophrenic and healthy subjects. However, a significant difference was observed in the functional asymmetry of frontal activation pattern. Healthy subjects showed increased activation in the right frontal, temporal and cingulate regions. Schizophrenic patients showed greater activation compared with control subjects in left frontal, temporal and parietal regions as well as in right frontal regions. We also observed increased 'false memory' errors in schizophrenic patients, associated with increased prefrontal activation and resembling the activation pattern observed on the correct trials. NIRS data replicated the fMRI results. Thus, increased frontal activity was correlated with the accuracy of WM in both healthy control and schizophrenic participants. The major difference between the two groups concerned functional asymmetry; healthy subjects recruited right frontal regions during spatial WM maintenance whereas schizophrenic subjects recruited a wider network in both hemispheres to achieve the same level of memory performance. Increased "false memory" errors and accompanying bilateral prefrontal activation in schizophrenia suggest

  14. Assessment of Cortical Visual Impairment in Infants with Periventricular Leukomalacia: a Pilot Event-Related fMRI Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Bing; Guo, Qiyong [Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang (China); Fan, Guoguang [The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang (China); Liu, Na [Greater China Region of Philips, Shanghai (China)

    2011-08-15

    We wanted to investigate the usefulness of event-related (ER) functional MRI (fMRI) for the assessment of cortical visual impairment in infants with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). FMRI data were collected from 24 infants who suffered from PVL and from 12 age-matched normal controls. Slow ER fMRI was performed using a 3.0T MR scanner while visual stimuli were being presented. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM2), the SPM toolbox MarsBar was used to analyze the region of interest data, and the time to peak (TTP) of hemodynamic response functions (HRFs) was estimated for the surviving voxels. The number of activated voxels and the TTP values of HRFs were compared. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to compare visual impairment evaluated by using Teller Acuity Cards (TAC) with the number of activated voxels in the occipital lobes in all patients. In all 12 control infants, the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal was negative and the maximum response was located in the anterior and superior part of the calcarine fissure, and this might correspond to the anterior region of the primary visual cortex (PVC). In contrast, for the 24 cases of PVL, there were no activated pixels in the PVC in four subjects, small and weak activations in six subjects, deviated activations in seven subjects and both small and deviated activations in three subjects. The number of active voxels in the occipital lobe was significantly correlated with the TAC-evaluated visual impairment (p < 0.001). The mean TTP of the HRFs was significantly delayed in the cases of PVL as compared with that of the normal controls. Determining the characteristics of both the BOLD response and the ER fMRI activation may play an important role in the cortical visual assessment of infants with PVL.

  15. An in vivo MRI Template Set for Morphometry, Tissue Segmentation, and fMRI Localization in Rats

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdés-Hernández, Pedro Antonio; Sumiyoshi, Akira; Nonaka, Hiroi; Haga, Risa; Aubert-Vásquez, Eduardo; Ogawa, Takeshi; Iturria-Medina, Yasser; Riera, Jorge J.; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2011-01-01

    Over the last decade, several papers have focused on the construction of highly detailed mouse high field magnetic resonance image (MRI) templates via non-linear registration to unbiased reference spaces, allowing for a variety of neuroimaging applications such as robust morphometric analyses. However, work in rats has only provided medium field MRI averages based on linear registration to biased spaces with the sole purpose of approximate functional MRI (fMRI) localization. This precludes any morphometric analysis in spite of the need of exploring in detail the neuroanatomical substrates of diseases in a recent advent of rat models. In this paper we present a new in vivo rat T2 MRI template set, comprising average images of both intensity and shape, obtained via non-linear registration. Also, unlike previous rat template sets, we include white and gray matter probabilistic segmentations, expanding its use to those applications demanding prior-based tissue segmentation, e.g., statistical parametric mapping (SPM) voxel-based morphometry. We also provide a preliminary digitalization of latest Paxinos and Watson atlas for anatomical and functional interpretations within the cerebral cortex. We confirmed that, like with previous templates, forepaw and hindpaw fMRI activations can be correctly localized in the expected atlas structure. To exemplify the use of our new MRI template set, were reported the volumes of brain tissues and cortical structures and probed their relationships with ontogenetic development. Other in vivo applications in the near future can be tensor-, deformation-, or voxel-based morphometry, morphological connectivity, and diffusion tensor-based anatomical connectivity. Our template set, freely available through the SPM extension website, could be an important tool for future longitudinal and/or functional extensive preclinical studies. PMID:22275894

  16. An in vivo MRI template set for morphometry, tissue segmentation and fMRI localization in rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Antonio Valdes Hernandez

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Over the last decade, several papers have focused on the construction of highly detailed mouse high field MRI templates via nonlinear registration to unbiased reference spaces, allowing for a variety of neuroimaging applications such as robust morphometric analyses. However, work in rats has only provided medium field MRI averages based on linear registration to biased spaces with the sole purpose of approximate fMRI localization. This precludes any morphometric analysis in spite of the need of exploring in detail the neuroanatomical substrates of diseases in a recent advent of rat models. In this paper we present a new in vivo rat T2 MRI template set, comprising average images of both intensity and shape, obtained via nonlinear registration. Also, unlike previous rat template sets, we include white and gray matter probabilistic segmentations, expanding its use to those applications demanding prior-based tissue segmentation, e.g. SPM voxel-based morphometry. We also provide a preliminary digitalization of latest Paxinos & Watson atlas for anatomical and functional interpretations within the cerebral cortex. We confirmed that, like with previous templates, forepaw and hindpaw fMRI activations can be correctly localized in the expected atlas structure. To exemplify the use of our new MRI template set, we reported the volumes of brain tissues and cortical structures and probed their relationships with ontogenetic development. Other in vivo applications in the near future can be tensor-, deformation- or voxel-based morphometry, morphological connectivity and diffusion tensor-based anatomical connectivity. Our template set, freely available through the SPM extension website, could be an important tool for future longitudinal and/or functional extensive preclinical studies.

  17. An in vivo MRI Template Set for Morphometry, Tissue Segmentation, and fMRI Localization in Rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdés-Hernández, Pedro Antonio; Sumiyoshi, Akira; Nonaka, Hiroi; Haga, Risa; Aubert-Vásquez, Eduardo; Ogawa, Takeshi; Iturria-Medina, Yasser; Riera, Jorge J; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2011-01-01

    Over the last decade, several papers have focused on the construction of highly detailed mouse high field magnetic resonance image (MRI) templates via non-linear registration to unbiased reference spaces, allowing for a variety of neuroimaging applications such as robust morphometric analyses. However, work in rats has only provided medium field MRI averages based on linear registration to biased spaces with the sole purpose of approximate functional MRI (fMRI) localization. This precludes any morphometric analysis in spite of the need of exploring in detail the neuroanatomical substrates of diseases in a recent advent of rat models. In this paper we present a new in vivo rat T2 MRI template set, comprising average images of both intensity and shape, obtained via non-linear registration. Also, unlike previous rat template sets, we include white and gray matter probabilistic segmentations, expanding its use to those applications demanding prior-based tissue segmentation, e.g., statistical parametric mapping (SPM) voxel-based morphometry. We also provide a preliminary digitalization of latest Paxinos and Watson atlas for anatomical and functional interpretations within the cerebral cortex. We confirmed that, like with previous templates, forepaw and hindpaw fMRI activations can be correctly localized in the expected atlas structure. To exemplify the use of our new MRI template set, were reported the volumes of brain tissues and cortical structures and probed their relationships with ontogenetic development. Other in vivo applications in the near future can be tensor-, deformation-, or voxel-based morphometry, morphological connectivity, and diffusion tensor-based anatomical connectivity. Our template set, freely available through the SPM extension website, could be an important tool for future longitudinal and/or functional extensive preclinical studies.

  18. Intrasubject reproducibility of presurgical language lateralization and mapping using fMRI.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fernandez, G.S.E.; Specht, K.; Weis, S.; Tendolkar, I.; Reuber, M.; Fell, J.; Klaver, P.; Ruhlmann, J.; Reul, J.; Elger, C.E.

    2003-01-01

    BACKGROUND: fMRI is becoming a standard tool for the presurgical lateralization and mapping of brain areas involved in language processing. However, its within-subject reproducibility has yet to be fully explored. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate within-test and test-retest reliability of language fMRI in

  19. Key issues in decomposing fMRI during naturalistic and continuous music experience with independent component analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cong, Fengyu; Puoliväli, Tuomas; Alluri, Vinoo; Sipola, Tuomo; Burunat, Iballa; Toiviainen, Petri; Nandi, Asoke K; Brattico, Elvira; Ristaniemi, Tapani

    2014-02-15

    Independent component analysis (ICA) has been often used to decompose fMRI data mostly for the resting-state, block and event-related designs due to its outstanding advantage. For fMRI data during free-listening experiences, only a few exploratory studies applied ICA. For processing the fMRI data elicited by 512-s modern tango, a FFT based band-pass filter was used to further pre-process the fMRI data to remove sources of no interest and noise. Then, a fast model order selection method was applied to estimate the number of sources. Next, both individual ICA and group ICA were performed. Subsequently, ICA components whose temporal courses were significantly correlated with musical features were selected. Finally, for individual ICA, common components across majority of participants were found by diffusion map and spectral clustering. The extracted spatial maps (by the new ICA approach) common across most participants evidenced slightly right-lateralized activity within and surrounding the auditory cortices. Meanwhile, they were found associated with the musical features. Compared with the conventional ICA approach, more participants were found to have the common spatial maps extracted by the new ICA approach. Conventional model order selection methods underestimated the true number of sources in the conventionally pre-processed fMRI data for the individual ICA. Pre-processing the fMRI data by using a reasonable band-pass digital filter can greatly benefit the following model order selection and ICA with fMRI data by naturalistic paradigms. Diffusion map and spectral clustering are straightforward tools to find common ICA spatial maps. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Abnormal baseline brain activity in patients with neuromyelitis optica: A resting-state fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Yaou; Liang Peipeng; Duan Yunyun; Jia Xiuqin; Wang Fei; Yu Chunshui; Qin Wen; Dong Huiqing; Ye Jing; Li Kuncheng

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: Recent immunopathologic and MRI findings suggest that tissue damage in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is not limited to spinal cord and optic nerve, but also in brain. Baseline brain activity can reveal the brain functional changes to the tissue damages and give clues to the pathophysiology of NMO, however, it has never been explored by resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). We used regional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) as an index in resting-state fMRI to investigate how baseline brain activity changes in patients with NMO. Methods: Resting-state fMRIs collected from seventeen NMO patients and seventeen age- and sex-matched normal controls were compared to investigate the ALFF difference between the two groups. The relationships between ALFF in regions with significant group differences and the EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale), disease duration were further explored. Results: Our results showed that NMO patients had significantly decreased ALFF in precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and lingual gyrus; and increased ALFF in middle frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus and thalamus, compared to normal controls. Moderate negative correlations were found between the EDSS and ALFF in the left middle frontal gyrus (r = -0.436, p = 0.040) and the left caudate (r = -0.542, p = 0.012). Conclusion: The abnormal baseline brain activity shown by resting-state fMRI in NMO is relevant to cognition, visual and motor systems. It implicates a complex baseline brain status of both functional impairments and adaptations caused by tissue damages in these systems, which gives clues to the pathophysiology of NMO.

  1. Abnormal baseline brain activity in patients with neuromyelitis optica: A resting-state fMRI study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu Yaou [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053 (China); Liang Peipeng [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053 (China); International WIC institute, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024 (China); Duan Yunyun; Jia Xiuqin; Wang Fei; Yu Chunshui; Qin Wen [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053 (China); Dong Huiqing; Ye Jing [Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053 (China); Li Kuncheng, E-mail: likuncheng1955@yahoo.com.cn [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053 (China)

    2011-11-15

    Purpose: Recent immunopathologic and MRI findings suggest that tissue damage in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is not limited to spinal cord and optic nerve, but also in brain. Baseline brain activity can reveal the brain functional changes to the tissue damages and give clues to the pathophysiology of NMO, however, it has never been explored by resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). We used regional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) as an index in resting-state fMRI to investigate how baseline brain activity changes in patients with NMO. Methods: Resting-state fMRIs collected from seventeen NMO patients and seventeen age- and sex-matched normal controls were compared to investigate the ALFF difference between the two groups. The relationships between ALFF in regions with significant group differences and the EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale), disease duration were further explored. Results: Our results showed that NMO patients had significantly decreased ALFF in precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and lingual gyrus; and increased ALFF in middle frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus and thalamus, compared to normal controls. Moderate negative correlations were found between the EDSS and ALFF in the left middle frontal gyrus (r = -0.436, p = 0.040) and the left caudate (r = -0.542, p = 0.012). Conclusion: The abnormal baseline brain activity shown by resting-state fMRI in NMO is relevant to cognition, visual and motor systems. It implicates a complex baseline brain status of both functional impairments and adaptations caused by tissue damages in these systems, which gives clues to the pathophysiology of NMO.

  2. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) procedure as experienced by healthy participants and stroke patients – A pilot study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szameitat, André J; Shen, Shan; Sterr, Annette

    2009-01-01

    An important aspect in functional imaging research employing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is how participants perceive the MRI scanning itself. For instance, the knowledge of how (un)comfortable MRI scanning is perceived may help institutional review boards (IRBs) or ethics committees to decide on the approval of a study, or researchers to design their experiments. We provide empirical data from our lab gained from 70 neurologically healthy mainly student subjects and from 22 mainly elderly patients suffering from motor deficits after brain damage. All participants took part in various basic research fMRI studies using a 3T MRI scanner. Directly after the scanning, all participants completed a questionnaire assessing their experience with the fMRI procedure. 87.2% of the healthy subjects and 77.3% of the patients rated the MRI procedure as acceptable to comfortable. In healthy subjects, males found the procedure more comfortable, while the opposite was true for patients. 12.1% of healthy subjects considered scanning durations between 30 and 60 min as too long, while no patient considered their 30 min scanning interval as too long. 93.4% of the healthy subjects would like to participate in an fMRI study again, with a significantly lower rate for the subjects who considered the scanning as too long. Further factors, such as inclusion of a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scan, age, and study duration had no effect on the questionnaire responses. Of the few negative comments, the main issues were noise, the restriction to keep still for the whole time, and occasional feelings of dizziness. MRI scanning in the basic research setting is an acceptable procedure for elderly and patient participants as well as young healthy subjects

  3. Mapping of cognitive functions in chronic intractable epilepsy: Role of fMRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaudhary, Kapil; Kumaran, S Senthil; Chandra, Sarat P; Wadhawan, Ashima Nehra; Tripathi, Manjari

    2014-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive technique with high spatial resolution and blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast, has been applied to localize and map cognitive functions in the clinical condition of chronic intractable epilepsy. fMRI was used to map the language and memory network in patients of chronic intractable epilepsy pre- and post-surgery. After obtaining approval from the institutional ethics committee, six patients with intractable epilepsy with an equal number of age-matched controls were recruited in the study. A 1.5 T MR scanner with 12-channel head coil, integrated with audio-visual fMRI accessories was used. Echo planar imaging sequence was used for BOLD studies. There were two sessions in TLE (pre- and post-surgery). In TLE patients, BOLD activation increased post-surgery in comparison of pre-surgery in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and superior temporal gyrus (STG), during semantic lexical, judgment, comprehension, and semantic memory tasks. Functional MRI is useful to study the basic concepts related to language and memory lateralization in TLE and guide surgeons for preservation of important brain areas during ATLR. This will help in understanding future directions for the diagnosis and treatment of such disease

  4. Mapping of cognitive functions in chronic intractable epilepsy: Role of fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kapil Chaudhary

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, a non-invasive technique with high spatial resolution and blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD contrast, has been applied to localize and map cognitive functions in the clinical condition of chronic intractable epilepsy. Purpose: fMRI was used to map the language and memory network in patients of chronic intractable epilepsy pre- and post-surgery. Materials and Methods: After obtaining approval from the institutional ethics committee, six patients with intractable epilepsy with an equal number of age-matched controls were recruited in the study. A 1.5 T MR scanner with 12-channel head coil, integrated with audio-visual fMRI accessories was used. Echo planar imaging sequence was used for BOLD studies. There were two sessions in TLE (pre- and post-surgery. Results: In TLE patients, BOLD activation increased post-surgery in comparison of pre-surgery in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, middle frontal gyrus (MFG, and superior temporal gyrus (STG, during semantic lexical, judgment, comprehension, and semantic memory tasks. Conclusion: Functional MRI is useful to study the basic concepts related to language and memory lateralization in TLE and guide surgeons for preservation of important brain areas during ATLR. This will help in understanding future directions for the diagnosis and treatment of such disease.

  5. Uncertainty in anticipation of uncomfortable rectal distension is modulated by the autonomic nervous system--a fMRI study in healthy volunteers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubio, Amandine; Van Oudenhove, Lukas; Pellissier, Sonia; Ly, Huynh Giao; Dupont, Patrick; Lafaye de Micheaux, Hugo; Tack, Jan; Dantzer, Cécile; Delon-Martin, Chantal; Bonaz, Bruno

    2015-02-15

    The human brain responds both before and during the application of aversive stimuli. Anticipation allows the organism to prepare its nociceptive system to respond adequately to the subsequent stimulus. The context in which an uncomfortable stimulus is experienced may also influence neural processing. Uncertainty of occurrence, timing and intensity of an aversive event may lead to increased anticipatory anxiety, fear, physiological arousal and sensory perception. We aimed to identify, in healthy volunteers, the effects of uncertainty in the anticipation of uncomfortable rectal distension, and the impact of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and anxiety-related psychological variables on neural mechanisms of anticipation of rectal distension using fMRI. Barostat-controlled uncomfortable rectal distensions were preceded by cued uncertain or certain anticipation in 15 healthy volunteers in a fMRI protocol at 3T. Electrocardiographic data were concurrently registered by MR scanner. The low frequency (LF)-component of the heart rate variability (HRV) time-series was extracted and inserted as a regressor in the fMRI model ('LF-HRV model'). The impact of ANS activity was analyzed by comparing the fMRI signal in the 'standard model' and in the 'LF-HRV model' across the different anticipation and distension conditions. The scores of the psychological questionnaires and the rating of perceived anticipatory anxiety were included as covariates in the fMRI data analysis. Our experiments led to the following key findings: 1) the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) is the only activation site that relates to uncertainty in healthy volunteers and is directly correlated to individual questionnaire score for pain-related anxiety; 2) uncertain anticipation of rectal distension involved several relevant brain regions, namely activation of sgACC and medial prefrontal cortex and deactivation of amygdala, insula, thalamus, secondary somatosensory cortex, supplementary

  6. Identifying patients with Alzheimer's disease using resting-state fMRI and graph theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khazaee, Ali; Ebrahimzadeh, Ata; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas

    2015-11-01

    Study of brain network on the basis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has provided promising results to investigate changes in connectivity among different brain regions because of diseases. Graph theory can efficiently characterize different aspects of the brain network by calculating measures of integration and segregation. In this study, we combine graph theoretical approaches with advanced machine learning methods to study functional brain network alteration in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Support vector machine (SVM) was used to explore the ability of graph measures in diagnosis of AD. We applied our method on the resting-state fMRI data of twenty patients with AD and twenty age and gender matched healthy subjects. The data were preprocessed and each subject's graph was constructed by parcellation of the whole brain into 90 distinct regions using the automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas. The graph measures were then calculated and used as the discriminating features. Extracted network-based features were fed to different feature selection algorithms to choose most significant features. In addition to the machine learning approach, statistical analysis was performed on connectivity matrices to find altered connectivity patterns in patients with AD. Using the selected features, we were able to accurately classify patients with AD from healthy subjects with accuracy of 100%. Results of this study show that pattern recognition and graph of brain network, on the basis of the resting state fMRI data, can efficiently assist in the diagnosis of AD. Classification based on the resting-state fMRI can be used as a non-invasive and automatic tool to diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. All rights reserved.

  7. Combined fMRI- and eye movement-based decoding of bistable plaid motion perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilbertz, Gregor; Ketkar, Madhura; Guggenmos, Matthias; Sterzer, Philipp

    2018-05-01

    The phenomenon of bistable perception, in which perception alternates spontaneously despite constant sensory stimulation, has been particularly useful in probing the neural bases of conscious perception. The study of such bistability requires access to the observer's perceptual dynamics, which is usually achieved via active report. This report, however, constitutes a confounding factor in the study of conscious perception and can also be biased in the context of certain experimental manipulations. One approach to circumvent these problems is to track perceptual alternations using signals from the eyes or the brain instead of observers' reports. Here we aimed to optimize such decoding of perceptual alternations by combining eye and brain signals. Eye-tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in twenty participants while they viewed a bistable visual plaid motion stimulus and reported perceptual alternations. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) for fMRI was combined with eye-tracking in a Support vector machine to decode participants' perceptual time courses from fMRI and eye-movement signals. While both measures individually already yielded high decoding accuracies (on average 86% and 88% correct, respectively) classification based on the two measures together further improved the accuracy (91% correct). These findings show that leveraging on both fMRI and eye movement data may pave the way for optimized no-report paradigms through improved decodability of bistable motion perception and hence for a better understanding of the neural correlates of consciousness. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Cue-elicited craving in heroin addicts at different abstinent time: an fMRI pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Mingwu; Wang, Erlei; Shen, Yunxia; Wang, Jiping

    2012-05-01

    We evaluated the effect of short-term and long-term heroin abstinence on brain responses to heroin-related cues using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eighteen male heroin addicts following short-term abstinence and 19 male heroin addicts following long-term abstinence underwent fMRI scanning while viewing heroin-related and neutral images. Cue-elicited craving and withdrawal symptoms in the subjects were measured. Following short-term abstinence, greater activation was found in response to heroin cues compared to neutral cues in bilateral temporal, occipital, posterior cingulate, anterior cingulate, thalamus, cerebellum, and left hippocampus. In contrast, activations in bilateral temporal and occipital and deactivations in bilateral frontal, bilateral parietal, left posterior cingulate, insula, thalamus, dorsal striatum, and bilateral cerebellum were observed following long-term abstinence. Direct comparisons between conditions showed greater brain reactivity in response to smoking cues following short-term abstinence. In addition, short-term abstinence had more serious withdrawal symptoms than the long-term. The present findings indicate that compared to short-term, long-term abstinence manifests less serious withdrawal symptoms and significantly decreases neural responses to heroin-related cues in brain regions subserving visual sensory processing, attention, memory, and action planning. These findings suggest that long-term abstinence can decrease the salience of conditioned cues, thereby reducing the risk of relapses. The study's limitations are noted.

  9. Hybrid ICA-Seed-Based Methods for fMRI Functional Connectivity Assessment: A Feasibility Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert E. Kelly

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Brain functional connectivity (FC is often assessed from fMRI data using seed-based methods, such as those of detecting temporal correlation between a predefined region (seed and all other regions in the brain; or using multivariate methods, such as independent component analysis (ICA. ICA is a useful data-driven tool, but reproducibility issues complicate group inferences based on FC maps derived with ICA. These reproducibility issues can be circumvented with hybrid methods that use information from ICA-derived spatial maps as seeds to produce seed-based FC maps. We report results from five experiments to demonstrate the potential advantages of hybrid ICA-seed-based FC methods, comparing results from regressing fMRI data against task-related a priori time courses, with “back-reconstruction” from a group ICA, and with five hybrid ICA-seed-based FC methods: ROI-based with (1 single-voxel, (2 few-voxel, and (3 many-voxel seed; and dual-regression-based with (4 single ICA map and (5 multiple ICA map seed.

  10. Functional resonance magnetic imaging (fMRI) in adolescents with idiopathic musculoskeletal pain: a paradigm of experimental pain

    OpenAIRE

    Molina, Juliana; Amaro, Edson; da Rocha, Liana Guerra Sanches; Jorge, Liliana; Santos, Flavia Heloisa; Len, Claudio A.

    2017-01-01

    Background Studies on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that adults with musculoskeletal pain syndromes tolerate smaller amount of pressure (pain) as well as differences in brain activation patterns in areas related to pain.The objective of this study was to evaluate, through fMRI, the brain activation in adolescents with idiopathic musculoskeletal pain (IMP) while performing an experimental paradigm of pain. Methods The study included 10 consecutive adolescents with idi...

  11. Who gets afraid in the MRI-scanner? Neurogenetics of state-anxiety changes during an fMRI experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutschler, Isabella; Wieckhorst, Birgit; Meyer, Andrea H; Schweizer, Tina; Klarhöfer, Markus; Wilhelm, Frank H; Seifritz, Erich; Ball, Tonio

    2014-11-07

    Experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) play a fundamental role in affective neuroscience. When placed in an MR scanner, some volunteers feel safe and relaxed in this situation, while others experience uneasiness and fear. Little is known about the basis and consequences of such inter-individually different responses to the general experimental fMRI setting. In this study emotional stimuli were presented during fMRI and subjects' state-anxiety was assessed at the onset and end of the experiment while they were within the scanner. We show that Val/Val but neither Met/Met nor Val/Met carriers of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158)Met polymorphism-a prime candidate for anxiety vulnerability-became significantly more anxious during the fMRI experiment (N=97 females: 24 Val/Val, 51 Val/Met, and 22 Met/Met). Met carriers demonstrated brain responses with increased stability over time in the right parietal cortex and significantly better cognitive performances likely mediated by lower levels of anxiety. Val/Val, Val/Met and Met/Met did not significantly differ in state-anxiety at the beginning of the experiment. The exposure of a control group (N=56 females) to the same experiment outside the scanner did not cause a significant increase in state-anxiety, suggesting that the increase we observe in the fMRI experiment may be specific to the fMRI setting. Our findings reveal that genetics may play an important role in shaping inter-individual different emotional, cognitive and neuronal responses during fMRI experiments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Reading positional codes with fMRI: Problems and solutions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristjan Kalm

    Full Text Available Neural mechanisms which bind items into sequences have been investigated in a large body of research in animal neurophysiology and human neuroimaging. However, a major problem in interpreting this data arises from a fact that several unrelated processes, such as memory load, sensory adaptation, and reward expectation, also change in a consistent manner as the sequence unfolds. In this paper we use computational simulations and data from two fMRI experiments to show that a host of unrelated neural processes can masquerade as sequence representations. We show that dissociating such unrelated processes from a dedicated sequence representation is an especially difficult problem for fMRI data, which is almost exclusively the modality used in human experiments. We suggest that such fMRI results must be treated with caution and in many cases the assumed neural representation might actually reflect unrelated processes.

  13. Bayesian Inference for Functional Dynamics Exploring in fMRI Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuan Guo

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to review state-of-the-art Bayesian-inference-based methods applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI data. Particularly, we focus on one specific long-standing challenge in the computational modeling of fMRI datasets: how to effectively explore typical functional interactions from fMRI time series and the corresponding boundaries of temporal segments. Bayesian inference is a method of statistical inference which has been shown to be a powerful tool to encode dependence relationships among the variables with uncertainty. Here we provide an introduction to a group of Bayesian-inference-based methods for fMRI data analysis, which were designed to detect magnitude or functional connectivity change points and to infer their functional interaction patterns based on corresponding temporal boundaries. We also provide a comparison of three popular Bayesian models, that is, Bayesian Magnitude Change Point Model (BMCPM, Bayesian Connectivity Change Point Model (BCCPM, and Dynamic Bayesian Variable Partition Model (DBVPM, and give a summary of their applications. We envision that more delicate Bayesian inference models will be emerging and play increasingly important roles in modeling brain functions in the years to come.

  14. Using fMRI to Investigate Memory in Young Children Born Small for Gestational Age.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henrica M A de Bie

    Full Text Available Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR can lead to infants being born small for gestational age (SGA. SGA is associated with differences in brain anatomy and impaired cognition. We investigated learning and memory in children born SGA using neuropsychological testing and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI.18 children born appropriate for gestational age (AGA and 34 SGA born children (18 with and 16 without postnatal catch-up growth participated in this study. All children were between 4 and 7 years old. Cognitive functioning was assessed by IQ and memory testing (Digit/Word Span and Location Learning. A newly developed fMRI picture encoding task was completed by all children in order to assess brain regions involved in memory processes.Neuropsychological testing demonstrated that SGA children had IQ's within the normal range but lower than in AGA and poorer performances across measures of memory. Using fMRI, we observed memory related activity in posterior parahippocampal gyrus as well as the hippocampus proper. Additionally, activation was seen bilaterally in the prefrontal gyrus. Children born SGA showed less activation in the left parahippocampal region compared to AGA.This is the first fMRI study demonstrating different brain activation patterns in 4-7 year old children born SGA, suggesting that intrauterine growth restriction continues to affect neural functioning in children later-on.

  15. Using fMRI to Investigate Memory in Young Children Born Small for Gestational Age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Bie, Henrica M A; de Ruiter, Michiel B; Ouwendijk, Mieke; Oostrom, Kim J; Wilke, Marko; Boersma, Maria; Veltman, Dick J; Delemarre-van de Waal, Henriette A

    2015-01-01

    Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) can lead to infants being born small for gestational age (SGA). SGA is associated with differences in brain anatomy and impaired cognition. We investigated learning and memory in children born SGA using neuropsychological testing and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). 18 children born appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and 34 SGA born children (18 with and 16 without postnatal catch-up growth) participated in this study. All children were between 4 and 7 years old. Cognitive functioning was assessed by IQ and memory testing (Digit/Word Span and Location Learning). A newly developed fMRI picture encoding task was completed by all children in order to assess brain regions involved in memory processes. Neuropsychological testing demonstrated that SGA children had IQ's within the normal range but lower than in AGA and poorer performances across measures of memory. Using fMRI, we observed memory related activity in posterior parahippocampal gyrus as well as the hippocampus proper. Additionally, activation was seen bilaterally in the prefrontal gyrus. Children born SGA showed less activation in the left parahippocampal region compared to AGA. This is the first fMRI study demonstrating different brain activation patterns in 4-7 year old children born SGA, suggesting that intrauterine growth restriction continues to affect neural functioning in children later-on.

  16. Functional MRI (fMRI) on lesions in and around the motor and the eloquent cortices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hara, Yoshie; Nakamura, Mitsugu; Tamura, Shogo; Tamaki, Norihiko; Kitamura, Junji

    1999-01-01

    From the view point of neurosurgeons, to aim the preoperative localized diagnosis on the motor and the eloquent cortices and postoperative preservation of neurological functions, fMRI was carried for patients with lesions in and around the motor and the eloquent cortices. Even in cases of mechanical oppression or brain edema, the motor and the eloquent cortices are localized on cerebral gyri. In perioperative period, identification and preserving the motor and the eloquent cortices are important for keeping brain function. Twenty six preoperative cases and 3 normal healthy subjects were observed. Exercise enhanced fMRI was performed on 3 normal healthy subjects, fMRI with motor stimulation in 24 cases and fMRI with speech stimulation in 4 cases. The signal intensity increased in all cases responsing to both stimulations. But the signal intensity in 8 cases decreased in some regions by motor stimulation and 1 case by speech stimulation. The decrease of signal intensity in this study seems to be a clinically important finding and it will be required to examine the significance in future. (K.H.)

  17. The potential of infant fMRI research and the study of early life stress as a promising exemplar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice M. Graham

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI research with infants and toddlers has increased rapidly over the past decade, and provided a unique window into early brain development. In the current report, we review the state of the literature, which has established the feasibility and utility of task-based fMRI and resting state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI during early periods of brain maturation. These methodologies have been successfully applied beginning in the neonatal period to increase understanding of how the brain both responds to environmental stimuli, and becomes organized into large-scale functional systems that support complex behaviors. We discuss the methodological challenges posed by this promising area of research. We also highlight that despite these challenges, early work indicates a strong potential for these methods to influence multiple research domains. As an example, we focus on the study of early life stress and its influence on brain development and mental health outcomes. We illustrate the promise of these methodologies for building on, and making important contributions to, the existing literature in this field.

  18. Cognitive control and unusual decisions about beauty: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert eFlexas

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Studies of visual aesthetic preference have shown that people without art training generally prefer representational paintings to abstract paintings. This, however, is not always the case: preferences can sometimes go against this usual tendency. We aimed to explore this issue, investigating the relationship between ‘unusual responses’ and reaction time in an aesthetic appreciation task. Results of a behavioural experiment confirmed the trend for laypeople to consider as beautiful mostly representational stimuli and as not beautiful mostly abstract ones (‘usual response’. Furthermore, when participants gave unusual responses, they needed longer time, especially when considering abstract stimuli as beautiful. We interpreted this longer time as greater involvement of the cognitive mastering and evaluation stages during the unusual responses. Results of an fMRI experiment indicated that the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex and insula were the main structures involved in this effect. We discuss the possible role of these areas in an aesthetic appreciation task.

  19. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of motor deficits in schizophrenia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wenz, F.; Floemer, F.; Kaick, G. van

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the cerebral activation pattern in ten schizophrenic patients and ten healthy volunteers using functional MRI. fMRI was performed using a modified FLASH sequence (TR/TE/α=100/60/40 ) and a conventional 1.5 T MR scanner. Colorcoded statistical parametric maps based on Student's t-test were calculated. Activation strength was quantified using a 5x6 grid overlay. The volunteers showed a higher activation strength during left hand movement compared to right hand movement. This lateralization effect was reversed in patients who showed overall reduced activation strength. Disturbed interhemispheric balance in schizophrenic patients during motor task performance can be demonstrated using fMRI. (orig.) [de

  20. Mapping cerebrovascular reactivity using concurrent fMRI and near infrared spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Yunjie; Bergethon, Peter R.; Frederick, Blaise d.

    2011-02-01

    Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) reflects the compensatory dilatory capacity of cerebral vasculature to a dilatory stimulus and is an important indicator of brain vascular reserve. fMRI has been proven to be an effective imaging technique to obtain the CVR map when the subjects perform CO2 inhalation or the breath holding task (BH). However, the traditional data analysis inaccurately models the BOLD using a boxcar function with fixed time delay. We propose a novel way to process the fMRI data obtained during a blocked BH by using the simultaneously collected near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data as regressor1. In this concurrent NIRS and fMRI study, 6 healthy subjects performed a blocked BH (5 breath holds with 20s durations intermitted by 40s of regular breathing). A NIRS probe of two sources and two detectors separated by 3 cm was placed on the right side of prefrontal area of the subjects. The time course of changes in oxy-hemoglobin (Δ[HbO]) was calculated from NIRS data and shifted in time by various amounts, and resampled to the fMRI acquisition rate. Each shifted time course was used as regressor in FEAT (the analysis tool in FSL). The resulting z-statistic maps were concatenated in time and the maximal value was taken along the time for all the voxels to generate a 3-D CVR map. The new method produces more accurate and thorough CVR maps; moreover, it enables us to produce a comparable baseline cerebral vascular map if applied to resting state (RS) data.

  1. Global integration of local color differences in transparency perception: An fMRI study.

    OpenAIRE

    Dojat, Michel; Piettre, Loÿs; Delon-Martin, Chantal; Pachot-Clouard, Mathilde; Segebarth, Christoph; Knoblauch, Kenneth

    2006-01-01

    In normal viewing, the visual system effortlessly assigns approximately constant attributes of color and shape to perceived objects. A fundamental component of this process is the compensation for illuminant variations and intervening media to recover reflectance properties of natural surfaces. We exploited the phenomenon of transparency perception to explore what cortical regions are implicated in such processes, using fMRI. By manipulating the coherence of local color differences around a r...

  2. Modafinil alters intrinsic functional connectivity of the right posterior insula: a pharmacological resting state fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicoletta Cera

    Full Text Available Modafinil is employed for the treatment of narcolepsy and has also been, off-label, used to treat cognitive dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders. In a previous study, we have reported that single dose administration of modafinil in healthy young subjects enhances fluid reasoning and affects resting state activity in the Fronto Parietal Control (FPC and Dorsal Attention (DAN networks. No changes were found in the Salience Network (SN, a surprising result as the network is involved in the modulation of emotional and fluid reasoning. The insula is crucial hub of the SN and functionally divided in anterior and posterior subregions.Using a seed-based approach, we have now analyzed effects of modafinil on the functional connectivity (FC of insular subregions.Analysis of FC with resting state fMRI (rs-FMRI revealed increased FC between the right posterior insula and the putamen, the superior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulate cortex in the modafinil-treated group.Modafinil is considered a putative cognitive enhancer. The rs-fMRI modifications that we have found are consistent with the drug cognitive enhancing properties and indicate subregional targets of action.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01684306.

  3. Phase-synchronization-based parcellation of resting state fMRI signals reveals topographically organized clusters in early visual cortex

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gravel, Nicolás G; Harvey, Ben M; Renken, Remco K; Dumoulin, Serge O; Cornelissen, Frans W

    2018-01-01

    Resting-state fMRI is widely used to study brain function and connectivity. However, interpreting patterns of resting state (RS) fMRI activity remains challenging as they may arise from different neuronal mechanisms than those triggered by exogenous events. Currently, this limits the use of RS-fMRI

  4. Exploring neural dysfunction in 'clinical high risk' for psychosis: a quantitative review of fMRI studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutt, Anirban; Tseng, Huai-Hsuan; Fonville, Leon; Drakesmith, Mark; Su, Liang; Evans, John; Zammit, Stanley; Jones, Derek; Lewis, Glyn; David, Anthony S

    2015-02-01

    Individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) of developing psychosis present with widespread functional abnormalities in the brain. Cognitive deficits, including working memory (WM) problems, as commonly elicited by n-back tasks, are observed in CHR individuals. However, functional MRI (fMRI) studies, comprising a heterogeneous cluster of general and social cognition paradigms, have not necessarily demonstrated consistent and conclusive results in this population. Hence, a comprehensive review of fMRI studies, spanning almost one decade, was carried out to observe for general trends with respect to brain regions and cognitive systems most likely to be dysfunctional in CHR individuals. 32 studies were included for this review, out of which 22 met the criteria for quantitative analysis using activation likelihood estimation (ALE). Task related contrast activations were firstly analysed by comparing CHR and healthy control participants in the total pooled sample, followed by a comparison of general cognitive function studies (excluding social cognition paradigms), and finally by only looking at n-back working memory task based studies. Findings from the ALE implicated four key dysfunctional and distinct neural regions in the CHR group, namely the right inferior parietal lobule (rIPL), the left medial frontal gyrus (lmFG), the left superior temporal gyrus (lSTG) and the right fronto-polar cortex (rFPC) of the superior frontal gyrus (SFG). Narrowing down to relatively few significant dysfunctional neural regions is a step forward in reducing the apparent ambiguity of overall findings, which would help to target specific neural regions and pathways of interest for future research in CHR populations. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Comparison of semantic and episodic memory BOLD fMRI activation in predicting cognitive decline in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hantke, Nathan; Nielson, Kristy A; Woodard, John L; Breting, Leslie M Guidotti; Butts, Alissa; Seidenberg, Michael; Carson Smith, J; Durgerian, Sally; Lancaster, Melissa; Matthews, Monica; Sugarman, Michael A; Rao, Stephen M

    2013-01-01

    Previous studies suggest that task-activated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can predict future cognitive decline among healthy older adults. The present fMRI study examined the relative sensitivity of semantic memory (SM) versus episodic memory (EM) activation tasks for predicting cognitive decline. Seventy-eight cognitively intact elders underwent neuropsychological testing at entry and after an 18-month interval, with participants classified as cognitively "Stable" or "Declining" based on ≥ 1.0 SD decline in performance. Baseline fMRI scanning involved SM (famous name discrimination) and EM (name recognition) tasks. SM and EM fMRI activation, along with Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 status, served as predictors of cognitive outcome using a logistic regression analysis. Twenty-seven (34.6%) participants were classified as Declining and 51 (65.4%) as Stable. APOE ε4 status alone significantly predicted cognitive decline (R(2) = .106; C index = .642). Addition of SM activation significantly improved prediction accuracy (R(2) = .285; C index = .787), whereas the addition of EM did not (R(2) = .212; C index = .711). In combination with APOE status, SM task activation predicts future cognitive decline better than EM activation. These results have implications for use of fMRI in prevention clinical trials involving the identification of persons at-risk for age-associated memory loss and Alzheimer's disease.

  6. A Simple fMRI Compatible Robotic Stimulator to Study the Neural Mechanisms of Touch and Pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riillo, F; Bagnato, C; Allievi, A G; Takagi, A; Fabrizi, L; Saggio, G; Arichi, T; Burdet, E

    2016-08-01

    This paper presents a simple device for the investigation of the human somatosensory system with functional magnetic imaging (fMRI). PC-controlled pneumatic actuation is employed to produce innocuous or noxious mechanical stimulation of the skin. Stimulation patterns are synchronized with fMRI and other relevant physiological measurements like electroencephalographic activity and vital physiological parameters. The system allows adjustable regulation of stimulation parameters and provides consistent patterns of stimulation. A validation experiment demonstrates that the system safely and reliably identifies clusters of functional activity in brain regions involved in the processing of pain. This new device is inexpensive, portable, easy-to-assemble and customizable to suit different experimental requirements. It provides robust and consistent somatosensory stimulation, which is of crucial importance to investigating the mechanisms of pain and its strong connection with the sense of touch.

  7. Single-trial EEG-informed fMRI analysis of emotional decision problems in hot executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Qian; Zhou, Tiantong; Li, Wenjie; Dong, Li; Wang, Suhong; Zou, Ling

    2017-07-01

    Executive function refers to conscious control in psychological process which relates to thinking and action. Emotional decision is a part of hot executive function and contains emotion and logic elements. As a kind of important social adaptation ability, more and more attention has been paid in recent years. Gambling task can be well performed in the study of emotional decision. As fMRI researches focused on gambling task show not completely consistent brain activation regions, this study adopted EEG-fMRI fusion technology to reveal brain neural activity related with feedback stimuli. In this study, an EEG-informed fMRI analysis was applied to process simultaneous EEG-fMRI data. First, relative power-spectrum analysis and K-means clustering method were performed separately to extract EEG-fMRI features. Then, Generalized linear models were structured using fMRI data and using different EEG features as regressors. The results showed that in the win versus loss stimuli, the activated regions almost covered the caudate, the ventral striatum (VS), the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), and the cingulate. Wide activation areas associated with reward and punishment were revealed by the EEG-fMRI integration analysis than the conventional fMRI results, such as the posterior cingulate and the OFC. The VS and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were found when EEG power features were performed as regressors of GLM compared with results entering the amplitudes of feedback-related negativity (FRN) as regressors. Furthermore, the brain region activation intensity was the strongest when theta-band power was used as a regressor compared with the other two fusion results. The EEG-based fMRI analysis can more accurately depict the whole-brain activation map and analyze emotional decision problems.

  8. Hand grips strength effect on motor function in human brain using fMRI: a pilot study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ismail, S S; Mohamad, M; Syazarina, S O; Nafisah, W Y

    2014-01-01

    Several methods of motor tasks for fMRI scanning have been evolving from simple to more complex tasks. Motor tasks on upper extremity were applied in order to excite the increscent of motor activation on contralesional and ipsilateral hemispheres in brain. The main objective of this study is to study the different conditions for motor tasks on upper extremity that affected the brain activation. Ten healthy right handed with normal vision (3 male and 7 female, age range=20-30 years, mean=24.6 years, SD=2.21) participated in this study. Prior to the scanning, participants were trained on hand grip tasks using rubber ball and pressure gauge tool outside the scanner. During fMRI session, a block design with 30-s task blocks and alternating 30-s rest periods was employed while participants viewed a computer screen via a back projection-mirror system and instructed to follow the instruction by gripping their hand with normal and strong grips using a rubber ball. Statistical Parametric mapping (SPM8) software was used to determine the brain activation. Both tasks activated the primary motor (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal and ventral of premotor cortex area (PMA) in left hemisphere while in right hemisphere the area of primary motor (M1) somatosensory was activated. However, the comparison between both tasks revealed that the strong hand grip showed the higher activation at M1, PMA and SMA on left hemisphere and also the area of SMA on right hemisphere. Both conditions of motor tasks could provide insights the functional organization on human brain

  9. Hand grips strength effect on motor function in human brain using fMRI: a pilot study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, S. S.; Mohamad, M.; Syazarina, S. O.; Nafisah, W. Y.

    2014-11-01

    Several methods of motor tasks for fMRI scanning have been evolving from simple to more complex tasks. Motor tasks on upper extremity were applied in order to excite the increscent of motor activation on contralesional and ipsilateral hemispheres in brain. The main objective of this study is to study the different conditions for motor tasks on upper extremity that affected the brain activation. Ten healthy right handed with normal vision (3 male and 7 female, age range=20-30 years, mean=24.6 years, SD=2.21) participated in this study. Prior to the scanning, participants were trained on hand grip tasks using rubber ball and pressure gauge tool outside the scanner. During fMRI session, a block design with 30-s task blocks and alternating 30-s rest periods was employed while participants viewed a computer screen via a back projection-mirror system and instructed to follow the instruction by gripping their hand with normal and strong grips using a rubber ball. Statistical Parametric mapping (SPM8) software was used to determine the brain activation. Both tasks activated the primary motor (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal and ventral of premotor cortex area (PMA) in left hemisphere while in right hemisphere the area of primary motor (M1) somatosensory was activated. However, the comparison between both tasks revealed that the strong hand grip showed the higher activation at M1, PMA and SMA on left hemisphere and also the area of SMA on right hemisphere. Both conditions of motor tasks could provide insights the functional organization on human brain.

  10. Age-related functional changes in gustatory and reward processing regions: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Aaron; Green, Erin; Murphy, Claire

    2010-11-01

    Changes in appetite in older adults may result in unhealthy weight change and negatively affect overall nutrition. Research examining gustatory processing in young adults has linked changes in patterns of the hemodynamic response of gustatory and motivation related brain regions to the physiological states of hunger and satiety. Whether the same brain regions are involved in taste processing in older adults is unknown. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine age-related changes in gustatory processing during hedonic assessment. Caffeine, citric acid, sucrose, and NaCl were administered orally during two event-related fMRI sessions, one during hunger and one after a pre-load. Participants assessed the pleasantness of the solutions in each session. Increased activity of the insula was seen in both age groups during hunger. Activity of secondary and higher order taste processing and reward regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and caudate nucleus was also observed. Hunger and satiety differentially affected the hemodynamic response, resulting in positive global activation during hunger and negative during satiety in both age groups. While in a state of hunger, the frequency and consistency of positive activation in gustatory and reward processing regions was greater in older adults. Additional regions not commonly associated with taste processing were also activated in older adults. Investigating the neurological response of older adults to taste stimuli under conditions of hunger and satiety may aid in understanding appetite, health, and functional changes in this population. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Real-time fMRI feedback training may improve chronic tinnitus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haller, Sven [University Hospital Basel, Institute of Radiology, Department of Neuroradiology, Basel (Switzerland); Department of Imaging and Medical Informatics, Geneva University Hospital, Institute of Neuroradiology, Geneva (Switzerland); Birbaumer, Niels [University of Tuebingen, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Tuebingen (Germany); Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Ospedale San Camillo, Venezia (Italy); Veit, Ralf [University of Tuebingen, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Tuebingen (Germany)

    2010-03-15

    Tinnitus consists of a more or less constant aversive tone or noise and is associated with excess auditory activation. Transient distortion of this activation (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) may improve tinnitus. Recently proposed operant training in real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) neurofeedback allows voluntary modification of specific circumscribed neuronal activations. Combining these observations, we investigated whether patients suffering from tinnitus can (1) learn to voluntarily reduce activation of the auditory system by rtfMRI neurofeedback and whether (2) successful learning improves tinnitus symptoms. Six participants with chronic tinnitus were included. First, location of the individual auditory cortex was determined in a standard fMRI auditory block-design localizer. Then, participants were trained to voluntarily reduce the auditory activation (rtfMRI) with visual biofeedback of the current auditory activation. Auditory activation significantly decreased after rtfMRI neurofeedback. This reduced the subjective tinnitus in two of six participants. These preliminary results suggest that tinnitus patients learn to voluntarily reduce spatially specific auditory activations by rtfMRI neurofeedback and that this may reduce tinnitus symptoms. Optimized training protocols (frequency, duration, etc.) may further improve the results. (orig.)

  12. Real-time fMRI feedback training may improve chronic tinnitus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haller, Sven; Birbaumer, Niels; Veit, Ralf

    2010-01-01

    Tinnitus consists of a more or less constant aversive tone or noise and is associated with excess auditory activation. Transient distortion of this activation (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) may improve tinnitus. Recently proposed operant training in real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) neurofeedback allows voluntary modification of specific circumscribed neuronal activations. Combining these observations, we investigated whether patients suffering from tinnitus can (1) learn to voluntarily reduce activation of the auditory system by rtfMRI neurofeedback and whether (2) successful learning improves tinnitus symptoms. Six participants with chronic tinnitus were included. First, location of the individual auditory cortex was determined in a standard fMRI auditory block-design localizer. Then, participants were trained to voluntarily reduce the auditory activation (rtfMRI) with visual biofeedback of the current auditory activation. Auditory activation significantly decreased after rtfMRI neurofeedback. This reduced the subjective tinnitus in two of six participants. These preliminary results suggest that tinnitus patients learn to voluntarily reduce spatially specific auditory activations by rtfMRI neurofeedback and that this may reduce tinnitus symptoms. Optimized training protocols (frequency, duration, etc.) may further improve the results. (orig.)

  13. How Does Your Brain See “Living” Circles: A Study of Animacy and Intention Using fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P McAleer

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available It is widely reported that the perception of animacy can occur from simple displays of moving shapes with participants attributing such qualities as goals, beliefs, and intentions. Furthermore, via neuroimaging studies, a network of brain areas, including regions of the temporal and frontal lobes, has been shown to process the percept. However, problems exist that prevent the bridging of fMRI studies on the perception of animacy and intention in shapes to the same percept of human movement. First, the issue of prior displays being poorly controlled in terms of low-level visual cues blurs the actual root of the effect. Second, the general use of synthetically generated displays and their relationship to actual human movement: a problem previously addressed in behavioural studies via a systematic reduction of live visual footage of human actors. Therefore, we propose experiments that incorporate both synthetically generated animacy stimuli and displays derived from human motion. Following the classic Tremoulet and Feldman displays, stimuli are created that allow for manipulation of animacy and intent whilst controlling low-level visual cues. These displays are then used in a whole-brain fMRI study to locate neural regions sensitive to the perception of animacy and intention. Finally, within these regions, a region-of-interest analysis is performed to examine the change in brain activation from viewing animacy displays derived from human movement with varying intent (eg, chasing or following. This study develops the relationship between previous animacy literature and the real-world perception of intent.

  14. Stimulating neural plasticity with real-time fMRI neurofeedback in Huntington's disease: A proof of concept study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papoutsi, Marina; Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Langbehn, Douglas; Reilmann, Ralf; Rees, Geraint; Tabrizi, Sarah J

    2018-03-01

    Novel methods that stimulate neuroplasticity are increasingly being studied to treat neurological and psychiatric conditions. We sought to determine whether real-time fMRI neurofeedback training is feasible in Huntington's disease (HD), and assess any factors that contribute to its effectiveness. In this proof-of-concept study, we used this technique to train 10 patients with HD to volitionally regulate the activity of their supplementary motor area (SMA). We collected detailed behavioral and neuroimaging data before and after training to examine changes of brain function and structure, and cognitive and motor performance. We found that patients overall learned to increase activity of the target region during training with variable effects on cognitive and motor behavior. Improved cognitive and motor performance after training predicted increases in pre-SMA grey matter volume, fMRI activity in the left putamen, and increased SMA-left putamen functional connectivity. Although we did not directly target the putamen and corticostriatal connectivity during neurofeedback training, our results suggest that training the SMA can lead to regulation of associated networks with beneficial effects in behavior. We conclude that neurofeedback training can induce plasticity in patients with Huntington's disease despite the presence of neurodegeneration, and the effects of training a single region may engage other regions and circuits implicated in disease pathology. © 2017 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Simultaneous functional imaging using fPET and fMRI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Villien, Marjorie [CERMEP (France)

    2015-05-18

    Brain mapping of task-associated changes in metabolism with PET has been accomplished by subtracting scans acquired during two distinct static states. We have demonstrated that PET can provide truly dynamic information on cerebral energy metabolism using constant infusion of FDG and multiple stimuli in a single experiment. We demonstrate here that the functional PET (fPET-FDG) method accomplished simultaneously with fMRI, can enable the first direct comparisons in time, space and magnitude of hemodynamics and oxygen and glucose consumption. The imaging studies were performed on a 3T Tim-Trio MR scanner modified to support an MR-compatible BrainPET insert. Ten healthy subjects were included. The total PET acquisition and infusion time was 90 minutes. We did 3 blocks of right hand fingers tapping for 10 minutes at 30, 50 and 70 minutes after the beginning of the PET acquisition. ASL and BOLD imaging were acquired simultaneously during the motor paradigm. Changes in glucose utilization are easily observed as changes in the TAC slope of the PET data (FDG utilization rate) and in the derivative signal during motor stimuli in the activated voxels. PET and MRI (ASL, and BOLD) activations are largely colocalized but with very different statistical significance and temporal dynamic, especially in the ipsilateral side of the stimuli. This study demonstrated that motor activation can be measured dynamically during a single FDG PET scan. The complementary nature of fPET-FDG to fMRI capitalizes on the emerging technology of hybrid MR-PET scanners. fPET-FDG, combined with quantitative fMRI methods, allow us to simultaneously measure dynamic changes in glucose utilization and hemodynamic, addressing vital questions about neurovascular coupling.

  16. Simultaneous functional imaging using fPET and fMRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villien, Marjorie

    2015-01-01

    Brain mapping of task-associated changes in metabolism with PET has been accomplished by subtracting scans acquired during two distinct static states. We have demonstrated that PET can provide truly dynamic information on cerebral energy metabolism using constant infusion of FDG and multiple stimuli in a single experiment. We demonstrate here that the functional PET (fPET-FDG) method accomplished simultaneously with fMRI, can enable the first direct comparisons in time, space and magnitude of hemodynamics and oxygen and glucose consumption. The imaging studies were performed on a 3T Tim-Trio MR scanner modified to support an MR-compatible BrainPET insert. Ten healthy subjects were included. The total PET acquisition and infusion time was 90 minutes. We did 3 blocks of right hand fingers tapping for 10 minutes at 30, 50 and 70 minutes after the beginning of the PET acquisition. ASL and BOLD imaging were acquired simultaneously during the motor paradigm. Changes in glucose utilization are easily observed as changes in the TAC slope of the PET data (FDG utilization rate) and in the derivative signal during motor stimuli in the activated voxels. PET and MRI (ASL, and BOLD) activations are largely colocalized but with very different statistical significance and temporal dynamic, especially in the ipsilateral side of the stimuli. This study demonstrated that motor activation can be measured dynamically during a single FDG PET scan. The complementary nature of fPET-FDG to fMRI capitalizes on the emerging technology of hybrid MR-PET scanners. fPET-FDG, combined with quantitative fMRI methods, allow us to simultaneously measure dynamic changes in glucose utilization and hemodynamic, addressing vital questions about neurovascular coupling.

  17. Acute Cannabis Intoxication and the Brain's Response to Visual Erotica: An Fmri Study

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Androvičová, R.; Horáček, J.; Tintěra, J.; Rydlo, J.; Ježová, D.; Balíková, M.; Hložek, T.; Mikšátková, P.; Kuchař, M.; Hlinka, Jaroslav; Roman, M.; Tomíček, P.; Viktorínová, M.; Tylš, F.; Páleníček, T.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 14, č. 5 (2017), e253-e253 ISSN 1743-6095. [Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health /23./. 28.05.2017-31.05.2017, Prague] Grant - others:GA MV(CZ) VG20122015080; GA MZd NT13145; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1611 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : fMRI * cannabis * sexuality Subject RIV: FH - Neurology http://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(17)30689-6/pdf

  18. Using real-time fMRI brain-computer interfacing to treat eating disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokunbi, Moses O

    2018-05-15

    Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging based brain-computer interfacing (fMRI neurofeedback) has shown encouraging outcomes in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioural disorders. However, its use in the treatment of eating disorders is very limited. Here, we give a brief overview of how to design and implement fMRI neurofeedback intervention for the treatment of eating disorders, considering the basic and essential components. We also attempt to develop potential adaptations of fMRI neurofeedback intervention for the treatment of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Hypoactivation of the primary sensorimotor cortex in de novo Parkinson's disease. A motor fMRI study under controlled conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tessa, Carlo; Vignali, Claudio [Versilia Hospital, AUSL Versilia, Division of Radiology, Camaiore (Italy); Lucetti, Claudio [Versilia Hospital, AUSL Versilia, Division of Neurology, Camaiore (Italy); Diciotti, Stefano; Paoli, Lorenzo; Ginestroni, Andrea; Mascalchi, Mario [University of Florence, Radiodiagnostic Section, Department of Clinical Physiopathology, Florence (Italy); Cecchi, Paolo; Baldacci, Filippo [University of Pisa, Department of Neuroscience, Pisa (Italy); Giannelli, Marco [Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Unit of Medical Physics, Pisa (Italy); Bonuccelli, Ubaldo [Versilia Hospital, AUSL Versilia, Division of Neurology, Camaiore (Italy); University of Pisa, Department of Neuroscience, Pisa (Italy)

    2012-03-15

    Nuclear medicine studies in Parkinson's disease (PD) indicate that nigrostriatal damage causes a widespread cortical hypoactivity assumed to be due to reduced excitatory thalamic outflow. However, so far, functional MRI (fMRI) studies have provided controversial data about this ''functional deafferentation'' phenomenon. To further clarify this issue, we assessed, with fMRI, de novo drug-naive PD patients using a relatively complex motor task under strictly controlled conditions. Nineteen de novo PD patients with right-predominant or bilateral symptoms and 13 age-matched healthy volunteers performed continuous writing of ''8'' figures with the right-dominant hand using a MR-compatible device that enables identification of incorrectly performed tasks and measures the size and the frequency of the ''8''s. The data were analyzed with FSL software and correlated with the clinical severity rated according to the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) staging system. Fifteen (89%) of 19 PD patients and 12 (92%) of 13 controls correctly executed the task. PD patients showed significant hypoactivation of the left primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) and cerebellum and no hyperactive areas as compared to controls. However, activation in SM1 and supplementary motor area bilaterally, in left supramarginal, parietal inferior, parietal superior and frontal superior gyri as well as in right parietal superior and angular gyri paralleled increasing disease severity as assessed with the HY stage. In line with the ''deafferentation hypothesis'', fMRI demonstrates hypoactivation of the SM1 in the early clinical stage of PD. (orig.)

  20. Altered fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation in premenstrual syndrome: A resting state fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Hai; Duan, Gaoxiong; Liu, Peng; Liu, Yanfei; Pang, Yong; Liu, Huimei; Tang, Lijun; Tao, Jien; Wen, Danhong; Li, Shasha; Liang, Lingyan; Deng, Demao

    2017-08-15

    Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is becoming highly prevalent among female and is characterized by emotional, physical and behavior symptoms. Previous evidence suggested functional dysregulation of female brain was expected to be involved in the etiology of PMS. The aim of present study was to evaluate the alterations of spontaneous brain activity in PMS patients based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 20 PMS patients and 21 healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI scanning during luteal phase. All participants were asked to complete a prospective daily record of severity of problems (DRSP) questionnaire. Compared with healthy controls, the results showed that PMS patients had increased fALFF in bilateral precuneus, left hippocampus and left inferior temporal cortex, and decreased fALFF in bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and cerebellum at luteal phase. Moreover, the DRSP scores of PMS patients were negatively correlated with the mean fALFF in ACC and positively correlated with the fALFF in precuneus. (1) the study did not investigate whether or not abnormal brain activity differences between groups in mid-follicular phase, and within-group changes. between phases.(2) it was relatively limited sample size and the participants were young; (3) fALFF could not provide us with more holistic information of brain network;(4) the comparisons of PMS and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) were not involved in the study. The present study shows abnormal spontaneous brain activity in PMS patients revealed by fALFF, which could provide neuroimaging evidence to further improve our understanding of the underlying neural mechanism of PMS. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  1. Functional brain activation differences in stuttering identified with a rapid fMRI sequence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraft, Shelly Jo; Choo, Ai Leen; Sharma, Harish; Ambrose, Nicoline G.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate whether brain activity related to the presence of stuttering can be identified with rapid functional MRI (fMRI) sequences that involved overt and covert speech processing tasks. The long-term goal is to develop sensitive fMRI approaches with developmentally appropriate tasks to identify deviant speech motor and auditory brain activity in children who stutter closer to the age at which recovery from stuttering is documented. Rapid sequences may be preferred for individuals or populations who do not tolerate long scanning sessions. In this report, we document the application of a picture naming and phoneme monitoring task in three minute fMRI sequences with adults who stutter (AWS). If relevant brain differences are found in AWS with these approaches that conform to previous reports, then these approaches can be extended to younger populations. Pairwise contrasts of brain BOLD activity between AWS and normally fluent adults indicated the AWS showed higher BOLD activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), right temporal lobe and sensorimotor cortices during picture naming and and higher activity in the right IFG during phoneme monitoring. The right lateralized pattern of BOLD activity together with higher activity in sensorimotor cortices is consistent with previous reports, which indicates rapid fMRI sequences can be considered for investigating stuttering in younger participants. PMID:22133409

  2. Activations in temporal areas using visual and auditory naming stimuli: A language fMRI study in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzálvez, Gloria G; Trimmel, Karin; Haag, Anja; van Graan, Louis A; Koepp, Matthias J; Thompson, Pamela J; Duncan, John S

    2016-12-01

    Verbal fluency functional MRI (fMRI) is used for predicting language deficits after anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but primarily engages frontal lobe areas. In this observational study we investigated fMRI paradigms using visual and auditory stimuli, which predominately involve language areas resected during ATLR. Twenty-three controls and 33 patients (20 left (LTLE), 13 right (RTLE)) were assessed using three fMRI paradigms: verbal fluency, auditory naming with a contrast of auditory reversed speech; picture naming with a contrast of scrambled pictures and blurred faces. Group analysis showed bilateral temporal activations for auditory naming and picture naming. Correcting for auditory and visual input (by subtracting activations resulting from auditory reversed speech and blurred pictures/scrambled faces respectively) resulted in left-lateralised activations for patients and controls, which was more pronounced for LTLE compared to RTLE patients. Individual subject activations at a threshold of T>2.5, extent >10 voxels, showed that verbal fluency activated predominantly the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in 90% of LTLE, 92% of RTLE, and 65% of controls, compared to right IFG activations in only 15% of LTLE and RTLE and 26% of controls. Middle temporal (MTG) or superior temporal gyrus (STG) activations were seen on the left in 30% of LTLE, 23% of RTLE, and 52% of controls, and on the right in 15% of LTLE, 15% of RTLE, and 35% of controls. Auditory naming activated temporal areas more frequently than did verbal fluency (LTLE: 93%/73%; RTLE: 92%/58%; controls: 82%/70% (left/right)). Controlling for auditory input resulted in predominantly left-sided temporal activations. Picture naming resulted in temporal lobe activations less frequently than did auditory naming (LTLE 65%/55%; RTLE 53%/46%; controls 52%/35% (left/right)). Controlling for visual input had left-lateralising effects. Auditory and picture naming activated

  3. A Dictionary Learning Approach for Signal Sampling in Task-Based fMRI for Reduction of Big Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Bao; Li, Xiang; Jiang, Xi; Sun, Yifei; Liu, Tianming

    2018-01-01

    The exponential growth of fMRI big data offers researchers an unprecedented opportunity to explore functional brain networks. However, this opportunity has not been fully explored yet due to the lack of effective and efficient tools for handling such fMRI big data. One major challenge is that computing capabilities still lag behind the growth of large-scale fMRI databases, e.g., it takes many days to perform dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole-brain fMRI data for an fMRI database of average size. Therefore, how to reduce the data size but without losing important information becomes a more and more pressing issue. To address this problem, we propose a signal sampling approach for significant fMRI data reduction before performing structurally-guided dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole brain's fMRI data. We compared the proposed structurally guided sampling method with no sampling, random sampling and uniform sampling schemes, and experiments on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) task fMRI data demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve more than 15 times speed-up without sacrificing the accuracy in identifying task-evoked functional brain networks. PMID:29706880

  4. A Dictionary Learning Approach for Signal Sampling in Task-Based fMRI for Reduction of Big Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Bao; Li, Xiang; Jiang, Xi; Sun, Yifei; Liu, Tianming

    2018-01-01

    The exponential growth of fMRI big data offers researchers an unprecedented opportunity to explore functional brain networks. However, this opportunity has not been fully explored yet due to the lack of effective and efficient tools for handling such fMRI big data. One major challenge is that computing capabilities still lag behind the growth of large-scale fMRI databases, e.g., it takes many days to perform dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole-brain fMRI data for an fMRI database of average size. Therefore, how to reduce the data size but without losing important information becomes a more and more pressing issue. To address this problem, we propose a signal sampling approach for significant fMRI data reduction before performing structurally-guided dictionary learning and sparse coding of whole brain's fMRI data. We compared the proposed structurally guided sampling method with no sampling, random sampling and uniform sampling schemes, and experiments on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) task fMRI data demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve more than 15 times speed-up without sacrificing the accuracy in identifying task-evoked functional brain networks.

  5. Item Memory, Context Memory and the Hippocampus: fMRI Evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rugg, Michael D.; Vilberg, Kaia L.; Mattson, Julia T.; Yu, Sarah S.; Johnson, Jeffrey D.; Suzuki, Maki

    2012-01-01

    Dual-process models of recognition memory distinguish between the retrieval of qualitative information about a prior event (recollection), and judgments of prior occurrence based on an acontextual sense of familiarity. fMRI studies investigating the neural correlates of memory encoding and retrieval conducted within the dual-process framework have…

  6. Principal Feature Analysis: A Multivariate Feature Selection Method for fMRI Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijun Wang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Brain decoding with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI requires analysis of complex, multivariate data. Multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA has been widely used in recent years. MVPA treats the activation of multiple voxels from fMRI data as a pattern and decodes brain states using pattern classification methods. Feature selection is a critical procedure of MVPA because it decides which features will be included in the classification analysis of fMRI data, thereby improving the performance of the classifier. Features can be selected by limiting the analysis to specific anatomical regions or by computing univariate (voxel-wise or multivariate statistics. However, these methods either discard some informative features or select features with redundant information. This paper introduces the principal feature analysis as a novel multivariate feature selection method for fMRI data processing. This multivariate approach aims to remove features with redundant information, thereby selecting fewer features, while retaining the most information.

  7. Voluntary Enhancement of Neural Signatures of Affiliative Emotion Using fMRI Neurofeedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moll, Jorge; Weingartner, Julie H.; Bado, Patricia; Basilio, Rodrigo; Sato, João R.; Melo, Bruno R.; Bramati, Ivanei E.; de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo; Zahn, Roland

    2014-01-01

    In Ridley Scott’s film “Blade Runner”, empathy-detection devices are employed to measure affiliative emotions. Despite recent neurocomputational advances, it is unknown whether brain signatures of affiliative emotions, such as tenderness/affection, can be decoded and voluntarily modulated. Here, we employed multivariate voxel pattern analysis and real-time fMRI to address this question. We found that participants were able to use visual feedback based on decoded fMRI patterns as a neurofeedback signal to increase brain activation characteristic of tenderness/affection relative to pride, an equally complex control emotion. Such improvement was not observed in a control group performing the same fMRI task without neurofeedback. Furthermore, the neurofeedback-driven enhancement of tenderness/affection-related distributed patterns was associated with local fMRI responses in the septohypothalamic area and frontopolar cortex, regions previously implicated in affiliative emotion. This demonstrates that humans can voluntarily enhance brain signatures of tenderness/affection, unlocking new possibilities for promoting prosocial emotions and countering antisocial behavior. PMID:24847819

  8. Identification of Voxels Confounded by Venous Signals Using Resting-State fMRI Functional Connectivity Graph Clustering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klaudius eKalcher

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Identifying venous voxels in fMRI datasets is important to increase the specificity of fMRI analyses to microvasculature in the vicinity of the neural processes triggering the BOLD response. This is, however, difficult to achieve in particular in typical studies where magnitude images of BOLD EPI are the only data available. In this study, voxelwise functional connectivity graphs were computed on minimally preprocessed low TR (333 ms multiband resting-state fMRI data, using both high positive and negative correlations to define edges between nodes (voxels. A high correlation threshold for binarization ensures that most edges in the resulting sparse graph reflect the high coherence of signals in medium to large veins. Graph clustering based on the optimization of modularity was then employed to identify clusters of coherent voxels in this graph, and all clusters of 50 or more voxels were then interpreted as corresponding to medium to large veins. Indeed, a comparison with SWI reveals that 75.6 ± 5.9% of voxels within these large clusters overlap with veins visible in the SWI image or lie outside the brain parenchyma. Some of the remainingdifferences between the two modalities can be explained by imperfect alignment or geometric distortions between the two images. Overall, the graph clustering based method for identifying venous voxels has a high specificity as well as the additional advantages of being computed in the same voxel grid as the fMRI dataset itself and not needingany additional data beyond what is usually acquired (and exported in standard fMRI experiments.

  9. Altered default mode network activity in patient with anxiety disorders: An fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao Xiaohu; Wang Peijun; Li Chunbo; Hu Zhenghui; Xi Qian; Wu Wenyuan; Tang Xiaowei

    2007-01-01

    Anxiety disorder, a common mental disorder in our clinical practice, is characterized by unprovoked anxiety. Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), which closely involved in emotional processing, are critical regions in the default mode network. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether default mode network activity is altered in patients with anxiety disorder. Ten anxiety patients and 10 healthy controls underwent fMRI while listening to emotionally neutral words alternating with rest (Experiment 1) and threat-related words alternating with emotionally neutral words (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, regions of deactivation were observed in patients and controls. In Experiment 2, regions of deactivation were observed only in patients. The observed deactivation patterns in the two experiments, which included MPFC, PCC, and inferior parietal cortex, were similar and consistent with the default model network. Less deactivation in MPFC and greater deactivation in PCC were observed for patients group comparing to controls in Experiment 1. Our observations suggest that the default model network is altered in anxiety patients and dysfunction in MPFC and PCC may play an important role in anxiety psychopathology

  10. Feature-Space Clustering for fMRI Meta-Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goutte, Cyril; Hansen, Lars Kai; Liptrot, Mathew G.

    2001-01-01

    MRI sequences containing several hundreds of images, it is sometimes necessary to invoke feature extraction to reduce the dimensionality of the data space. A second interesting application is in the meta-analysis of fMRI experiment, where features are obtained from a possibly large number of single......-voxel analyses. In particular this allows the checking of the differences and agreements between different methods of analysis. Both approaches are illustrated on a fMRI data set involving visual stimulation, and we show that the feature space clustering approach yields nontrivial results and, in particular......, shows interesting differences between individual voxel analysis performed with traditional methods. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc....

  11. Framing effects reveal discrete lexical-semantic and sublexical procedures in reading: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danelli, Laura; Marelli, Marco; Berlingeri, Manuela; Tettamanti, Marco; Sberna, Maurizio; Paulesu, Eraldo; Luzzatti, Claudio

    2015-01-01

    According to the dual-route model, a printed string of letters can be processed by either a grapheme-to-phoneme conversion (GPC) route or a lexical-semantic route. Although meta-analyses of the imaging literature support the existence of distinct but interacting reading procedures, individual neuroimaging studies that explored neural correlates of reading yielded inconclusive results. We used a list-manipulation paradigm to provide a fresh empirical look at this issue and to isolate specific areas that underlie the two reading procedures. In a lexical condition, we embedded disyllabic Italian words (target stimuli) in lists of either loanwords or trisyllabic Italian words with unpredictable stress position. In a GPC condition, similar target stimuli were included within lists of pseudowords. The procedure was designed to induce participants to emphasize either the lexical-semantic or the GPC reading procedure, while controlling for possible linguistic confounds and keeping the reading task requirements stable across the two conditions. Thirty-three adults participated in the behavioral study, and 20 further adult participants were included in the fMRI study. At the behavioral level, we found sizeable effects of the framing manipulations that included slower voice onset times for stimuli in the pseudoword frames. At the functional anatomical level, the occipital and temporal regions, and the intraparietal sulcus were specifically activated when subjects were reading target words in a lexical frame. The inferior parietal and anterior fusiform cortex were specifically activated in the GPC condition. These patterns of activation represented a valid classifying model of fMRI images associated with target reading in both frames in the multi-voxel pattern analyses. Further activations were shared by the two procedures in the occipital and inferior parietal areas, in the premotor cortex, in the frontal regions and the left supplementary motor area. These regions are most

  12. Emotional Intent Modulates The Neural Substrates Of Creativity: An fMRI Study of Emotionally Targeted Improvisation in Jazz Musicians

    OpenAIRE

    Malinda J. McPherson; Frederick S. Barrett; Monica Lopez-Gonzalez; Patpong Jiradejvong; Charles J. Limb

    2016-01-01

    Emotion is a primary motivator for creative behaviors, yet the interaction between the neural systems involved in creativity and those involved in emotion has not been studied. In the current study, we addressed this gap by using fMRI to examine piano improvisation in response to emotional cues. We showed twelve professional jazz pianists photographs of an actress representing a positive, negative or ambiguous emotion. Using a non-ferromagnetic thirty-five key keyboard, the pianists improvise...

  13. Involvement of emotion in olfactory responses. A fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uno, Tominori; Wang, L.; Miwakeichi, Fumikazu; Tonoike, Mitsuo; Kaneda, Teruo

    2010-01-01

    We investigated the olfactory 'Kansei' information processing for two kinds of smells by measuring the brain activities associated with olfactory responses in humans. In this study, the brain activities related to discrimination and recognition of odors were examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In experiment 1, odor stimuli (lemon-like and banana-like) were presented using a block design in a blinded manner, and the kind of fruits was identified by its odor. The frontal and temporal lobe, inferior parietal lobule, cingulate gyrus, amygdaloid body and parahippocampal gyrus were primarily activated by each odor based on conjunction analysis. In experiment 2, as a result of performing an oddball experiment using the odors of experiment 1, the active areas were mainly found in the temporal lobe, superior and inferior parietal lobule, insula, thalamus, supramarginal gyrus, uncus and parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, these regions overlapped with the emotional circuit. These experimental results suggest that common brain activities accompany the discrimination and cognition associated with odor stimuli, which may underlie the olfactory responses relevant to the higher brain function and emotions associated with olfactory function. (author)

  14. On clustering fMRI time series

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goutte, Cyril; Toft, Peter Aundal; Rostrup, E.

    1999-01-01

    Analysis of fMRI time series is often performed by extracting one or more parameters for the individual voxels. Methods based, e.g., on various statistical tests are then used to yield parameters corresponding to probability of activation or activation strength. However, these methods do...

  15. Effects of prior information on decoding degraded speech: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clos, Mareike; Langner, Robert; Meyer, Martin; Oechslin, Mathias S; Zilles, Karl; Eickhoff, Simon B

    2014-01-01

    Expectations and prior knowledge are thought to support the perceptual analysis of incoming sensory stimuli, as proposed by the predictive-coding framework. The current fMRI study investigated the effect of prior information on brain activity during the decoding of degraded speech stimuli. When prior information enabled the comprehension of the degraded sentences, the left middle temporal gyrus and the left angular gyrus were activated, highlighting a role of these areas in meaning extraction. In contrast, the activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (area 44/45) appeared to reflect the search for meaningful information in degraded speech material that could not be decoded because of mismatches with the prior information. Our results show that degraded sentences evoke instantaneously different percepts and activation patterns depending on the type of prior information, in line with prediction-based accounts of perception. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. fMRI responses to pictures of mutilation and contamination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schienle, Anne; Schäfer, Axel; Hermann, Andrea; Walter, Bertram; Stark, Rudolf; Vaitl, Dieter

    2006-01-30

    Findings from several functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies implicate the existence of a distinct neural disgust substrate, whereas others support the idea of distributed and integrative brain systems involved in emotional processing. In the present fMRI experiment 12 healthy females viewed pictures from four emotion categories. Two categories were disgust-relevant and depicted contamination or mutilation. The other scenes showed attacks (fear) or were affectively neutral. The two types of disgust elicitors received comparable ratings for disgust, fear and arousal. Both were associated with activation of the occipitotemporal cortex, the amygdala, and the orbitofrontal cortex; insula activity was nonsignificant in the two disgust conditions. Mutilation scenes induced greater inferior parietal activity than contamination scenes, which might mirror their greater capacity to capture attention. Our results are in disagreement with the idea of selective disgust processing at the insula. They point to a network of brain regions involved in the decoding of stimulus salience and the regulation of attention.

  17. Automatic physiological waveform processing for FMRI noise correction and analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel J Kelley

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Functional MRI resting state and connectivity studies of brain focus on neural fluctuations at low frequencies which share power with physiological fluctuations originating from lung and heart. Due to the lack of automated software to process physiological signals collected at high magnetic fields, a gap exists in the processing pathway between the acquisition of physiological data and its use in fMRI software for both physiological noise correction and functional analyses of brain activation and connectivity. To fill this gap, we developed an open source, physiological signal processing program, called PhysioNoise, in the python language. We tested its automated processing algorithms and dynamic signal visualization on resting monkey cardiac and respiratory waveforms. PhysioNoise consistently identifies physiological fluctuations for fMRI noise correction and also generates covariates for subsequent analyses of brain activation and connectivity.

  18. Support vector machine learning-based fMRI data group analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ze; Childress, Anna R; Wang, Jiongjiong; Detre, John A

    2007-07-15

    To explore the multivariate nature of fMRI data and to consider the inter-subject brain response discrepancies, a multivariate and brain response model-free method is fundamentally required. Two such methods are presented in this paper by integrating a machine learning algorithm, the support vector machine (SVM), and the random effect model. Without any brain response modeling, SVM was used to extract a whole brain spatial discriminance map (SDM), representing the brain response difference between the contrasted experimental conditions. Population inference was then obtained through the random effect analysis (RFX) or permutation testing (PMU) on the individual subjects' SDMs. Applied to arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion fMRI data, SDM RFX yielded lower false-positive rates in the null hypothesis test and higher detection sensitivity for synthetic activations with varying cluster size and activation strengths, compared to the univariate general linear model (GLM)-based RFX. For a sensory-motor ASL fMRI study, both SDM RFX and SDM PMU yielded similar activation patterns to GLM RFX and GLM PMU, respectively, but with higher t values and cluster extensions at the same significance level. Capitalizing on the absence of temporal noise correlation in ASL data, this study also incorporated PMU in the individual-level GLM and SVM analyses accompanied by group-level analysis through RFX or group-level PMU. Providing inferences on the probability of being activated or deactivated at each voxel, these individual-level PMU-based group analysis methods can be used to threshold the analysis results of GLM RFX, SDM RFX or SDM PMU.

  19. Potential pitfalls when denoising resting state fMRI data using nuisance regression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bright, Molly G; Tench, Christopher R; Murphy, Kevin

    2017-07-01

    In resting state fMRI, it is necessary to remove signal variance associated with noise sources, leaving cleaned fMRI time-series that more accurately reflect the underlying intrinsic brain fluctuations of interest. This is commonly achieved through nuisance regression, in which the fit is calculated of a noise model of head motion and physiological processes to the fMRI data in a General Linear Model, and the "cleaned" residuals of this fit are used in further analysis. We examine the statistical assumptions and requirements of the General Linear Model, and whether these are met during nuisance regression of resting state fMRI data. Using toy examples and real data we show how pre-whitening, temporal filtering and temporal shifting of regressors impact model fit. Based on our own observations, existing literature, and statistical theory, we make the following recommendations when employing nuisance regression: pre-whitening should be applied to achieve valid statistical inference of the noise model fit parameters; temporal filtering should be incorporated into the noise model to best account for changes in degrees of freedom; temporal shifting of regressors, although merited, should be achieved via optimisation and validation of a single temporal shift. We encourage all readers to make simple, practical changes to their fMRI denoising pipeline, and to regularly assess the appropriateness of the noise model used. By negotiating the potential pitfalls described in this paper, and by clearly reporting the details of nuisance regression in future manuscripts, we hope that the field will achieve more accurate and precise noise models for cleaning the resting state fMRI time-series. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Cross-cultural reading the mind in the eyes: an fMRI investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Reginald B; Rule, Nicholas O; Franklin, Robert G; Wang, Elsie; Stevenson, Michael T; Yoshikawa, Sakiko; Nomura, Mitsue; Sato, Wataru; Kveraga, Kestutis; Ambady, Nalini

    2010-01-01

    The ability to infer others' thoughts, intentions, and feelings is regarded as uniquely human. Over the last few decades, this remarkable ability has captivated the attention of philosophers, primatologists, clinical and developmental psychologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists. Most would agree that the capacity to reason about others' mental states is innately prepared, essential for successful human social interaction. Whether this ability is culturally tuned, however, remains entirely uncharted on both the behavioral and neural levels. Here we provide the first behavioral and neural evidence for an intracultural advantage (better performance for same- vs. other-culture) in mental state decoding in a sample of native Japanese and white American participants. We examined the neural correlates of this intracultural advantage using fMRI, revealing greater bilateral posterior superior temporal sulci recruitment during same- versus other-culture mental state decoding in both cultural groups. These findings offer preliminary support for cultural consistency in the neurological architecture subserving high-level mental state reasoning, as well as its differential recruitment based on cultural group membership.

  1. Effect of Unpleasant Loud Noise on Hippocampal Activities during Picture Encoding: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirano, Yoshiyuki; Fujita, Masafumi; Watanabe, Kazuko; Niwa, Masami; Takahashi, Toru; Kanematsu, Masayuki; Ido, Yasushi; Tomida, Mihoko; Onozuka, Minoru

    2006-01-01

    The functional link between the amygdala and hippocampus in humans has not been well documented. We examined the effect of unpleasant loud noise on hippocampal and amygdaloid activities during picture encoding by means of fMRI, and on the correct response in humans. The noise reduced activity in the hippocampus during picture encoding, decreased…

  2. Sentence Syntax and Content in the Human Temporal Lobe: An fMRI Adaptation Study in Auditory and Visual Modalities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Devauchelle, A.D.; Dehaene, S.; Pallier, C. [INSERM, Gif sur Yvette (France); Devauchelle, A.D.; Dehaene, S.; Pallier, C. [CEA, DSV, I2BM, NeuroSpin, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette (France); Devauchelle, A.D.; Pallier, C. [Univ. Paris 11, Orsay (France); Oppenheim, C. [Univ Paris 05, Ctr Hosp St Anne, Paris (France); Rizzi, L. [Univ Siena, CISCL, I-53100 Siena (Italy); Dehaene, S. [Coll France, F-75231 Paris (France)

    2009-07-01

    Priming effects have been well documented in behavioral psycho-linguistics experiments: The processing of a word or a sentence is typically facilitated when it shares lexico-semantic or syntactic features with a previously encountered stimulus. Here, we used fMRI priming to investigate which brain areas show adaptation to the repetition of a sentence's content or syntax. Participants read or listened to sentences organized in series which could or not share similar syntactic constructions and/or lexico-semantic content. The repetition of lexico-semantic content yielded adaptation in most of the temporal and frontal sentence processing network, both in the visual and the auditory modalities, even when the same lexico-semantic content was expressed using variable syntactic constructions. No fMRI adaptation effect was observed when the same syntactic construction was repeated. Yet behavioral priming was observed at both syntactic and semantic levels in a separate experiment where participants detected sentence endings. We discuss a number of possible explanations for the absence of syntactic priming in the fMRI experiments, including the possibility that the conglomerate of syntactic properties defining 'a construction' is not an actual object assembled during parsing. (authors)

  3. Sentence Syntax and Content in the Human Temporal Lobe: An fMRI Adaptation Study in Auditory and Visual Modalities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Devauchelle, A.D.; Dehaene, S.; Pallier, C.; Devauchelle, A.D.; Dehaene, S.; Pallier, C.; Devauchelle, A.D.; Pallier, C.; Oppenheim, C.; Rizzi, L.; Dehaene, S.

    2009-01-01

    Priming effects have been well documented in behavioral psycho-linguistics experiments: The processing of a word or a sentence is typically facilitated when it shares lexico-semantic or syntactic features with a previously encountered stimulus. Here, we used fMRI priming to investigate which brain areas show adaptation to the repetition of a sentence's content or syntax. Participants read or listened to sentences organized in series which could or not share similar syntactic constructions and/or lexico-semantic content. The repetition of lexico-semantic content yielded adaptation in most of the temporal and frontal sentence processing network, both in the visual and the auditory modalities, even when the same lexico-semantic content was expressed using variable syntactic constructions. No fMRI adaptation effect was observed when the same syntactic construction was repeated. Yet behavioral priming was observed at both syntactic and semantic levels in a separate experiment where participants detected sentence endings. We discuss a number of possible explanations for the absence of syntactic priming in the fMRI experiments, including the possibility that the conglomerate of syntactic properties defining 'a construction' is not an actual object assembled during parsing. (authors)

  4. Analytic programming with FMRI data: a quick-start guide for statisticians using R.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eloyan, Ani; Li, Shanshan; Muschelli, John; Pekar, Jim J; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Caffo, Brian S

    2014-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a thriving field that plays an important role in medical imaging analysis, biological and neuroscience research and practice. This manuscript gives a didactic introduction to the statistical analysis of fMRI data using the R project, along with the relevant R code. The goal is to give statisticians who would like to pursue research in this area a quick tutorial for programming with fMRI data. References of relevant packages and papers are provided for those interested in more advanced analysis.

  5. Brain responses to erotic and other emotional stimuli in breast cancer survivors with and without distress about low sexual desire: a preliminary fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Versace, Francesco; Engelmann, Jeffrey M; Jackson, Edward F; Slapin, Aurelija; Cortese, Kristin M; Bevers, Therese B; Schover, Leslie R

    2013-12-01

    Many breast cancer survivors report a loss of sexual desire and arousability, consonant with the new DSM-V category of female sexual interest/arousal disorder. The cause of decreased sexual desire and pleasure after treatment for cancer is unknown. One possibility is that cancer, or treatment for cancer, damages brain circuits that are involved in reward-seeking. To test the hypothesis that brain reward systems are involved in decreased sexual desire in breast cancer survivors, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain responses to erotica and other emotional stimuli in two groups of women previously treated for breast cancer with chemotherapy: those who were distressed about a perceived loss of sexual desire and those who may have had low desire, but were not distressed about it. Women distressed about their desire had reduced brain responses to erotica in the anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which are part of the brain reward system. This study is the first to demonstrate, in cancer survivors, that problems with sexual desire/arousability are associated with blunted brain responses to erotica in reward systems. Future research is necessary to determine whether brain responses differ as a result of chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and menopausal status. This may contribute to the development of new, evidence-based interventions for one of the most prevalent and enduring side effects of cancer treatment.

  6. Sensitivity and reliability of language laterality assessment with a free reversed association task - a fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fesl, Gunther; Brueckmann, Hartmut; Bruhns, Philipp; Rau, Sabine; Ilmberger, Josef; Wiesmann, Martin; Kegel, Gerd

    2010-01-01

    The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity and reliability of assessing hemispheric language dominance with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a 'free reversed association task.' Thirty-nine healthy subjects (13 dextrals, 13 sinistrals and 13 bimanuals) underwent two repeated fMRI sessions. In the active phases sets of words were presented via headphones, and an associated target item was named. During the baseline phases a standard answer was given after listening to unintelligible stimuli. Data were preprocessed with SPM, and then laterality indices (LI) and reliability coefficients (RC) were calculated. Extensive frontal, temporal and parietal activations were found. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects showed left-hemispheric dominance, 5% showed right-hemispheric dominance, and 17% had bilateral language representations. The incidence of right-hemispheric language dominance was 4.3 times higher in a left-hander with a handedness quotient (HQ) of -90 than in a right-hander with a HQ of +90. The RC was 0.61 for combined ROIs (global network). Strong correlations were found between the two session LIs (r = 0.95 for the global network). 'Free reversed association' is a sensitive and reliable task for the determination of individual language lateralization. This suggests that the task may be used in a clinical setting. (orig.)

  7. Motor imagery training: Kinesthetic imagery strategy and inferior parietal fMRI activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lebon, Florent; Horn, Ulrike; Domin, Martin; Lotze, Martin

    2018-04-01

    Motor imagery (MI) is the mental simulation of action frequently used by professionals in different fields. However, with respect to performance, well-controlled functional imaging studies on MI training are sparse. We investigated changes in fMRI representation going along with performance changes of a finger sequence (error and velocity) after MI training in 48 healthy young volunteers. Before training, we tested the vividness of kinesthetic and visual imagery. During tests, participants were instructed to move or to imagine moving the fingers of the right hand in a specific order. During MI training, participants repeatedly imagined the sequence for 15 min. Imaging analysis was performed using a full-factorial design to assess brain changes due to imagery training. We also used regression analyses to identify those who profited from training (performance outcome and gain) with initial imagery scores (vividness) and fMRI activation magnitude during MI at pre-test (MI pre ). After training, error rate decreased and velocity increased. We combined both parameters into a common performance index. FMRI activation in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) was associated with MI and increased over time. In addition, fMRI activation in the right IPL during MI pre was associated with high initial kinesthetic vividness. High kinesthetic imagery vividness predicted a high performance after training. In contrast, occipital activation, associated with visual imagery strategies, showed a negative predictive value for performance. Our data echo the importance of high kinesthetic vividness for MI training outcome and consider IPL as a key area during MI and through MI training. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Temporo-parietal dysfunction in Tourette syndrome: Insights from an fMRI study of Theory of Mind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eddy, Clare M; Cavanna, Andrea E; Rickards, Hugh E; Hansen, Peter C

    2016-10-01

    Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by tics, repetitive movements and vocalizations which are prompted by a sensory-cognitive premonitory urge. Complex tics include environmentally dependent social behaviors such as echoing of other people's speech and actions. Recent studies have suggested that adults with TS can show differences to controls in Theory of Mind (ToM): reasoning about mental states (e.g. beliefs, emotions). In this study, twenty-five adults with uncomplicated TS (no co-morbid disorders, moderate tic severity), and twenty-five healthy age and gender matched controls were scanned with fMRI during an established ToM task. Neural activity was contrasted across ToM trials involving reasoning about false-belief, and matched trials requiring judgments about physical states rather than mental states. Contrasting task conditions uncovered differential fMRI activation in TS during ToM involving the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), right amygdala and posterior cingulate. Further analysis revealed that activity within the right TPJ as localised by this task covaried with the severity of symptoms including echophenomena, impulse control problems and premonitory urges in TS. Amygdala activation was also linked to premonitory urges, while activity in the left TPJ during ToM was linked to ratings of non-obscene socially inappropriate symptoms. These findings indicate that patients with TS exhibit atypical functional activation within key neural substrates involved in ToM. More generally, our data could highlight an important role for TPJ dysfunction in driving compulsive behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Functional Laterality of Task-Evoked Activation in Sensorimotor Cortex of Preterm Infants: An Optimized 3 T fMRI Study Employing a Customized Neonatal Head Coil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheef, Lukas; Nordmeyer-Massner, Jurek A; Smith-Collins, Adam Pr; Müller, Nicole; Stegmann-Woessner, Gaby; Jankowski, Jacob; Gieseke, Jürgen; Born, Mark; Seitz, Hermann; Bartmann, Peter; Schild, Hans H; Pruessmann, Klaas P; Heep, Axel; Boecker, Henning

    2017-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in neonates has been introduced as a non-invasive method for studying sensorimotor processing in the developing brain. However, previous neonatal studies have delivered conflicting results regarding localization, lateralization, and directionality of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses in sensorimotor cortex (SMC). Amongst the confounding factors in interpreting neonatal fMRI studies include the use of standard adult MR-coils providing insufficient signal to noise, and liberal statistical thresholds, compromising clinical interpretation at the single subject level. Here, we employed a custom-designed neonatal MR-coil adapted and optimized to the head size of a newborn in order to improve robustness, reliability and validity of neonatal sensorimotor fMRI. Thirteen preterm infants with a median gestational age of 26 weeks were scanned at term-corrected age using a prototype 8-channel neonatal head coil at 3T (Achieva, Philips, Best, NL). Sensorimotor stimulation was elicited by passive extension/flexion of the elbow at 1 Hz in a block design. Analysis of temporal signal to noise ratio (tSNR) was performed on the whole brain and the SMC, and was compared to data acquired with an 'adult' 8 channel head coil published previously. Task-evoked activation was determined by single-subject SPM8 analyses, thresholded at p lateralization of SMC activation, as found in children and adults, is already present in the newborn period.

  10. Pictionary-based fMRI paradigm to study the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saggar, Manish; Quintin, Eve-Marie; Kienitz, Eliza; Bott, Nicholas T; Sun, Zhaochun; Hong, Wei-Chen; Chien, Yin-hsuan; Liu, Ning; Dougherty, Robert F; Royalty, Adam; Hawthorne, Grace; Reiss, Allan L

    2015-05-28

    A novel game-like and creativity-conducive fMRI paradigm is developed to assess the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity in healthy adults. Participants were engaged in the word-guessing game of Pictionary(TM), using an MR-safe drawing tablet and no explicit instructions to be "creative". Using the primary contrast of drawing a given word versus drawing a control word (zigzag), we observed increased engagement of cerebellum, thalamus, left parietal cortex, right superior frontal, left prefrontal and paracingulate/cingulate regions, such that activation in the cingulate and left prefrontal cortices negatively influenced task performance. Further, using parametric fMRI analysis, increasing subjective difficulty ratings for drawing the word engaged higher activations in the left pre-frontal cortices, whereas higher expert-rated creative content in the drawings was associated with increased engagement of bilateral cerebellum. Altogether, our data suggest that cerebral-cerebellar interaction underlying implicit processing of mental representations has a facilitative effect on spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity.

  11. Pictionary-based fMRI paradigm to study the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saggar, Manish; Quintin, Eve-Marie; Kienitz, Eliza; Bott, Nicholas T.; Sun, Zhaochun; Hong, Wei-Chen; Chien, Yin-hsuan; Liu, Ning; Dougherty, Robert F.; Royalty, Adam; Hawthorne, Grace; Reiss, Allan L.

    2015-01-01

    A novel game-like and creativity-conducive fMRI paradigm is developed to assess the neural correlates of spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity in healthy adults. Participants were engaged in the word-guessing game of PictionaryTM, using an MR-safe drawing tablet and no explicit instructions to be “creative”. Using the primary contrast of drawing a given word versus drawing a control word (zigzag), we observed increased engagement of cerebellum, thalamus, left parietal cortex, right superior frontal, left prefrontal and paracingulate/cingulate regions, such that activation in the cingulate and left prefrontal cortices negatively influenced task performance. Further, using parametric fMRI analysis, increasing subjective difficulty ratings for drawing the word engaged higher activations in the left pre-frontal cortices, whereas higher expert-rated creative content in the drawings was associated with increased engagement of bilateral cerebellum. Altogether, our data suggest that cerebral-cerebellar interaction underlying implicit processing of mental representations has a facilitative effect on spontaneous improvisation and figural creativity. PMID:26018874

  12. Learning effective connectivity from fMRI using autoregressive hidden Markov model with missing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Shilpa; Chaudhury, Santanu; Lall, Brejesh; Roy, Prasun Kumar

    2017-02-15

    Effective connectivity (EC) analysis of neuronal groups using fMRI delivers insights about functional-integration. However, fMRI signal has low-temporal resolution due to down-sampling and indirectly measures underlying neuronal activity. The aim is to address above issues for more reliable EC estimates. This paper proposes use of autoregressive hidden Markov model with missing data (AR-HMM-md) in dynamically multi-linked (DML) framework for learning EC using multiple fMRI time series. In our recent work (Dang et al., 2016), we have shown how AR-HMM-md for modelling single fMRI time series outperforms the existing methods. AR-HMM-md models unobserved neuronal activity and lost data over time as variables and estimates their values by joint optimization given fMRI observation sequence. The effectiveness in learning EC is shown using simulated experiments. Also the effects of sampling and noise are studied on EC. Moreover, classification-experiments are performed for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder subjects and age-matched controls for performance evaluation of real data. Using Bayesian model selection, we see that the proposed model converged to higher log-likelihood and demonstrated that group-classification can be performed with higher cross-validation accuracy of above 94% using distinctive network EC which characterizes patients vs. The full data EC obtained from DML-AR-HMM-md is more consistent with previous literature than the classical multivariate Granger causality method. The proposed architecture leads to reliable estimates of EC than the existing latent models. This framework overcomes the disadvantage of low-temporal resolution and improves cross-validation accuracy significantly due to presence of missing data variables and autoregressive process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Meta-analysis of real-time fMRI neurofeedback studies using individual participant data: How is brain regulation mediated?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emmert, Kirsten; Kopel, Rotem; Sulzer, James; Brühl, Annette B; Berman, Brian D; Linden, David E J; Horovitz, Silvina G; Breimhorst, Markus; Caria, Andrea; Frank, Sabine; Johnston, Stephen; Long, Zhiying; Paret, Christian; Robineau, Fabien; Veit, Ralf; Bartsch, Andreas; Beckmann, Christian F; Van De Ville, Dimitri; Haller, Sven

    2016-01-01

    An increasing number of studies using real-time fMRI neurofeedback have demonstrated that successful regulation of neural activity is possible in various brain regions. Since these studies focused on the regulated region(s), little is known about the target-independent mechanisms associated with neurofeedback-guided control of brain activation, i.e. the regulating network. While the specificity of the activation during self-regulation is an important factor, no study has effectively determined the network involved in self-regulation in general. In an effort to detect regions that are responsible for the act of brain regulation, we performed a post-hoc analysis of data involving different target regions based on studies from different research groups. We included twelve suitable studies that examined nine different target regions amounting to a total of 175 subjects and 899 neurofeedback runs. Data analysis included a standard first- (single subject, extracting main paradigm) and second-level (single subject, all runs) general linear model (GLM) analysis of all participants taking into account the individual timing. Subsequently, at the third level, a random effects model GLM included all subjects of all studies, resulting in an overall mixed effects model. Since four of the twelve studies had a reduced field of view (FoV), we repeated the same analysis in a subsample of eight studies that had a well-overlapping FoV to obtain a more global picture of self-regulation. The GLM analysis revealed that the anterior insula as well as the basal ganglia, notably the striatum, were consistently active during the regulation of brain activation across the studies. The anterior insula has been implicated in interoceptive awareness of the body and cognitive control. Basal ganglia are involved in procedural learning, visuomotor integration and other higher cognitive processes including motivation. The larger FoV analysis yielded additional activations in the anterior cingulate

  14. Visual and auditory stimuli associated with swallowing. An fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawai, Takeshi; Watanabe, Yutaka; Tonogi, Morio; Yamane, Gen-yuki; Abe, Shinichi; Yamada, Yoshiaki; Callan, Akiko

    2009-01-01

    We focused on brain areas activated by audiovisual stimuli related to swallowing motions. In this study, three kinds of stimuli related to human swallowing movement (auditory stimuli alone, visual stimuli alone, or audiovisual stimuli) were presented to the subjects, and activated brain areas were measured using functional MRI (fMRI) and analyzed. When auditory stimuli alone were presented, the supplementary motor area was activated. When visual stimuli alone were presented, the premotor and primary motor areas of the left and right hemispheres and prefrontal area of the left hemisphere were activated. When audiovisual stimuli were presented, the prefrontal and premotor areas of the left and right hemispheres were activated. Activation of Broca's area, which would have been characteristic of mirror neuron system activation on presentation of motion images, was not observed; however, activation of brain areas related to swallowing motion programming and performance was verified for auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli related to swallowing motion. These results suggest that audiovisual stimuli related to swallowing motion could be applied to the treatment of patients with dysphagia. (author)

  15. Does caffeine modulate verbal working memory processes? An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koppelstaetter, F; Poeppel, T D; Siedentopf, C M; Ischebeck, A; Verius, M; Haala, I; Mottaghy, F M; Rhomberg, P; Golaszewski, S; Gotwald, T; Lorenz, I H; Kolbitsch, C; Felber, S; Krause, B J

    2008-01-01

    To assess the effect of caffeine on the functional MRI signal during a 2-back verbal working memory task, we examined blood oxygenation level-dependent regional brain activity in 15 healthy right-handed males. The subjects, all moderate caffeine consumers, underwent two scanning sessions on a 1.5-T MR-Scanner separated by a 24- to 48-h interval. Each participant received either placebo or 100 mg caffeine 20 min prior to the performance of the working memory task in blinded crossover fashion. The study was implemented as a blocked-design. Analysis was performed using SPM2. In both conditions, the characteristic working memory network of frontoparietal cortical activation including the precuneus and the anterior cingulate could be shown. In comparison to placebo, caffeine caused an increased response in the bilateral medial frontopolar cortex (BA 10), extending to the right anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32). These results suggest that caffeine modulates neuronal activity as evidenced by fMRI signal changes in a network of brain areas associated with executive and attentional functions during working memory processes.

  16. Menopause-related brain activation patterns during visual sexual arousal in menopausal women: An fMRI pilot study using time-course analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Gwang-Won; Jeong, Gwang-Woo

    2017-02-20

    The aging process and menopausal transition are important factors in sexual dysfunction of menopausal women. No neuroimaging study has assessed the age- and menopause-related changes on brain activation areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the time course of regional brain activity associated with sexual arousal evoked by visual stimulation in premenopausal and menopausal women, and further to assess the effect of menopause on the brain areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Thirty volunteers consisting of 15 premenopausal and 15 menopausal women underwent the fMRI. For the activation condition, volunteers viewed sexually arousing visual stimulation. The brain areas with significantly higher activation in premenopausal women compared with menopausal women included the thalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using analysis of covariance adjusting for age (psexual arousal. These findings might help elucidate the neural mechanisms associated with sexual dysfunction in menopausal women. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Regional homogeneity changes between heroin relapse and non-relapse patients under methadone maintenance treatment: a resting-state fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Haifeng; Li, Wei; Li, Qiang; Chen, Jiajie; Zhu, Jia; Ye, Jianjun; Liu, Jierong; Li, Zhe; Li, Yongbin; Shi, Ming; Wang, Yarong; Wang, Wei

    2016-08-18

    Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is recognized as one of the most effective treatments for heroin addiction but its effect is dimmed by the high incidence of heroin relapse. However, underlying neurobiology mechanism of heroin relapse under MMT is still largely unknown. Here, we took advantage of a resting-state fMRI technique by analysis of regional homogeneity (ReHo), and tried to explore the difference of brain function between heroin relapsers and non-relapsers in MMT. Forty MMT patients were included and received a 12-month follow-up. All patients were given baseline resting-state fMRI scans by using a 3.0 T GE Signa Excite HD whole-body MRI system. Monthly self-report and urine test were used to assess heroin relapse or non-relapse. Subjective craving was measured with visual analog scale. The correlation between ReHo and the degree of heroin relapse was analyzed. Compared with the non-relapsers, ReHo values were increased in the bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex, right caudate, and right cerebellum of the heroin relapsers while those in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and precuneus were decreased in heroin relapsers. Importantly, altered ReHo in the right caudate were positively correlated with heroin relapse rates or subjective craving response. Using the resting-state fMRI technique by analysis of ReHo, we provided the first resting-state fMRI evidence that right caudate may serve as a potential biomarker for heroin relapse prediction and also as a promising target for reducing relapse risk.

  18. Parallel processing in the brain’s visual form system: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshihito eShigihara

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available We here extend and complement our earlier time-based, magneto-encephalographic (MEG, study of the processing of forms by the visual brain (Shigihara and Zeki, 2013 with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study, in order to better localize the activity produced in early visual areas when subjects view simple geometric stimuli of increasing perceptual complexity (lines, angles, rhomboids constituted from the same elements (lines. Our results show that all three categories of form activate all three visual areas with which we were principally concerned (V1, V2, V3, with angles producing the strongest and rhomboids the weakest activity in all three. The difference between the activity produced by angles and rhomboids was significant, that between lines and rhomboids was trend significant while that between lines and angles was not. Taken together with our earlier MEG results, the present ones suggest that a parallel strategy is used in processing forms, in addition to the well-documented hierarchical strategy.

  19. fMRI paradigm designing and post-processing tools

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, Jija S; Rajesh, PG; Chandran, Anuvitha VS; Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we first review some aspects of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm designing for major cognitive functions by using stimulus delivery systems like Cogent, E-Prime, Presentation, etc., along with their technical aspects. We also review the stimulus presentation possibilities (block, event-related) for visual or auditory paradigms and their advantage in both clinical and research setting. The second part mainly focus on various fMRI data post-processing tools such as Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) and Brain Voyager, and discuss the particulars of various preprocessing steps involved (realignment, co-registration, normalization, smoothing) in these software and also the statistical analysis principles of General Linear Modeling for final interpretation of a functional activation result

  20. Single trial classification for the categories of perceived emotional facial expressions: an event-related fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Sutao; Huang, Yuxia; Long, Zhiying; Zhang, Jiacai; Chen, Gongxiang; Wang, Shuqing

    2016-03-01

    Recently, several studies have successfully applied multivariate pattern analysis methods to predict the categories of emotions. These studies are mainly focused on self-experienced emotions, such as the emotional states elicited by music or movie. In fact, most of our social interactions involve perception of emotional information from the expressions of other people, and it is an important basic skill for humans to recognize the emotional facial expressions of other people in a short time. In this study, we aimed to determine the discriminability of perceived emotional facial expressions. In a rapid event-related fMRI design, subjects were instructed to classify four categories of facial expressions (happy, disgust, angry and neutral) by pressing different buttons, and each facial expression stimulus lasted for 2s. All participants performed 5 fMRI runs. One multivariate pattern analysis method, support vector machine was trained to predict the categories of facial expressions. For feature selection, ninety masks defined from anatomical automatic labeling (AAL) atlas were firstly generated and each were treated as the input of the classifier; then, the most stable AAL areas were selected according to prediction accuracies, and comprised the final feature sets. Results showed that: for the 6 pair-wise classification conditions, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were all above chance prediction, among which, happy vs. neutral , angry vs. disgust achieved the lowest results. These results suggested that specific neural signatures of perceived emotional facial expressions may exist, and happy vs. neutral, angry vs. disgust might be more similar in information representation in the brain.

  1. A f-MRI study on memory function in normal subjects and patients with partial epilepsies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamoda, Sachiko

    2004-01-01

    To investigate cerebral regions concerning a memory function and presence of memory lateralization, activated areas and the difference between the right and left hemisphere in functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) during verbal and visual memory tasks were examined in normal subjects and, as its clinical application, in patients with partial epilepsies. Subjects were 39 normal adult subjects and 10 adult patients. Of the 39 normal subjects, 30 were right-handed and 9 were left-handed. Further, of the 10 patients, 9 were right-handed and one was left-handed, and 7, 2 and 1 had temporal lobe, frontal lobe and undetermined partial epilepsies, respectively. Following the three type of memory task were designed; verbal memory tasks consisting of covert and overt recall tests of 10 words given auditory and visual memory task of covert recall tasks of 6 figures given visually. Activated cerebral areas were imaged with f-MRI using 1.5 tesla Magnetom Vision taken repeatedly during these tasks and neutral condition. Most of the 30 right-handed normal subjects showed activated areas over the left hemisphere specifically on the anterior cingulate, superior, middle and inferior frontal gyri during the verbal memory tasks of covert recall tests. Left hemisphere dominant activated areas in the precentral gyri were added during the verbal memory tasks of overt recall tests. On the other hand, 4 of the 9 left-handed normal subjects showed the left side-dominantly activated areas in the above-mentioned regions during the verbal memory tasks of covert and overt tests, in common with the right-handed subjects. However, 3 of the 9 left-handed normal subjects had right hemisphere dominant activation during the verbal memory tasks, while none of the 30 right-handed normal subjects showed such right side-dominancy. Further, the bilateral occipital lobes were activated during visual memory tasks. The reproducibility in this activation during these verbal and visual memory tasks

  2. Space-dependent effects of motion on the standard deviation of fMRI signals : a simulation study.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Renken, R; Muresan, L; Duifhuis, H; Roerdink, JBTM; Yaffe, MK; Antonuk, LE

    2003-01-01

    In fMRI, any fluctuation of signal intensity, not recognized as a result of a specific task, is treated as noise. One source for "noise" is subject motion. Normally, motion effects are reduced by applying realignment. We investigate how apt a realignment procedure is in removing motion-related

  3. Effect of scanner acoustic background noise on strict resting-state fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Rondinoni

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Functional MRI (fMRI resting-state experiments are aimed at identifying brain networks that support basal brain function. Although most investigators consider a ‘resting-state' fMRI experiment with no specific external stimulation, subjects are unavoidably under heavy acoustic noise produced by the equipment. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of auditory input on the resting-state networks (RSNs. Twenty-two healthy subjects were scanned using two similar echo-planar imaging sequences in the same 3T MRI scanner: a default pulse sequence and a reduced “silent” pulse sequence. Experimental sessions consisted of two consecutive 7-min runs with noise conditions (default or silent counterbalanced across subjects. A self-organizing group independent component analysis was applied to fMRI data in order to recognize the RSNs. The insula, left middle frontal gyrus and right precentral and left inferior parietal lobules showed significant differences in the voxel-wise comparison between RSNs depending on noise condition. In the presence of low-level noise, these areas Granger-cause oscillations in RSNs with cognitive implications (dorsal attention and entorhinal, while during high noise acquisition, these connectivities are reduced or inverted. Applying low noise MR acquisitions in research may allow the detection of subtle differences of the RSNs, with implications in experimental planning for resting-state studies, data analysis, and ergonomic factors.

  4. Effect of scanner acoustic background noise on strict resting-state fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rondinoni, C; Amaro, E; Cendes, F; dos Santos, A C; Salmon, C E G

    2013-04-01

    Functional MRI (fMRI) resting-state experiments are aimed at identifying brain networks that support basal brain function. Although most investigators consider a 'resting-state' fMRI experiment with no specific external stimulation, subjects are unavoidably under heavy acoustic noise produced by the equipment. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of auditory input on the resting-state networks (RSNs). Twenty-two healthy subjects were scanned using two similar echo-planar imaging sequences in the same 3T MRI scanner: a default pulse sequence and a reduced "silent" pulse sequence. Experimental sessions consisted of two consecutive 7-min runs with noise conditions (default or silent) counterbalanced across subjects. A self-organizing group independent component analysis was applied to fMRI data in order to recognize the RSNs. The insula, left middle frontal gyrus and right precentral and left inferior parietal lobules showed significant differences in the voxel-wise comparison between RSNs depending on noise condition. In the presence of low-level noise, these areas Granger-cause oscillations in RSNs with cognitive implications (dorsal attention and entorhinal), while during high noise acquisition, these connectivities are reduced or inverted. Applying low noise MR acquisitions in research may allow the detection of subtle differences of the RSNs, with implications in experimental planning for resting-state studies, data analysis, and ergonomic factors.

  5. Correlated Disruption of Resting-State fMRI, LFP, and Spike Connectivity between Area 3b and S2 following Spinal Cord Injury in Monkeys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ruiqi; Yang, Pai-Feng; Chen, Li Min

    2017-11-15

    This study aims to understand how functional connectivity (FC) between areas 3b and S2 alters following input deprivation and the neuronal basis of disrupted FC of resting-state fMRI signals. We combined submillimeter fMRI with microelectrode recordings to localize the deafferented digit regions in areas 3b and S2 by mapping tactile stimulus-evoked fMRI activations before and after cervical dorsal column lesion in each male monkey. An average afferent disruption of 97% significantly reduced fMRI, local field potential (LFP), and spike responses to stimuli in both areas. Analysis of resting-state fMRI signal correlation, LFP coherence, and spike cross-correlation revealed significantly reduced functional connectivity between deafferented areas 3b and S2. The degrees of reductions in stimulus responsiveness and FC after deafferentation differed across fMRI, LFP, and spiking signals. The reduction of FC was much weaker than that of stimulus-evoked responses. Whereas the largest stimulus-evoked signal drop (∼80%) was observed in LFP signals, the greatest FC reduction was detected in the spiking activity (∼30%). fMRI signals showed mild reductions in stimulus responsiveness (∼25%) and FC (∼20%). The overall deafferentation-induced changes were quite similar in areas 3b and S2 across signals. Here we demonstrated that FC strength between areas 3b and S2 was much weakened by dorsal column lesion, and stimulus response reduction and FC disruption in fMRI covary with those of LFP and spiking signals in deafferented areas 3b and S2. These findings have important implications for fMRI studies aiming to probe FC alterations in pathological conditions involving deafferentation in humans. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT By directly comparing fMRI, local field potential, and spike signals in both tactile stimulation and resting states before and after severe disruption of dorsal column afferent, we demonstrated that reduction in fMRI responses to stimuli is accompanied by weakened

  6. Walk-related mimic word activates the extrastriate visual cortex in the human brain: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osaka, Naoyuki

    2009-03-02

    I present an fMRI study demonstrating that a mimic word highly suggestive of human walking, heard by the ear with eyes closed, significantly activates the visual cortex located in extrastriate occipital region (BA19, 18) and superior temporal sulcus (STS) while hearing non-sense words that do not imply walk under the same task does not activate these areas in humans. I concluded that BA19 and 18 would be a critical region for generating visual images of walking and related intentional stance, respectively, evoked by an onomatopoeia word that implied walking.

  7. Neuroimaging studies of practice-related change: fMRI and meta-analytic evidence of a domain-general control network for learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chein, Jason M; Schneider, Walter

    2005-12-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging and a meta-analysis of prior neuroimaging studies were used to characterize cortical changes resulting from extensive practice and to evaluate a dual-processing account of the neural mechanisms underlying human learning. Three core predictions of the dual processing theory are evaluated: 1) that practice elicits generalized reductions in regional activity by reducing the load on the cognitive control mechanisms that scaffold early learning; 2) that these control mechanisms are domain-general; and 3) that no separate processing pathway emerges as skill develops. To evaluate these predictions, a meta-analysis of prior neuroimaging studies and a within-subjects fMRI experiment contrasting unpracticed to practiced performance in a paired-associate task were conducted. The principal effect of practice was found to be a reduction in the extent and magnitude of activity in a cortical network spanning bilateral dorsal prefrontal, left ventral prefrontal, medial frontal (anterior cingulate), left insular, bilateral parietal, and occipito-temporal (fusiform) areas. These activity reductions are shown to occur in common regions across prior neuroimaging studies and for both verbal and nonverbal paired-associate learning in the present fMRI experiment. The implicated network of brain regions is interpreted as a domain-general system engaged specifically to support novice, but not practiced, performance.

  8. The cerebral correlates of set-shifting: an fMRI study of the trail making test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moll Jorge

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The trail making test (TMT pertains to a family of tests that tap the ability to alternate between cognitive categories. However, the value of the TMT as a localizing instrument remains elusive. Here we report the results of a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study of a verbal adaptation of the TMT (vTMT. The vTMT takes advantage of the set-shifting properties of the TMT and, at the same time, minimizes the visuospatial and visuomotor components of the written TMT. Whole brain BOLD fMRI was performed during the alternating execution of vTMTA and vTMTB in seven normal adults with more than 12 years of formal education. Brain activation related to the set-shifting component of vTMTB was investigated by comparing performance on vTMTB with vTMTA, a simple counting task. There was a marked asymmetry of activation in favor of the left hemisphere, most notably in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 6 lateral, 44 and 46 and supplementary motor area/cingulate sulcus (BA 6 medial and 32. The intraparietal sulcus (BA 7 and 39 was bilaterally activated. These findings are in line with clinico-anatomic and functional neuroimaging data that point to a critical role of the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortices as well as the intraparietal sulci in the regulation of cognitive flexibility, intention, and the covert execution of saccades/anti-saccades. Many commonly used neuropsychological paradigms, such as the Stroop, Wisconsin Card Sorting, and go - no go tasks, share some patterns of cerebral activation with the TMT.

  9. Synaesthetic perception of colour and visual space in a blind subject: An fMRI case study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Niccolai, V.; Leeuwen, T.M. van; Blakemore, C.; Störig, P.

    2012-01-01

    In spatial sequence synaesthesia (SSS) ordinal stimuli are perceived as arranged in peripersonal space. Using fMRI, we examined the neural bases of SSS and colour synaesthesia for spoken words in a late-blind synaesthete, JF. He reported days of the week and months of the year as both coloured and

  10. fMRI responses to Jung's Word Association Test: implications for theory, treatment and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petchkovsky, Leon; Petchkovsky, Michael; Morris, Philip; Dickson, Paul; Montgomery, Danielle; Dwyer, Jonathan; Burnett, Patrick

    2013-06-01

    Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic 'complexed response' was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track 'otherness' (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self-awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self-awareness and conflict-monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the 'resonance circuitry' in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the 'internal other'. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over-rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left-brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization. © 2013, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

  11. Task and task-free fMRI reproducibility comparison for motor network identification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kristo, G.; Rutten, G.J.; Raemaekers, M.; de Gelder, B.; Rombouts, S.A.R.B.; Ramsey, N.F.

    2014-01-01

    Test-retest reliability of individual functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results is of importance in clinical practice and longitudinal experiments. While several studies have investigated reliability of task-induced motor network activation, less is known about the reliability of the

  12. Determination of hemisphere dominance for language: comparison of frontal and temporal fMRI activation with intracarotid amytal testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spreer, J.; Arnold, S.; Ziyeh, S.; Klisch, J.; Schumacher, M.; Quiske, A.; Altenmueller, D.; Schulze-Bonhage, A.; Wohlfarth, R.; Steinhoff, B.J.; Herpers, M.; Kassubek, J.; Honegger, J.

    2002-01-01

    The reliability of frontal and temporal fMRI activations for the determination of hemisphere language dominance was evaluated in comparison with intracarotid amytal testing (IAT). Twenty-two patients were studied by IAT (bilateral in 13, unilateral in 9 patients) and fMRI using a paradigm requiring semantic decisions. Global and regional (frontal and temporoparietal) lateralisation indices (LI) were calculated from the number of activated (r>0.4) voxels in both hemispheres. Frontolateral activations associated with the language task were seen in all patients, temporoparietal activations in 20 of 22. Regional LI corresponded better with IAT results than global LI. Frontolateral LI were consistent with IAT in all patients with bilateral IAT (including three patients with right dominant and one patient with bilateral language representation) and were not conflicting in any of the patients with unilateral IAT. Temporoparietal LI were discordant with IAT in two patients with atypical language representation. In the determination of hemisphere dominance for language, regional analysis of fMRI activation is superior to global analysis. In cases with clear-cut fMRI lateralisation, i.e. consistent lateralised activation of frontal and temporoparietal language zones, IAT may be unnecessary. FMRI should be performed prior to IAT in all patients going to be operated in brain regions potentially involved in language. (orig.)

  13. Cortical activation during power grip task with pneumatic pressure gauge: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohamad, M.; Mardan, N. H.; Ismail, S. S.

    2017-05-01

    Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive and motor function. But, the relationships with motor performance are less well understood. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess cortical activation in older adults. This study employed power grip task that utilised block paradigm consisted of alternate 30s rest and active. A visual cue was used to pace the hand grip movement that clenched a cylindrical rubber bulb connected with pressure pneumatic gauge that measure the pressure (Psi). The objective of this study is determined the brain areas activated during motor task and the correlation between percentage signal change of each motor area (BA 4 and 6) and hand grip pressure. Result showed there was a significant difference in mean percentage signal change in BA 4 and BA 6 in both hemispheres and negative correlation obtained in BA 4 and BA 6. These results indicate that a reduced ability in the motor networks contribute to age-related decline in motor performance.

  14. Brain Activity Unique to Orgasm in Women: An fMRI Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wise, Nan J; Frangos, Eleni; Komisaruk, Barry R

    2017-11-01

    for treatment of orgasmic disorders, including anorgasmia. This is evidently the first fMRI study of orgasm elicited by self- and partner-induced genital stimulation in women. Methodologic solutions to the technical issues posed by excessive head movement and variable latencies to orgasm were successfully applied in the present study, enabling identification of brain regions involved in orgasm. Limitations include the small sample (N = 10), which combined self- and partner-induced stimulation datasets for analysis and which qualify the generalization of our conclusions. Extensive cortical, subcortical, and brainstem regions reach peak levels of activity at orgasm. Wise NJ, Frangos E, Komisaruk BR. Brain Activity Unique to Orgasm in Women: An fMRI Analysis. J Sex Med 2017;14:1380-1391. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Are autobiographical memories inherently social? Evidence from an fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Wilbers

    Full Text Available The story of our lifetime - our narrative self - is constructed from our autobiographical memories. A central claim of social psychology is that this narrative self is inherently social: When we construct our lives, we do so in a real or imagined interaction. This predicts that self-referential processes which are involved in recall of autobiographical memories overlap with processes involved in social interactions. Indeed, previous functional MRI studies indicate that regions in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC are activated during autobiographical memory recall and virtual communication. However, no fMRI study has investigated recall of autobiographical memories in a real-life interaction. We developed a novel paradigm in which participants overtly reported self-related and other-related memories to an experimenter, whose non-verbal reactions were being filmed and online displayed to the participants in the scanner. We found that recall of autobiographical vs. non-autobiographical memories was associated with activation of the mPFC, as was recall in the social as compared to a non-social control condition; however, both contrasts involved different non-overlapping regions within the mPFC. These results indicate that self-referential processes involved in autobiographical memory recall are different from processes supporting social interactions, and argue against the hypothesis that autobiographical memories are inherently social.

  16. Extending Local Canonical Correlation Analysis to Handle General Linear Contrasts for fMRI Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingwu Jin

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Local canonical correlation analysis (CCA is a multivariate method that has been proposed to more accurately determine activation patterns in fMRI data. In its conventional formulation, CCA has several drawbacks that limit its usefulness in fMRI. A major drawback is that, unlike the general linear model (GLM, a test of general linear contrasts of the temporal regressors has not been incorporated into the CCA formalism. To overcome this drawback, a novel directional test statistic was derived using the equivalence of multivariate multiple regression (MVMR and CCA. This extension will allow CCA to be used for inference of general linear contrasts in more complicated fMRI designs without reparameterization of the design matrix and without reestimating the CCA solutions for each particular contrast of interest. With the proper constraints on the spatial coefficients of CCA, this test statistic can yield a more powerful test on the inference of evoked brain regional activations from noisy fMRI data than the conventional t-test in the GLM. The quantitative results from simulated and pseudoreal data and activation maps from fMRI data were used to demonstrate the advantage of this novel test statistic.

  17. Neurophenomenology of an Altered State of Consciousness: An fMRI Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Modestino, Edward J

    2016-01-01

    A research participant came to our lab with self-proclaimed, ecstatic, Kundalini meditative experiences. Using neurophenomenology and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we were able to identify brain activation in the left prefrontal cortex [primarily in left Brodmann׳s areas (BAs) 46 and 10, but also extending into BAs 11, 47, and 45] associated with this experience. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory provided evidence that this was a perceived altered state of consciousness. Additionally, the Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index strongly suggested that what he was experiencing was indeed Kundalini. The feelings of joy, happiness and the left prefrontal brain region found in this study are consistent with many published neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies of meditation. This case study suggests that using first-person subjective experience within a phenomenological reduction process can be combined with neuroimaging to divulge objective brain regions associated with such experiences. Furthermore, this provides evidence that at least in this participant, the Kundalini experience is associated with brain activation in the left prefrontal cortex. Future research is needed to confirm these results in a large group study, perhaps contrasting brain activation of those who experience spontaneously emerging Kundalini with trained Kundalini practitioners. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Posterior midline activation during symptom provocation in acute stress disorder: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Christopher Cwik

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Functional imaging studies of patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder showed wide-spread activation of mid-line cortical areas during symptom provocation i.e., exposure to trauma-related cues. The present study aimed at investigating neural activation during exposure to trauma-related pictures in patients with Acute Stress Disorder (ASD shortly after the traumatic event. Nineteen ASD patients and 19 healthy control participants were presented with individualized pictures of the traumatic event and emotionally neutral control pictures during the acquisition of whole-brain data with a 3-T fMRI scanner. Compared to the control group and to control pictures, ASD patients showed significant activation in mid-line cortical areas in response to trauma-related pictures including precuneus, cuneus, postcentral gyrus and pre-supplementary motor area. The results suggest that the trauma-related pictures evoke emotionally salient self-referential processing in ASD patients.

  19. Left Posterior Orbitofrontal Cortex Is Associated With Odor-Induced Autobiographical Memory: An fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keiko Watanabe

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Autobiographical odor memory (AM-odor accompanied by a sense of realism of a specific memory elicits strong emotions. AM-odor differs from memory triggered by other sensory modalities, possibly because olfaction involves a unique sensory process. Here, we examined the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to determine which OFC subregions are related to AM-odor. Both AM-odor and a control odor successively increased subjective ratings of comfortableness and pleasantness. Importantly, AM-odor also increased arousal levels and the vividness of memories, and was associated with a deep and slow breathing pattern. fMRI analysis indicated robust activation in the left posterior OFC (L-POFC. Connectivity between the POFC and whole brain regions was estimated using psychophysiological interaction analysis (PPI. We detected several trends in connectivity between L-POFC and bilateral precuneus, bilateral rostral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (rdACC, and left parahippocampus, which will be useful for targeting our hypotheses for future investigations. The slow breathing observed in AM-odor was correlated with rdACC activation. Odor associated with emotionally significant autobiographical memories was accompanied by slow and deep breathing, possibly involving rdACC processing.

  20. Left Posterior Orbitofrontal Cortex Is Associated With Odor-Induced Autobiographical Memory: An fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, Keiko; Masaoka, Yuri; Kawamura, Mitsuru; Yoshida, Masaki; Koiwa, Nobuyoshi; Yoshikawa, Akira; Kubota, Satomi; Ida, Masahiro; Ono, Kenjiro; Izumizaki, Masahiko

    2018-01-01

    Autobiographical odor memory (AM-odor) accompanied by a sense of realism of a specific memory elicits strong emotions. AM-odor differs from memory triggered by other sensory modalities, possibly because olfaction involves a unique sensory process. Here, we examined the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine which OFC subregions are related to AM-odor. Both AM-odor and a control odor successively increased subjective ratings of comfortableness and pleasantness. Importantly, AM-odor also increased arousal levels and the vividness of memories, and was associated with a deep and slow breathing pattern. fMRI analysis indicated robust activation in the left posterior OFC (L-POFC). Connectivity between the POFC and whole brain regions was estimated using psychophysiological interaction analysis (PPI). We detected several trends in connectivity between L-POFC and bilateral precuneus, bilateral rostral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (rdACC), and left parahippocampus, which will be useful for targeting our hypotheses for future investigations. The slow breathing observed in AM-odor was correlated with rdACC activation. Odor associated with emotionally significant autobiographical memories was accompanied by slow and deep breathing, possibly involving rdACC processing.

  1. Activation on occipital lobe in children with abacus mental calculation training: an fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen Xiaojun; Long Jinfeng; Zhao Kunyuan; Li Lixin; Sun Jining; Wang Bin

    2011-01-01

    Objective: By exploring the activation on occipital lobe in children with and without abacus mental calculation training when they engaged in different calculation tasks with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to identify the possible mechanism of occipital lobe in abacus mental calculation. Methods: fMRI was performed in children trained with and without (sixteen in each group) abacus mental calculation when they engaged in addition, subtraction. multiplication, division, and number-object control judging tasks. The data processing and statistical analysis were performed on SPM 2.0 (statistical parametric mapping 2.0) and the related-brain functional areas were identified. The activation on occipital lobe was observed carefully. The difference in activated areas of occipital lobe was statistically significant between two groups engaged in different tasks of calculations (P<0.01). Result: Bilateral occipital lobe, especially in the cuneus and lingual gyrus, were activated in children trained with abacus mental calculation. The main activated area was lingual gyrus in children without abacus mental calculation. Conclusion: The occipital lobe participates visuospatial processing in the abacus mental calculations. The neuromechanism maybe account for the specific activation in occipital lobe. (authors)

  2. An fMRI study of perception and action in deaf signers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okada, Kayoko; Rogalsky, Corianne; O'Grady, Lucinda; Hanaumi, Leila; Bellugi, Ursula; Corina, David; Hickok, Gregory

    2016-02-01

    Since the discovery of mirror neurons, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the relationship between perception and action, and the role of the human mirror system in language comprehension and production. Two questions have dominated research. One concerns the role of Broca's area in speech perception. The other concerns the role of the motor system more broadly in understanding action-related language. The current study investigates both of these questions in a way that bridges research on language with research on manual actions. We studied the neural basis of observing and executing American Sign Language (ASL) object and action signs. In an fMRI experiment, deaf signers produced signs depicting actions and objects as well as observed/comprehended signs of actions and objects. Different patterns of activation were found for observation and execution although with overlap in Broca's area, providing prima facie support for the claim that the motor system participates in language perception. In contrast, we found no evidence that action related signs differentially involved the motor system compared to object related signs. These findings are discussed in the context of lesion studies of sign language execution and observation. In this broader context, we conclude that the activation in Broca's area during ASL observation is not causally related to sign language understanding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Linear Discriminant Analysis achieves high classification accuracy for the BOLD fMRI response to naturalistic movie stimuli.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hendrik eMandelkow

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Naturalistic stimuli like movies evoke complex perceptual processes, which are of great interest in the study of human cognition by functional MRI (fMRI. However, conventional fMRI analysis based on statistical parametric mapping (SPM and the general linear model (GLM is hampered by a lack of accurate parametric models of the BOLD response to complex stimuli. In this situation, statistical machine-learning methods, a.k.a. multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA, have received growing attention for their ability to generate stimulus response models in a data-driven fashion. However, machine-learning methods typically require large amounts of training data as well as computational resources. In the past this has largely limited their application to fMRI experiments involving small sets of stimulus categories and small regions of interest in the brain. By contrast, the present study compares several classification algorithms known as Nearest Neighbour (NN, Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB, and (regularised Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA in terms of their classification accuracy in discriminating the global fMRI response patterns evoked by a large number of naturalistic visual stimuli presented as a movie.Results show that LDA regularised by principal component analysis (PCA achieved high classification accuracies, above 90% on average for single fMRI volumes acquired 2s apart during a 300s movie (chance level 0.7% = 2s/300s. The largest source of classification errors were autocorrelations in the BOLD signal compounded by the similarity of consecutive stimuli. All classifiers performed best when given input features from a large region of interest comprising around 25% of the voxels that responded significantly to the visual stimulus. Consistent with this, the most informative principal components represented widespread distributions of co-activated brain regions that were similar between subjects and may represent functional networks. In light of these

  4. The Difference between Aesthetic Appreciation of Artistic and Popular Music: Evidence from an fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Qiuling; Mo, Lei

    2016-01-01

    To test the hypothesis that pleasure from artistic music is intellectual while that from popular music is physiological, this study investigated the different functional mechanisms between aesthetic appreciation of artistic and popular music using fMRI. 18 male non-musicians were scanned while they performed an aesthetic rating task for excerpts of artistic music, popular music and musical notes playing and singing (control). The rating scores of artistic and popular music excerpts were both significantly higher than that of control materials while the scores of them were not different. The fMRI results showed both artistic and popular conditions activated the VS and vmPFC, compared with control condition. When contrasted popular and artistic condition directly, we found popular music activated right putamen, while artistic music activated right mPFC. By parametric analysis, we found the activation of right putamen tracked the aesthetic ratings of popular music, whereas the BOLD signal in right mPFC tracked the aesthetic ratings of artistic music. These results indicate the reward induced by popular music is closer to a primary reward while that induced by artistic music is closer to a secondary reward. We also found artistic music activated ToM areas, including PCC/PC, arMFC and TPJ, when compared with popular music. And these areas also tracked aesthetic ratings of artistic music but not those of popular music. These results imply that the pleasure from former comes from cognitive empathy. In conclusion, this study gives clear neuronal evidences supporting the view that artistic music is of intelligence and social cognition involved while the popular music is of physiology. PMID:27814379

  5. The Difference between Aesthetic Appreciation of Artistic and Popular Music: Evidence from an fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Ping; Huang, Hanhua; Luo, Qiuling; Mo, Lei

    2016-01-01

    To test the hypothesis that pleasure from artistic music is intellectual while that from popular music is physiological, this study investigated the different functional mechanisms between aesthetic appreciation of artistic and popular music using fMRI. 18 male non-musicians were scanned while they performed an aesthetic rating task for excerpts of artistic music, popular music and musical notes playing and singing (control). The rating scores of artistic and popular music excerpts were both significantly higher than that of control materials while the scores of them were not different. The fMRI results showed both artistic and popular conditions activated the VS and vmPFC, compared with control condition. When contrasted popular and artistic condition directly, we found popular music activated right putamen, while artistic music activated right mPFC. By parametric analysis, we found the activation of right putamen tracked the aesthetic ratings of popular music, whereas the BOLD signal in right mPFC tracked the aesthetic ratings of artistic music. These results indicate the reward induced by popular music is closer to a primary reward while that induced by artistic music is closer to a secondary reward. We also found artistic music activated ToM areas, including PCC/PC, arMFC and TPJ, when compared with popular music. And these areas also tracked aesthetic ratings of artistic music but not those of popular music. These results imply that the pleasure from former comes from cognitive empathy. In conclusion, this study gives clear neuronal evidences supporting the view that artistic music is of intelligence and social cognition involved while the popular music is of physiology.

  6. Presurgical brain mapping of the language network in patients with brain tumors using resting-state fMRI: Comparison with task fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sair, Haris I; Yahyavi-Firouz-Abadi, Noushin; Calhoun, Vince D; Airan, Raag D; Agarwal, Shruti; Intrapiromkul, Jarunee; Choe, Ann S; Gujar, Sachin K; Caffo, Brian; Lindquist, Martin A; Pillai, Jay J

    2016-03-01

    To compare language networks derived from resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) with task-fMRI in patients with brain tumors and investigate variables that affect rs-fMRI vs task-fMRI concordance. Independent component analysis (ICA) of rs-fMRI was performed with 20, 30, 40, and 50 target components (ICA20 to ICA50) and language networks identified for patients presenting for presurgical fMRI mapping between 1/1/2009 and 7/1/2015. 49 patients were analyzed fulfilling criteria for presence of brain tumors, no prior brain surgery, and adequate task-fMRI performance. Rs-vs-task-fMRI concordance was measured using Dice coefficients across varying fMRI thresholds before and after noise removal. Multi-thresholded Dice coefficient volume under the surface (DiceVUS) and maximum Dice coefficient (MaxDice) were calculated. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine significance of DiceVUS and MaxDice between the four ICA order groups. Age, Sex, Handedness, Tumor Side, Tumor Size, WHO Grade, number of scrubbed volumes, image intensity root mean square (iRMS), and mean framewise displacement (FD) were used as predictors for VUS in a linear regression. Artificial elevation of rs-fMRI vs task-fMRI concordance is seen at low thresholds due to noise. Noise-removed group-mean DiceVUS and MaxDice improved as ICA order increased, however ANOVA demonstrated no statistically significant difference between the four groups. Linear regression demonstrated an association between iRMS and DiceVUS for ICA30-50, and iRMS and MaxDice for ICA50. Overall there is moderate group level rs-vs-task fMRI language network concordance, however substantial subject-level variability exists; iRMS may be used to determine reliability of rs-fMRI derived language networks. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Sensitivity and reliability of language laterality assessment with a free reversed association task - a fMRI study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fesl, Gunther; Brueckmann, Hartmut [University of Munich, Department of Neuroradiology, Campus Grosshadern, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich (Germany); Bruhns, Philipp [University of Munich, Department of Neuroradiology, Campus Grosshadern, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich (Germany); University of Munich, Department of Psycholinguistics, Munich (Germany); Rau, Sabine; Ilmberger, Josef [University of Munich, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Munich (Germany); Wiesmann, Martin [Helios Hospitals Schwerin, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Schwerin (Germany); Kegel, Gerd [University of Munich, Department of Psycholinguistics, Munich (Germany)

    2010-03-15

    The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity and reliability of assessing hemispheric language dominance with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a 'free reversed association task.' Thirty-nine healthy subjects (13 dextrals, 13 sinistrals and 13 bimanuals) underwent two repeated fMRI sessions. In the active phases sets of words were presented via headphones, and an associated target item was named. During the baseline phases a standard answer was given after listening to unintelligible stimuli. Data were preprocessed with SPM, and then laterality indices (LI) and reliability coefficients (RC) were calculated. Extensive frontal, temporal and parietal activations were found. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects showed left-hemispheric dominance, 5% showed right-hemispheric dominance, and 17% had bilateral language representations. The incidence of right-hemispheric language dominance was 4.3 times higher in a left-hander with a handedness quotient (HQ) of -90 than in a right-hander with a HQ of +90. The RC was 0.61 for combined ROIs (global network). Strong correlations were found between the two session LIs (r = 0.95 for the global network). 'Free reversed association' is a sensitive and reliable task for the determination of individual language lateralization. This suggests that the task may be used in a clinical setting. (orig.)

  8. Visual processing of words in a patient with visual form agnosia: a behavioural and fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavina-Pratesi, Cristiana; Large, Mary-Ellen; Milner, A David

    2015-03-01

    Patient D.F. has a profound and enduring visual form agnosia due to a carbon monoxide poisoning episode suffered in 1988. Her inability to distinguish simple geometric shapes or single alphanumeric characters can be attributed to a bilateral loss of cortical area LO, a loss that has been well established through structural and functional fMRI. Yet despite this severe perceptual deficit, D.F. is able to "guess" remarkably well the identity of whole words. This paradoxical finding, which we were able to replicate more than 20 years following her initial testing, raises the question as to whether D.F. has retained specialized brain circuitry for word recognition that is able to function to some degree without the benefit of inputs from area LO. We used fMRI to investigate this, and found regions in the left fusiform gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left middle temporal cortex that responded selectively to words. A group of healthy control subjects showed similar activations. The left fusiform activations appear to coincide with the area commonly named the visual word form area (VWFA) in studies of healthy individuals, and appear to be quite separate from the fusiform face area (FFA). We hypothesize that there is a route to this area that lies outside area LO, and which remains relatively unscathed in D.F. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Daily iTBS worsens hand motor training--a combined TMS, fMRI and mirror training study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Läppchen, C H; Ringer, T; Blessin, J; Schulz, K; Seidel, G; Lange, R; Hamzei, F

    2015-02-15

    Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is used to increase regional excitability to improve motor function in combination with training after neurological diseases or events such as stroke. We investigated whether a daily application of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS; a short-duration rTMS that increases regional excitability) improves the training effect compared with sham stimulation in association with a four-day hand training program using a mirror (mirror training, MT). The right dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC right) was chosen as the target region for iTBS because this region has recently been emphasized as a node within a network related to MT. Healthy subjects were randomized into the iTBS group or sham group (control group CG). In the iTBS group, iTBS was applied daily over dPMC right, which was functionally determined in an initial fMRI session prior to starting MT. MT involved 20 min of hand training daily in a mirror over four days. The hand tests, the intracortical excitability and fMRI were evaluated prior to and at the end of MT. The results of the hand training tests of the iTBS group were surprisingly significantly poorer compared with those from the CG group. Both groups showed a different course of excitability in both M1 and a different course of fMRI activation within the supplementary motor area and M1 left. We suggest the inter-regional functional balance was affected by daily iTBS over dPMC right. Maybe an inter-regional connectivity within a network is differentially balanced. An excitability increase within an inhibitory-balanced network would therefore disturb the underlying network. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Functional Laterality of Task-Evoked Activation in Sensorimotor Cortex of Preterm Infants: An Optimized 3 T fMRI Study Employing a Customized Neonatal Head Coil.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lukas Scheef

    Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in neonates has been introduced as a non-invasive method for studying sensorimotor processing in the developing brain. However, previous neonatal studies have delivered conflicting results regarding localization, lateralization, and directionality of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD responses in sensorimotor cortex (SMC. Amongst the confounding factors in interpreting neonatal fMRI studies include the use of standard adult MR-coils providing insufficient signal to noise, and liberal statistical thresholds, compromising clinical interpretation at the single subject level.Here, we employed a custom-designed neonatal MR-coil adapted and optimized to the head size of a newborn in order to improve robustness, reliability and validity of neonatal sensorimotor fMRI. Thirteen preterm infants with a median gestational age of 26 weeks were scanned at term-corrected age using a prototype 8-channel neonatal head coil at 3T (Achieva, Philips, Best, NL. Sensorimotor stimulation was elicited by passive extension/flexion of the elbow at 1 Hz in a block design. Analysis of temporal signal to noise ratio (tSNR was performed on the whole brain and the SMC, and was compared to data acquired with an 'adult' 8 channel head coil published previously. Task-evoked activation was determined by single-subject SPM8 analyses, thresholded at p < 0.05, whole-brain FWE-corrected.Using a custom-designed neonatal MR-coil, we found significant positive BOLD responses in contralateral SMC after unilateral passive sensorimotor stimulation in all neonates (analyses restricted to artifact-free data sets = 8/13. Improved imaging characteristics of the neonatal MR-coil were evidenced by additional phantom and in vivo tSNR measurements: phantom studies revealed a 240% global increase in tSNR; in vivo studies revealed a 73% global and a 55% local (SMC increase in tSNR, as compared to the 'adult' MR-coil.Our findings strengthen the

  11. FMRI connectivity analysis of acupuncture effects on an amygdala-associated brain network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Baixiao

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recently, increasing evidence has indicated that the primary acupuncture effects are mediated by the central nervous system. However, specific brain networks underpinning these effects remain unclear. Results In the present study using fMRI, we employed a within-condition interregional covariance analysis method to investigate functional connectivity of brain networks involved in acupuncture. The fMRI experiment was performed before, during and after acupuncture manipulations on healthy volunteers at an acupuncture point, which was previously implicated in a neural pathway for pain modulation. We first identified significant fMRI signal changes during acupuncture stimulation in the left amygdala, which was subsequently selected as a functional reference for connectivity analyses. Our results have demonstrated that there is a brain network associated with the amygdala during a resting condition. This network encompasses the brain structures that are implicated in both pain sensation and pain modulation. We also found that such a pain-related network could be modulated by both verum acupuncture and sham acupuncture. Furthermore, compared with a sham acupuncture, the verum acupuncture induced a higher level of correlations among the amygdala-associated network. Conclusion Our findings indicate that acupuncture may change this amygdala-specific brain network into a functional state that underlies pain perception and pain modulation.

  12. An fMRI study of concreteness effects during spoken word recognition in aging. Preservation or attenuation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tracy eRoxbury

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available It is unclear whether healthy aging influences concreteness effects (ie. the processing advantage seen for concrete over abstract words and its associated neural mechanisms. We conducted an fMRI study on young and older healthy adults performing auditory lexical decisions on concrete versus abstract words. We found that spoken comprehension of concrete and abstract words appears relatively preserved for healthy older individuals, including the concreteness effect. This preserved performance was supported by altered activity in left hemisphere regions including the inferior and middle frontal gyri, angular gyrus, and fusiform gyrus. This pattern is consistent with age-related compensatory mechanisms supporting spoken word processing.

  13. Effect of visual feedback on brain activation during motor tasks: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noble, Jeremy W; Eng, Janice J; Boyd, Lara A

    2013-07-01

    This study examined the effect of visual feedback and force level on the neural mechanisms responsible for the performance of a motor task. We used a voxel-wise fMRI approach to determine the effect of visual feedback (with and without) during a grip force task at 35% and 70% of maximum voluntary contraction. Two areas (contralateral rostral premotor cortex and putamen) displayed an interaction between force and feedback conditions. When the main effect of feedback condition was analyzed, higher activation when visual feedback was available was found in 22 of the 24 active brain areas, while the two other regions (contralateral lingual gyrus and ipsilateral precuneus) showed greater levels of activity when no visual feedback was available. The results suggest that there is a potentially confounding influence of visual feedback on brain activation during a motor task, and for some regions, this is dependent on the level of force applied.

  14. Fixing the stimulus-as-fixed-effect fallacy in task fMRI [version 2; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacob Westfall

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Most functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI experiments record the brain’s responses to samples of stimulus materials (e.g., faces or words. Yet the statistical modeling approaches used in fMRI research universally fail to model stimulus variability in a manner that affords population generalization, meaning that researchers’ conclusions technically apply only to the precise stimuli used in each study, and cannot be generalized to new stimuli. A direct consequence of this stimulus-as-fixed-effect fallacy is that the majority of published fMRI studies have likely overstated the strength of the statistical evidence they report. Here we develop a Bayesian mixed model (the random stimulus model; RSM that addresses this problem, and apply it to a range of fMRI datasets. Results demonstrate considerable inflation (50-200% in most of the studied datasets of test statistics obtained from standard “summary statistics”-based approaches relative to the corresponding RSM models. We demonstrate how RSMs can be used to improve parameter estimates, properly control false positive rates, and test novel research hypotheses about stimulus-level variability in human brain responses.

  15. Statistical Analysis of fMRI Time-Series: A Critical Review of the GLM Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin M Monti

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI is one of the most widely used tools to study the neural underpinnings of human cognition. Standard analysis of fMRI data relies on a General Linear Model (GLM approach to separate stimulus induced signals from noise. Crucially, this approach relies on a number of assumptions about the data which, for inferences to be valid, must be met. The current paper reviews the GLM approach to analysis of fMRI time-series, focusing in particular on the degree to which such data abides by the assumptions of the GLM framework, and on the methods that have been developed to correct for any violation of those assumptions. Rather than biasing estimates of effect size, the major consequence of non-conformity to the assumptions is to introduce bias into estimates of the variance, thus affecting test statistics, power and false positive rates. Furthermore, this bias can have pervasive effects on both individual subject and group-level statistics, potentially yielding qualitatively different results across replications, especially after the thresholding procedures commonly used for inference-making.

  16. Cortical Reorganization in Patients Recovered from Bell’s Palsy: An Orofacial and Finger Movements Task-State fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaeyoun Lee

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. To explore cortical reorganization of patients recovered from Bell’s palsy (BP by task-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during finger and orofacial movements and provide more evidence for acupuncture clinical treatment of BP. Methods. We collected 17 BP patients with complete clinical recovery (BP group and 20 healthy volunteers (control group accepted the task-state fMRI scans with lip pursing movements and finger movements, respectively. Results. It was found that there were significant differences of brain functional status between the two groups. Conclusions. The results showed that there was cortical reorganization in the brain of patients recovered from BP after acupuncture treatment, which also suggested the relationship between the hand motor areas and facial motor areas of BP patients.

  17. Adult Attachment Affects Neural Response to Preference-Inferring in Ambiguous Scenarios: Evidence From an fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xing Zhang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Humans are highly social animals, and the ability to cater to the preferences of other individuals is encouraged by society. Preference-inferring is an important aspect of the theory of mind (TOM. Many previous studies have shown that attachment style is closely related to TOM ability. However, little is known about the effects of adult attachment style on preferences inferring under different levels of certainty. Here, we investigated how adult attachment style affects neural activity underlying preferences inferred under different levels of certainty by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. The fMRI results demonstrated that adult attachment influenced the activation of anterior insula (AI and inferior parietal lobule (IPL in response to ambiguous preference-inferring. More specifically, in the ambiguous preference condition, the avoidant attached groups exhibited a significantly enhanced activation than secure and anxious attached groups in left IPL; the anxious attached groups exhibited a significantly reduced activation secure attached group in left IPL. In addition, the anxious attached groups exhibited a significantly reduced activation than secure and avoidant attached groups in left AI. These results were also further confirmed by the subsequent PPI analysis. The results from current study suggest that, under ambiguous situations, the avoidant attached individuals show lower sensitivity to the preference of other individuals and need to invest more cognitive resources for preference-reasoning; while compared with avoidant attached group, the anxious attached individuals express high tolerance for uncertainty and a higher ToM proficiency. Results from the current study imply that differences in preference-inferring under ambiguous conditions associated with different levels of individual attachment may explain the differences in interpersonal interaction.

  18. Development of visual cortical function in infant macaques: A BOLD fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom J Van Grootel

    Full Text Available Functional brain development is not well understood. In the visual system, neurophysiological studies in nonhuman primates show quite mature neuronal properties near birth although visual function is itself quite immature and continues to develop over many months or years after birth. Our goal was to assess the relative development of two main visual processing streams, dorsal and ventral, using BOLD fMRI in an attempt to understand the global mechanisms that support the maturation of visual behavior. Seven infant macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta were repeatedly scanned, while anesthetized, over an age range of 102 to 1431 days. Large rotating checkerboard stimuli induced BOLD activation in visual cortices at early ages. Additionally we used static and dynamic Glass pattern stimuli to probe BOLD responses in primary visual cortex and two extrastriate areas: V4 and MT-V5. The resulting activations were analyzed with standard GLM and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA approaches. We analyzed three contrasts: Glass pattern present/absent, static/dynamic Glass pattern presentation, and structured/random Glass pattern form. For both GLM and MVPA approaches, robust coherent BOLD activation appeared relatively late in comparison to the maturation of known neuronal properties and the development of behavioral sensitivity to Glass patterns. Robust differential activity to Glass pattern present/absent and dynamic/static stimulus presentation appeared first in V1, followed by V4 and MT-V5 at older ages; there was no reliable distinction between the two extrastriate areas. A similar pattern of results was obtained with the two analysis methods, although MVPA analysis showed reliable differential responses emerging at later ages than GLM. Although BOLD responses to large visual stimuli are detectable, our results with more refined stimuli indicate that global BOLD activity changes as behavioral performance matures. This reflects an hierarchical development of

  19. Neural correlates of receiving an apology and active forgiveness: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strang, Sabrina; Utikal, Verena; Fischbacher, Urs; Weber, Bernd; Falk, Armin

    2014-01-01

    Interpersonal conflicts are a common element of many social relationships. One possible process in rebuilding social relationships is the act of apologizing. Behavioral studies have shown that apologies promote forgiveness. However, the neural bases of receiving an apology and forgiveness are still unknown. Hence, the aim of the present fMRI study was to investigate brain processes involved in receiving an apology and active forgiveness of an ambiguous offense. We asked one group of participants (player A) to make decisions, which were either positive or negative for another group of participants (player B). The intention of player A was ambiguous to player B. In case of a negative impact, participants in the role of player A could send an apology message to participants in the role of player B. Subsequently players B were asked whether they wanted to forgive player A for making a decision with negative consequences. We found that receiving an apology yielded activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left middle temporal gyrus, and left angular gyrus. In line with previous research we found that forgiving judgments activated the right angular gyrus.

  20. An fMRI study of sex differences in regional activation to a verbal and a spatial task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gur, R C; Alsop, D; Glahn, D; Petty, R; Swanson, C L; Maldjian, J A; Turetsky, B I; Detre, J A; Gee, J; Gur, R E

    2000-09-01

    Sex differences in cognitive performance have been documented, women performing better on some phonological tasks and men on spatial tasks. An earlier fMRI study suggested sex differences in distributed brain activation during phonological processing, with bilateral activation seen in women while men showed primarily left-lateralized activation. This blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI study examined sex differences (14 men, 13 women) in activation for a spatial task (judgment of line orientation) compared to a verbal-reasoning task (analogies) that does not typically show sex differences. Task difficulty was manipulated. Hypothesized ROI-based analysis documented the expected left-lateralized changes for the verbal task in the inferior parietal and planum temporal regions in both men and women, but only men showed right-lateralized increase for the spatial task in these regions. Image-based analysis revealed a distributed network of cortical regions activated by the tasks, which consisted of the lateral frontal, medial frontal, mid-temporal, occipitoparietal, and occipital regions. The activation was more left lateralized for the verbal and more right for the spatial tasks, but men also showed some left activation for the spatial task, which was not seen in women. Increased task difficulty produced more distributed activation for the verbal and more circumscribed activation for the spatial task. The results suggest that failure to activate the appropriate hemisphere in regions directly involved in task performance may explain certain sex differences in performance. They also extend, for a spatial task, the principle that bilateral activation in a distributed cognitive system underlies sex differences in performance. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

  1. Further dissociating the processes involved in recognition memory: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henson, Richard N A; Hornberger, Michael; Rugg, Michael D

    2005-07-01

    Based on an event-related potential study by Rugg et al. [Dissociation of the neural correlates of implicit and explicit memory. Nature, 392, 595-598, 1998], we attempted to isolate the hemodynamic correlates of recollection, familiarity, and implicit memory within a single verbal recognition memory task using event-related fMRI. Words were randomly cued for either deep or shallow processing, and then intermixed with new words for yes/no recognition. The number of studied words was such that, whereas most were recognized ("hits"), an appreciable number of shallow-studied words were not ("misses"). Comparison of deep hits versus shallow hits at test revealed activations in regions including the left inferior parietal gyrus. Comparison of shallow hits versus shallow misses revealed activations in regions including the bilateral intraparietal sulci, the left posterior middle frontal gyrus, and the left frontopolar cortex. Comparison of hits versus correct rejections revealed a relative deactivation in an anterior left medial-temporal region (most likely the perirhinal cortex). Comparison of shallow misses versus correct rejections did not reveal response decreases in any regions expected on the basis of previous imaging studies of priming. Given these and previous data, we associate the left inferior parietal activation with recollection, the left anterior medial-temporal deactivation with familiarity, and the intraparietal and prefrontal responses with target detection. The absence of differences between shallow misses and correct rejections means that the hemodynamic correlates of implicit memory remain unclear.

  2. Effect of Integrated Cognitive Therapy on Hippocampal Functional Connectivity Patterns in Stroke Patients with Cognitive Dysfunction: A Resting-State fMRI Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanli Yang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. This study aimed to identify abnormal hippocampal functional connectivity (FC following ischemic stroke using resting-state fMRI. We also explored whether abnormal hippocampal FC could be modulated by integrated cognitive therapy and tested whether these alterations were associated with cognitive performance. Methods. 18 right-handed cognitively impaired ischemic stroke patients and 18 healty control (HC subjects were included in this study. Stroke subjects were scanned at baseline and after integrated cognitive therapy, while HCs were only scanned at baseline, to identify regions that show significant correlations with the seed region. Behavioral and cognitive assessments were obtained before each scan. Results. During the resting state, we found abnormal hippocampal FC associated with temporal regions, insular cortex, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex in stroke patients compared to HCs. After integrated cognitive therapy, however, the stroke group showed increased hippocampal FC mainly located in the prefrontal gyrus and the default mode network (DMN. Altered hippocampal FC was associated with cognitive improvement. Conclusion. Resting-state fMRI may provide novel insight into the study of functional networks in the brain after stroke. Furthermore, altered hippocampal FC may be a compensatory mechanism for cognitive recovery after ischemic stroke.

  3. Neural Substrates for Verbal Working Memory in Deaf Signers: fMRI Study and Lesion Case Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchsbaum, Bradley; Pickell, Bert; Love, Tracy; Hatrak, Marla; Bellugi, Ursula; Hickok, Gregory

    2005-01-01

    The nature of the representations maintained in verbal working memory is a topic of debate. Some authors argue for a modality-dependent code, tied to particular sensory or motor systems. Others argue for a modality-neutral code. Sign language affords a unique perspective because it factors out the effects of modality. In an fMRI experiment, deaf…

  4. Mechanism of case processing in the brain: an fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Satoru Yokoyama

    Full Text Available In sentence comprehension research, the case system, which is one of the subsystems of the language processing system, has been assumed to play a crucial role in signifying relationships in sentences between noun phrases (NPs and other elements, such as verbs, prepositions, nouns, and tense. However, so far, less attention has been paid to the question of how cases are processed in our brain. To this end, the current study used fMRI and scanned the brain activity of 15 native English speakers during an English-case processing task. The results showed that, while the processing of all cases activates the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior part of the middle temporal gyrus, genitive case processing activates these two regions more than nominative and accusative case processing. Since the effect of the difference in behavioral performance among these three cases is excluded from brain activation data, the observed different brain activations would be due to the different processing patterns among the cases, indicating that cases are processed differently in our brains. The different brain activations between genitive case processing and nominative/accusative case processing may be due to the difference in structural complexity between them.

  5. Preliminary study of mercury target structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaminaga, Masanori; Haga, Katsuhiro; Hino, Ryutaro [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment; Kumasaka, Katsuyuki; Uchida, Shoji; Nakagawa, Toshi; Mori, Seiji; Nishikawa, Akira

    1997-11-01

    Development of a proton accelerator based neutron source (1.5 GeV, 5.3 mA (for neutron source 3.3 mA), thermal power 8 MW) is currently conducted by the Special Task Force for Neutron Science Initiative, JAERI. Preliminary design studies and related R and D of a solid metal target for the first stage (1.5 GeV, 1 mA) and a liquid metal target for both the first and second stages (1.5 GeV, 3.3 mA) are conducted by the Target Group to develop both solid and liquid metal target systems. A few kinds of target structures have been investigated in FY 1996 and the preliminary results for the target structures are described in this paper. Investigation results of alternative materials for the target container are also described in this paper. (author)

  6. Alterations in Cortical Sensorimotor Connectivity following Complete Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: A Prospective Resting-State fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akinwunmi Oni-Orisan

    Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies have demonstrated alterations during task-induced brain activation in spinal cord injury (SCI patients. The interruption to structural integrity of the spinal cord and the resultant disrupted flow of bidirectional communication between the brain and the spinal cord might contribute to the observed dynamic reorganization (neural plasticity. However, the effect of SCI on brain resting-state connectivity patterns remains unclear. We undertook a prospective resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI study to explore changes to cortical activation patterns following SCI. With institutional review board approval, rs-fMRI data was obtained in eleven patients with complete cervical SCI (>2 years post injury and nine age-matched controls. The data was processed using the Analysis of Functional Neuroimages software. Region of interest (ROI based analysis was performed to study changes in the sensorimotor network using pre- and post-central gyri as seed regions. Two-sampled t-test was carried out to check for significant differences between the two groups. SCI patients showed decreased functional connectivity in motor and sensory cortical regions when compared to controls. The decrease was noted in ipsilateral, contralateral, and interhemispheric regions for left and right precentral ROIs. Additionally, the left postcentral ROI demonstrated increased connectivity with the thalamus bilaterally in SCI patients. Our results suggest that cortical activation patterns in the sensorimotor network undergo dynamic reorganization following SCI. The presence of these changes in chronic spinal cord injury patients is suggestive of the inherent neural plasticity within the central nervous system.

  7. Contradictory reasoning network: an EEG and FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porcaro, Camillo; Medaglia, Maria Teresa; Thai, Ngoc Jade; Seri, Stefano; Rotshtein, Pia; Tecchio, Franca

    2014-01-01

    Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO). The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11) activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47) activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32) contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication.

  8. Contradictory reasoning network: an EEG and FMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camillo Porcaro

    Full Text Available Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO. The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11 activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47 activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10 and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32 contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication.

  9. Archetypal Analysis for Modeling Multisubject fMRI Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hinrich, Jesper Løve; Bardenfleth, Sophia Elizabeth; Røge, Rasmus

    2016-01-01

    are assumed to be generated by a set of 'prototype' time series. Archetypal analysis (AA) provides a promising alternative, combining the advantages of component-model flexibility with highly interpretable latent 'archetypes' (similar to cluster-model prototypes). To date, AA has not been applied to group......-level fMRI; a major limitation is that it does not generalize to multi-subject datasets, which may have significant variations in blood oxygenation-level-dependent signal and heteroscedastic noise. We develop multi-subject AA (MS-AA), which accounts for group-level data by assuming that archetypal...... performance when modelling archetypes for a motor task experiment. The procedure extracts a 'seed map' across subjects, used to provide brain parcellations with subject-specific temporal profiles. Our approach thus decomposes multisubject fMRI data into distinct interpretable component archetypes that may...

  10. Trait or state? A longitudinal neuropsychological evaluation and fMRI study in schizoaffective disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madre, Merce; Radua, Joaquim; Landin-Romero, Ramon; Alonso-Lana, Silvia; Salvador, Raimond; Panicali, Francesco; Pomarol-Clotet, Edith; Amann, Benedikt L

    2014-11-01

    Schizoaffective patients can have neurocognitive deficits and default mode network dysfunction while being acutely ill. It remains unclear to what extent these abnormalities persist when they go into clinical remission. Memory and executive function were tested in 22 acutely ill schizoaffective patients; they also underwent fMRI scanning during performance of the n-back working memory test. The same measures were obtained after they had been in remission for ≥ 2 months. Twenty-two matched healthy individuals were also examined. In clinical remission, schizomanic patients showed an improvement of memory but not of executive function, while schizodepressive patients did not change in either domain. All schizoaffective patients in clinical remission showed memory and executive impairment compared to the controls. On fMRI, acutely ill schizomanic patients had reversible frontal hypo-activation when compared to clinical remission, while activation patterns in ill and remitted schizodepressive patients were similar. The whole group of schizoaffective patients in clinical remission showed a failure of de-activation in the medial frontal gyrus compared to the healthy controls. There was evidence for memory improvement and state dependent changes in activation in schizomanic patients across relapse and remission. Medial frontal failure of de-activation in remitted schizoaffective patients, which probably reflects default mode network dysfunction, appears to be a state independent feature of the illness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Identifying the Neural Substrates of Procrastination: a Resting-State fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wenwen; Wang, Xiangpeng; Feng, Tingyong

    2016-09-12

    Procrastination is a prevalent problematic behavior that brings serious consequences to individuals who suffer from it. Although this phenomenon has received increasing attention from researchers, the underpinning neural substrates of it is poorly studied. To examine the neural bases subserving procrastination, the present study employed resting-state fMRI. The main results were as follows: (1) the behavioral procrastination was positively correlated with the regional activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the parahippocampal cortex (PHC), while negatively correlated with that of the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC). (2) The aPFC-seed connectivity with the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex was positively associated with procrastination. (3) The connectivity between vmPFC and several other regions, such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the bilateral inferior prefrontal cortex showed a negative association with procrastination. These results suggested that procrastination could be attributed to, on the one hand, hyper-activity of the default mode network (DMN) that overrides the prefrontal control signal; while on the other hand, the failure of top-down control exerted by the aPFC on the DMN. Therefore, the present study unravels the biomarkers of procrastination and provides treatment targets for procrastination prevention.

  12. Functional brain segmentation using inter-subject correlation in fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauppi, Jukka-Pekka; Pajula, Juha; Niemi, Jari; Hari, Riitta; Tohka, Jussi

    2017-05-01

    The human brain continuously processes massive amounts of rich sensory information. To better understand such highly complex brain processes, modern neuroimaging studies are increasingly utilizing experimental setups that better mimic daily-life situations. A new exploratory data-analysis approach, functional segmentation inter-subject correlation analysis (FuSeISC), was proposed to facilitate the analysis of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) data sets collected in these experiments. The method provides a new type of functional segmentation of brain areas, not only characterizing areas that display similar processing across subjects but also areas in which processing across subjects is highly variable. FuSeISC was tested using fMRI data sets collected during traditional block-design stimuli (37 subjects) as well as naturalistic auditory narratives (19 subjects). The method identified spatially local and/or bilaterally symmetric clusters in several cortical areas, many of which are known to be processing the types of stimuli used in the experiments. The method is not only useful for spatial exploration of large fMRI data sets obtained using naturalistic stimuli, but also has other potential applications, such as generation of a functional brain atlases including both lower- and higher-order processing areas. Finally, as a part of FuSeISC, a criterion-based sparsification of the shared nearest-neighbor graph was proposed for detecting clusters in noisy data. In the tests with synthetic data, this technique was superior to well-known clustering methods, such as Ward's method, affinity propagation, and K-means ++. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2643-2665, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Gender differences in the processing of standard emotional visual stimuli: integrating ERP and fMRI results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Lei; Tian, Jie; Wang, Xiaoxiang; Hu, Jin

    2005-04-01

    The comprehensive understanding of human emotion processing needs consideration both in the spatial distribution and the temporal sequencing of neural activity. The aim of our work is to identify brain regions involved in emotional recognition as well as to follow the time sequence in the millisecond-range resolution. The effect of activation upon visual stimuli in different gender by International Affective Picture System (IAPS) has been examined. Hemodynamic and electrophysiological responses were measured in the same subjects. Both fMRI and ERP study were employed in an event-related study. fMRI have been obtained with 3.0 T Siemens Magnetom whole-body MRI scanner. 128-channel ERP data were recorded using an EGI system. ERP is sensitive to millisecond changes in mental activity, but the source localization and timing is limited by the ill-posed 'inversed' problem. We try to investigate the ERP source reconstruction problem in this study using fMRI constraint. We chose ICA as a pre-processing step of ERP source reconstruction to exclude the artifacts and provide a prior estimate of the number of dipoles. The results indicate that male and female show differences in neural mechanism during emotion visual stimuli.

  14. Early disrupted neurovascular coupling and changed event level hemodynamic response function in type 2 diabetes: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duarte, João V; Pereira, João M S; Quendera, Bruno; Raimundo, Miguel; Moreno, Carolina; Gomes, Leonor; Carrilho, Francisco; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

    2015-10-01

    Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients develop vascular complications and have increased risk for neurophysiological impairment. Vascular pathophysiology may alter the blood flow regulation in cerebral microvasculature, affecting neurovascular coupling. Reduced fMRI signal can result from decreased neuronal activation or disrupted neurovascular coupling. The uncertainty about pathophysiological mechanisms (neurodegenerative, vascular, or both) underlying brain function impairments remains. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated if the hemodynamic response function (HRF) in lesion-free brains of patients is altered by measuring BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent) response to visual motion stimuli. We used a standard block design to examine the BOLD response and an event-related deconvolution approach. Importantly, the latter allowed for the first time to directly extract the true shape of HRF without any assumption and probe neurovascular coupling, using performance-matched stimuli. We discovered a change in HRF in early stages of diabetes. T2DM patients show significantly different fMRI response profiles. Our visual paradigm therefore demonstrated impaired neurovascular coupling in intact brain tissue. This implies that functional studies in T2DM require the definition of HRF, only achievable with deconvolution in event-related experiments. Further investigation of the mechanisms underlying impaired neurovascular coupling is needed to understand and potentially prevent the progression of brain function decrements in diabetes.

  15. The long-term effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on verbal working memory: an fMRI study of young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    A Longo, Carmelinda; A Fried, Peter; Cameron, Ian; M Smith, Andra

    2014-11-01

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the long-term effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on verbal working memory were investigated in young adults. Participants were members of the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study, a longitudinal study that collected a unique body of information on participants from infancy to young adulthood. This allowed for the measurement of an unprecedented number of potentially confounding drug exposure variables including: prenatal marijuana and alcohol exposure and current marijuana, nicotine and alcohol use. Twelve young adults with prenatal nicotine exposure and 13 non-exposed controls performed a 2-Back working memory task while fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent responses were examined. Despite similar task performance, participants with more prenatal nicotine exposure demonstrated significantly greater activity in several regions of the brain that typically subserve verbal working memory including the middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, the inferior parietal lobe and the cingulate gyrus. These results suggest that prenatal nicotine exposure contributes to altered neural functioning during verbal working memory that continues into adulthood. Working memory is critical for a wide range of cognitive skills such as language comprehension, learning and reasoning. Thus, these findings highlight the need for continued educational programs and public awareness campaigns to reduce tobacco use among pregnant women. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. POBE: A Computer Program for Optimal Design of Multi-Subject Blocked fMRI Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bärbel Maus

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available For functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies, researchers can use multi-subject blocked designs to identify active brain regions for a certain stimulus type of interest. Before performing such an experiment, careful planning is necessary to obtain efficient stimulus effect estimators within the available financial resources. The optimal number of subjects and the optimal scanning time for a multi-subject blocked design with fixed experimental costs can be determined using optimal design methods. In this paper, the user-friendly computer program POBE 1.2 (program for optimal design of blocked experiments, version 1.2 is presented. POBE provides a graphical user interface for fMRI researchers to easily and efficiently design their experiments. The computer program POBE calculates the optimal number of subjects and the optimal scanning time for user specified experimental factors and model parameters so that the statistical efficiency is maximised for a given study budget. POBE can also be used to determine the minimum budget for a given power. Furthermore, a maximin design can be determined as efficient design for a possible range of values for the unknown model parameters. In this paper, the computer program is described and illustrated with typical experimental factors for a blocked fMRI experiment.

  17. Low-dimensional morphospace of topological motifs in human fMRI brain networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah E. Morgan

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available We present a low-dimensional morphospace of fMRI brain networks, where axes are defined in a data-driven manner based on the network motifs. The morphospace allows us to identify the key variations in healthy fMRI networks in terms of their underlying motifs, and we observe that two principal components (PCs can account for 97% of the motif variability. The first PC of the motif distribution is correlated with efficiency and inversely correlated with transitivity. Hence this axis approximately conforms to the well-known economical small-world trade-off between integration and segregation in brain networks. Finally, we show that the economical clustering generative model proposed by Vértes et al. (2012 can approximately reproduce the motif morphospace of the real fMRI brain networks, in contrast to other generative models. Overall, the motif morphospace provides a powerful way to visualize the relationships between network properties and to investigate generative or constraining factors in the formation of complex human brain functional networks. Motifs have been described as the building blocks of complex networks. Meanwhile, a morphospace allows networks to be placed in a common space and can reveal the relationships between different network properties and elucidate the driving forces behind network topology. We combine the concepts of motifs and morphospaces to create the first motif morphospace of fMRI brain networks. Crucially, the morphospace axes are defined by the motifs, in a data-driven manner. We observe strong correlations between the networks’ positions in morphospace and their global topological properties, suggesting that motif morphospaces are a powerful way to capture the topology of networks in a low-dimensional space and to compare generative models of brain networks. Motif morphospaces could also be used to study other complex networks’ topologies.

  18. An fMRI study of semantic processing in men with schizophrenia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubicki, M.; McCarley, R.W.; Nestor, P.G.; Huh, T.; Kikinis, R.; Shenton, M.E.; Wible, C.G.

    2009-01-01

    As a means toward understanding the neural bases of schizophrenic thought disturbance, we examined brain activation patterns in response to semantically and superficially encoded words in patients with schizophrenia. Nine male schizophrenic and 9 male control subjects were tested in a visual levels of processing (LOP) task first outside the magnet and then during the fMRI scanning procedures (using a different set of words). During the experiments visual words were presented under two conditions. Under the deep, semantic encoding condition, subjects made semantic judgments as to whether the words were abstract or concrete. Under the shallow, nonsemantic encoding condition, subjects made perceptual judgments of the font size (uppercase/lowercase) of the presented words. After performance of the behavioral task, a recognition test was used to assess the depth of processing effect, defined as better performance for semantically encoded words than for perceptually encoded words. For the scanned version only, the words for both conditions were repeated in order to assess repetition-priming effects. Reaction times were assessed in both testing scenarios. Both groups showed the expected depth of processing effect for recognition, and control subjects showed the expected increased activation of the left inferior prefrontal cortex (LIPC) under semantic encoding relative to perceptual encoding conditions as well as repetition priming for semantic conditions only. In contrast, schizophrenics showed similar patterns of fMRI activation regardless of condition. Most striking in relation to controls, patients showed decreased LIFC activation concurrent with increased left superior temporal gyrus activation for semantic encoding versus shallow encoding. Furthermore, schizophrenia subjects did not show the repetition priming effect, either behaviorally or as a decrease in LIPC activity. In patients with schizophrenia, LIFC underactivation and left superior temporal gyrus

  19. An fMRI study of semantic processing in men with schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubicki, M; McCarley, R W; Nestor, P G; Huh, T; Kikinis, R; Shenton, M E; Wible, C G

    2003-12-01

    As a means toward understanding the neural bases of schizophrenic thought disturbance, we examined brain activation patterns in response to semantically and superficially encoded words in patients with schizophrenia. Nine male schizophrenic and 9 male control subjects were tested in a visual levels of processing (LOP) task first outside the magnet and then during the fMRI scanning procedures (using a different set of words). During the experiments visual words were presented under two conditions. Under the deep, semantic encoding condition, subjects made semantic judgments as to whether the words were abstract or concrete. Under the shallow, nonsemantic encoding condition, subjects made perceptual judgments of the font size (uppercase/lowercase) of the presented words. After performance of the behavioral task, a recognition test was used to assess the depth of processing effect, defined as better performance for semantically encoded words than for perceptually encoded words. For the scanned version only, the words for both conditions were repeated in order to assess repetition-priming effects. Reaction times were assessed in both testing scenarios. Both groups showed the expected depth of processing effect for recognition, and control subjects showed the expected increased activation of the left inferior prefrontal cortex (LIPC) under semantic encoding relative to perceptual encoding conditions as well as repetition priming for semantic conditions only. In contrast, schizophrenics showed similar patterns of fMRI activation regardless of condition. Most striking in relation to controls, patients showed decreased LIFC activation concurrent with increased left superior temporal gyrus activation for semantic encoding versus shallow encoding. Furthermore, schizophrenia subjects did not show the repetition priming effect, either behaviorally or as a decrease in LIPC activity. In patients with schizophrenia, LIFC underactivation and left superior temporal gyrus

  20. Brain activation profiles during kinesthetic and visual imagery: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilintari, Marina; Narayana, Shalini; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas; Rezaie, Roozbeh; Papanicolaou, Andrew C

    2016-09-01

    The aim of this study was to identify brain regions involved in motor imagery and differentiate two alternative strategies in its implementation: imagining a motor act using kinesthetic or visual imagery. Fourteen adults were precisely instructed and trained on how to imagine themselves or others perform a movement sequence, with the aim of promoting kinesthetic and visual imagery, respectively, in the context of an fMRI experiment using block design. We found that neither modality of motor imagery elicits activation of the primary motor cortex and that each of the two modalities involves activation of the premotor area which is also activated during action execution and action observation conditions, as well as of the supplementary motor area. Interestingly, the visual and the posterior cingulate cortices show reduced BOLD signal during both imagery conditions. Our results indicate that the networks of regions activated in kinesthetic and visual imagery of motor sequences show a substantial, while not complete overlap, and that the two forms of motor imagery lead to a differential suppression of visual areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Novel fMRI working memory paradigm accurately detects cognitive impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Flavia; Akhtar, Mohammad A.; Zúñiga, Edward; Perez, Carlos A.; Hasan, Khader M.; Wilken, Jeffrey; Wolinsky, Jerry S.; Narayana, Ponnada A.; Steinberg, Joel L.

    2016-01-01

    Background Cognitive impairment (CI) cannot be diagnosed by MRI. Functional MRI (fMRI) paradigms such as the immediate/delayed memory task (I/DMT), detect varying degrees of working memory. Preliminary findings using I/DMT, showed differences in Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) activation between impaired (MSCI, n=12) and non-impaired (MSNI, n=9) MS patients. Objectives To confirm CI detection based on I/DMT’ BOLD activation in a larger cohort of MS patients. The role of T2 lesion volume (LV) and EDSS in magnitude of BOLD signal were also sought. Methods Fifty patients [EDSS mean (m) = 3.2, DD m =12 yr., age m =40yr.] underwent the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS (MACFIMS) and the I/DMT. Working-memory activation (WMa) represents BOLD signal during DMT minus signal during IMT. CI was based on MACFIMS. Results 10 MSNI, 30 MSCI and 4 borderline patients were included in analyses. ANOVA showed MSNI had significantly greater WMa than MSCI, in the left (L) prefrontal cortex and L supplementary motor area (p = 0.032). Regression analysis showed significant inverse correlations between WMa and T2 LV/EDSS in similar areas (p = 0.005, 0.004 respectively). Conclusion I/DMT-based BOLD activation detects CI in MS, larger studies are needed to confirm these findings. PMID:27613119

  2. Typical and atypical neurodevelopment for face specialization: An fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Jane E.; Zhu, Xun; Gundran, Andrew; Davies, Faraday; Clark, Jonathan D.; Ruble, Lisa; Glaser, Paul; Bhatt, Ramesh S.

    2014-01-01

    Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their relatives process faces differently from typically developed (TD) individuals. In an fMRI face-viewing task, TD and undiagnosed sibling (SIB) children (5–18 years) showed face specialization in the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), with left fusiform and right amygdala face specialization increasing with age in TD subjects. SIBs showed extensive antero-medial temporal lobe activation for faces that was not present in any other group, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism. In ASD, face specialization was minimal but increased with age in the right fusiform and decreased with age in the left amygdala, suggesting atypical development of a frontal-amygdala-fusiform system which is strongly linked to detecting salience and processing facial information. PMID:25479816

  3. Syntactic Priming and the Lexical Boost Effect during Sentence Production and Sentence Comprehension: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segaert, Katrien; Kempen, Gerard; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Hagoort, Peter

    2013-01-01

    Behavioral syntactic priming effects during sentence comprehension are typically observed only if both the syntactic structure and lexical head are repeated. In contrast, during production syntactic priming occurs with structure repetition alone, but the effect is boosted by repetition of the lexical head. We used fMRI to investigate the neuronal…

  4. Disentangling reward anticipation with simultaneous pupillometry / fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Max; Leuchs, Laura; Czisch, Michael; Sämann, Philipp G; Spoormaker, Victor I

    2018-05-05

    The reward system may provide an interesting intermediate phenotype for anhedonia in affective disorders. Reward anticipation is characterized by an increase in arousal, and previous studies have linked the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to arousal responses such as dilation of the pupil. Here, we examined pupil dynamics during a reward anticipation task in forty-six healthy human subjects and evaluated its neural correlates using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Pupil size showed a strong increase during monetary reward anticipation, a moderate increase during verbal reward anticipation and a decrease during control trials. For fMRI analyses, average pupil size and pupil change were computed in 1-s time bins during the anticipation phase. Activity in the ventral striatum was inversely related to the pupil size time course, indicating an early onset of activation and a role in reward prediction processing. Pupil dilations were linked to increased activity in the salience network (dorsal ACC and bilateral insula), which likely triggers an increase in arousal to enhance task performance. Finally, increased pupil size preceding the required motor response was associated with activity in the ventral attention network. In sum, pupillometry provides an effective tool for disentangling different phases of reward anticipation, with relevance for affective symptomatology. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. A slice of π: An exploratory neuroimaging study of digit encoding and retrieval in a superior memorist

    OpenAIRE

    Raz, Amir; Packard, Mark G.; Alexander, Gerianne M.; Buhle, Jason T.; Zhu, Hongtu; Yu, Shan; Peterson, Bradley S.

    2009-01-01

    Subject PI demonstrated superior memory using a variant of a Method of Loci (MOL) technique to recite the first digits of the mathematical constant π to more than 216 decimal places. We report preliminary behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and brain volumetric data from PI. fMRI data collected while PI recited the first 540 digits of π (i.e., during retrieval) revealed increased activity in medial frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Encoding of a novel str...

  6. Verbal to visual code switching improves working memory in older adults: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariko eOsaka

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The effects of verbal to visual code switching training on working memory performance were investigated in the elderly. Twenty-five elderly people were introduced to a verbal to visual code switching strategy (training group while the other 25 were not (control group. During this strategy training period, participants in the training group practiced focusing their attention on a target word both by drawing the target’s figure and by forming mental images of the target. To explore the neural substrates underlying strategy effects, fMRI was used to measure brain activity of the elderly in both groups while they performed a working memory task (reading span test, RST, before and after the attention training period. RST recognition accuracy was enhanced only in the training group. fMRI data for this group showed increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, a region that typically shows activation in young adults performing the RST. Furthermore, activation was found both in the left and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL and right superior parietal lobule (SPL, while there was no activation in these areas for the control group. These findings suggest that using a strategy of verbal to visual code switching helped the elderly participants to maintain the words in working memory.

  7. Influence of mental abacus calculation practice on mental arithmetic in children: a fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Long Jinfeng; Zhao Kunyuan; Wang Bin; Li Lixin; Shen Xiaojun

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the influence of mental abacus calculation practice on mental arithmetic in children with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Twelve children who had practiced mental abacus calculation for 3 years and 12 untrained children (The two groups were matched in terms of age, handedness and education) underwent fMRI during mental calculation tasks. The related behavior data were recorded at the same time. All data were analyzed with statistical parametric mapping 2. Results: The calculation accuracy was significantly higher [(95.00±7.16)% vs.(74.26±16.07)%. t=-4.084, P<0.01]; and the reaction time was significantly shorter [(597.91±124.05) ms vs. (770.07± 148.54) ms, t=3.082, P<0.01] in trained group than untrained group. The extent and magnitude of the activated areas were significantly increased in the untrained group compared with the trained group. The activated areas mainly localized in the frontal and parietal lobes in untrained group, while the brain activated areas were few and mainly localized in occipital and parietal lobes in the trained group. Conclusion: Mental abacus calculation can enhance the information processing m some brain areas, and improve the utilization efficiency of neural resources. (authors)

  8. Bilateral frontal activation associated with cutaneous stimulation of elixir field: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Agnes S; Cheung, Mei-Chun; Chan, Yu Leung; Yeung, David K W; Lam, Wan

    2006-01-01

    Elixir Field, or Dan Tian, is the area where energy is stored and nourished in the body according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Although Dan Tian stimulation is a major concept in Qigong healing and has been practiced for thousands of years, and while there are some recent empirical evidence of its effect, its neurophysiological basis remains unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activations associated with external stimulation of the lower Elixir Field in ten normal subjects, and compared the results with the stimulation of their right hands. While right-hand stimulation resulted in left postcentral gyrus activation, stimulation of the lower Elixir Field resulted in bilateral activations including the medial and superior frontal gyrus, middle and superior temporal gyrus, thalamus, insula, and cingulate gyrus. These findings suggest that stimulation of the Elixir Field is not only associated with activation of the sensory motor cortex but also with cortical regions that mediate planning, attention, and memory.

  9. The distributed neural system for top-down letter processing: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jiangang; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie

    2011-03-01

    This fMRI study used Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) to investigate top-down letter processing with an illusory letter detection task. After an initial training that became increasingly difficult, participant was instructed to detect a letter from pure noise images where there was actually no letter. Such experimental paradigm allowed for isolating top-down components of letter processing and minimizing the influence of bottom-up perceptual input. A distributed cortical network of top-down letter processing was identified by analyzing the functional connectivity patterns of letter-preferential area (LA) within the left fusiform gyrus. Such network extends from the visual cortex to high level cognitive cortexes, including the left middle frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left superior parietal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and left inferior occipital gyrus. These findings suggest that top-down letter processing contains not only regions for processing of letter phonology and appearance, but also those involved in internal information generation and maintenance, and attention and memory processing.

  10. Preliminary studies in rice-fish culture in a rainfed lowland ecology ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Preliminary studies in rice-fish culture in a rainfed lowland ecology in Ghana. PKA Dartey, RK Bam, J Ofori. Abstract. Mixed farms of rice and fish are yet to receive attention in Ghana, despite lowland rice being grown under inundation in most areas nationwide. In a preliminary study, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was ...

  11. Hallucination- and speech-specific hypercoupling in frontotemporal auditory and language networks in schizophrenia using combined task-based fMRI data: An fBIRN study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavigne, Katie M; Woodward, Todd S

    2018-04-01

    Hypercoupling of activity in speech-perception-specific brain networks has been proposed to play a role in the generation of auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia; however, it is unclear whether this hypercoupling extends to nonverbal auditory perception. We investigated this by comparing schizophrenia patients with and without AVHs, and healthy controls, on task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data combining verbal speech perception (SP), inner verbal thought generation (VTG), and nonverbal auditory oddball detection (AO). Data from two previously published fMRI studies were simultaneously analyzed using group constrained principal component analysis for fMRI (group fMRI-CPCA), which allowed for comparison of task-related functional brain networks across groups and tasks while holding the brain networks under study constant, leading to determination of the degree to which networks are common to verbal and nonverbal perception conditions, and which show coordinated hyperactivity in hallucinations. Three functional brain networks emerged: (a) auditory-motor, (b) language processing, and (c) default-mode (DMN) networks. Combining the AO and sentence tasks allowed the auditory-motor and language networks to separately emerge, whereas they were aggregated when individual tasks were analyzed. AVH patients showed greater coordinated activity (deactivity for DMN regions) than non-AVH patients during SP in all networks, but this did not extend to VTG or AO. This suggests that the hypercoupling in AVH patients in speech-perception-related brain networks is specific to perceived speech, and does not extend to perceived nonspeech or inner verbal thought generation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Variational Bayesian Causal Connectivity Analysis for fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin eLuessi

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The ability to accurately estimate effective connectivity among brain regions from neuroimaging data could help answering many open questions in neuroscience. We propose a method which uses causality to obtain a measure of effective connectivity from fMRI data. The method uses a vector autoregressive model for the latent variables describing neuronal activity in combination with a linear observation model based on a convolution with a hemodynamic response function. Due to the employed modeling, it is possible to efficiently estimate all latent variables of the model using a variational Bayesian inference algorithm. The computational efficiency of the method enables us to apply it to large scale problems with high sampling rates and several hundred regions of interest. We use a comprehensive empirical evaluation with synthetic and real fMRI data to evaluate the performance of our method under various conditions.

  13. Hemispheric differences in processing the literal interpretation of idioms: converging evidence from behavioral and fMRI studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mashal, Nira; Faust, Miriam; Hendler, Talma; Jung-Beeman, Mark

    2008-01-01

    The present study examined the role of the left (LH) and right (RH) cerebral hemispheres in processing alternative meanings of idiomatic sentences. We conducted two experiments using ambiguous idioms with plausible literal interpretations as stimuli. In the first experiment we tested hemispheric differences in accessing either the literal or the idiomatic meaning of idioms for targets presented to either the left or the right visual field. In the second experiment, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to define regional brain activation patterns in healthy adults processing either the idiomatic meaning of idioms or the literal meanings of either idioms or literal sentences. According to the Graded Salience Hypothesis (GSH, Giora, 2003), a selective RH involvement in the processing of nonsalient meanings, such as literal interpretations of idiomatic expressions, was expected. Results of the two experiments were consistent with the GSH predictions and show that literal interpretations of idioms are accessed faster than their idiomatic meanings in the RH. The fMRI data showed that processing the idiomatic interpretation of idioms and the literal interpretations of literal sentences involved LH regions whereas processing the literal interpretation of idioms was associated with increased activity in right brain regions including the right precuneus, right middle frontal gyrus (MFG), right posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and right anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG). We suggest that these RH areas are involved in semantic ambiguity resolution and in processing nonsalient meanings of conventional idiomatic expressions.

  14. Processes in arithmetic strategy selection: A fMRI study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julien eTaillan

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available This neuroimaging (fMRI study investigated neural correlates of strategy selection. Young adults performed an arithmetic task in two different conditions. In both conditions, participants had to provide estimates of two-digit multiplication problems like 54 x 78. In the choice condition, participants had to select the better of two available rounding strategies, rounding-up strategy (RU (i.e., doing 60x80 = 4,800 or rounding-down strategy (RD (i.e., doing 50x70=3,500 to estimate product of 54x78. In the no-choice condition, participants did not have to select strategy on each problem but were told which strategy to use; they executed RU and RD strategies each on a series of problems. Participants also had a control task (i.e., providing correct products of multiplication problems like 40x50. Brain activations and performance were analyzed as a function of these conditions. Participants were able to frequently choose the better strategy in the choice condition; they were also slower when they executed the difficult RU than the easier RD. Neuroimaging data showed greater brain activations in right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, and angular gyrus (ANG, when selecting (relative to executing the better strategy on each problem. Moreover, RU was associated with more parietal cortex activation than RD. These results suggest an important role of fronto-parietal network in strategy selection and have important implications for our further understanding and modelling cognitive processes underlying strategy selection.

  15. Cortical activation during power grip task with pneumatic pressure gauge: an fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamad, M; Ismail, S S; Mardan, N H

    2017-01-01

    Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive and motor function. But, the relationships with motor performance are less well understood. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess cortical activation in older adults. This study employed power grip task that utilised block paradigm consisted of alternate 30s rest and active. A visual cue was used to pace the hand grip movement that clenched a cylindrical rubber bulb connected with pressure pneumatic gauge that measure the pressure (Psi). The objective of this study is determined the brain areas activated during motor task and the correlation between percentage signal change of each motor area (BA 4 and 6) and hand grip pressure. Result showed there was a significant difference in mean percentage signal change in BA 4 and BA 6 in both hemispheres and negative correlation obtained in BA 4 and BA 6. These results indicate that a reduced ability in the motor networks contribute to age-related decline in motor performance. (paper)

  16. Material specific lateralization of medial temporal lobe function: An fMRI investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalton, Marshall A; Hornberger, Michael; Piguet, Olivier

    2016-03-01

    The theory of material specific lateralization of memory function posits that left and right MTL regions are asymmetrically involved in mnemonic processing of verbal and nonverbal material respectively. Lesion and functional imaging (fMRI) studies provide robust evidence for a left MTL asymmetry in the verbal memory domain. Evidence for a right MTL/nonverbal asymmetry is not as robust. A handful of fMRI studies have investigated this issue but have generally utilised nonverbal stimuli which are amenable to semantic elaboration. This fMRI study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of recognition memory processing in 20 healthy young adults (mean age = 26 years) for verbal stimuli and nonverbal stimuli that were specifically designed to minimize verbalisation. Analyses revealed that the neural correlates of recognition memory processing for verbal and nonverbal stimuli were differentiable and asymmetrically recruited the left and right MTL respectively. The right perirhinal cortex and hippocampus were preferentially involved in successful recognition memory of items devoid of semantic information. In contrast, the left anterior hippocampus was preferentially involved in successful recognition memory of stimuli which contained semantic meaning. These results suggest that the left MTL is preferentially involved in mnemonic processing of verbal/semantic information. In contrast, the right MTL is preferentially involved in visual/non-semantic mnemonic processing. We propose that during development, the left MTL becomes specialised for verbal mnemonic processing due to its proximity with left lateralised cortical language processing areas while visual/non-semantic mnemonic processing gets 'crowded out' to become predominantly, but not completely, the domain of the right MTL. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. Retrieval orientation and the control of recollection: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morcom, Alexa M.; Rugg, Michael D.

    2012-01-01

    The present study used event-related fMRI to examine the impact of the adoption of different retrieval orientations on the neural correlates of recollection. In each of two study-test blocks, subjects encoded a mixed list of words and pictures, and then performed a recognition memory task with words as the test items. In one block, the requirement was to respond positively to test items corresponding to studied words, and to reject both new items and items corresponding to the studied pictures. In the other block, positive responses were made to test items corresponding to pictures, and items corresponding to words were classified along with the new items. Based on previous event-related potential (ERP) findings, we predicted that in the word task, recollection-related effects would be found for target information only. This prediction was fulfilled. In both tasks, targets elicited the characteristic pattern of recollection-related activity. By contrast, non-targets elicited this pattern in the picture task, but not in the word task. Importantly, the left angular gyrus was among the regions demonstrating this dissociation of non-target recollection effects according to retrieval orientation. The findings for the angular gyrus parallel prior findings for the `left-parietal' ERP old/new effect, and add to the evidence that the effect reflects recollection-related neural activity originating in left ventral parietal cortex. Thus, the results converge with the previous ERP findings to suggest that the processing of retrieval cues can be constrained to prevent the retrieval of goal-irrelevant information. PMID:23110678

  18. A 4-channel 3 Tesla phased array receive coil for awake rhesus monkey fMRI and diffusion MRI experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khachaturian, Mark Haig

    2010-01-01

    Awake monkey fMRI and diffusion MRI combined with conventional neuroscience techniques has the potential to study the structural and functional neural network. The majority of monkey fMRI and diffusion MRI experiments are performed with single coils which suffer from severe EPI distortions which limit resolution. By constructing phased array coils for monkey MRI studies, gains in SNR and anatomical accuracy (i.e., reduction of EPI distortions) can be achieved using parallel imaging. The major challenges associated with constructing phased array coils for monkeys are the variation in head size and space constraints. Here, we apply phased array technology to a 4-channel phased array coil capable of improving the resolution and image quality of full brain awake monkey fMRI and diffusion MRI experiments. The phased array coil is that can adapt to different rhesus monkey head sizes (ages 4-8) and fits in the limited space provided by monkey stereotactic equipment and provides SNR gains in primary visual cortex and anatomical accuracy in conjunction with parallel imaging and improves resolution in fMRI experiments by a factor of 2 (1.25 mm to 1.0 mm isotropic) and diffusion MRI experiments by a factor of 4 (1.5 mm to 0.9 mm isotropic).

  19. Non-white noise in fMRI: Does modelling have an impact?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Torben Ellegaard; Madsen, Kristoffer Hougaard; Sidaros, Karam

    2006-01-01

    are typically modelled as an autoregressive (AR) process. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach: Nuisance Variable Regression (NVR). By inclusion of confounding effects in a general linear model (GLM), we first confirm that the spatial distribution of the various fMRI noise sources is similar......The sources of non-white noise in Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are many. Familiar sources include low-frequency drift due to hardware imperfections, oscillatory noise due to respiration and cardiac pulsation and residual movement artefacts...

  20. Unified ICA-SPM analysis of fMRI experiments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjerre, Troels; Henriksen, Jonas; Nielsen, Carsten Haagen

    2009-01-01

    We present a toolbox for exploratory analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data using independent component analysis (ICA) within the widely used SPM analysis pipeline. The toolbox enables dimensional reduction using principal component analysis, ICA using several different ICA...

  1. Cortical processing of pitch: Model-based encoding and decoding of auditory fMRI responses to real-life sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Angelis, Vittoria; De Martino, Federico; Moerel, Michelle; Santoro, Roberta; Hausfeld, Lars; Formisano, Elia

    2017-11-13

    Pitch is a perceptual attribute related to the fundamental frequency (or periodicity) of a sound. So far, the cortical processing of pitch has been investigated mostly using synthetic sounds. However, the complex harmonic structure of natural sounds may require different mechanisms for the extraction and analysis of pitch. This study investigated the neural representation of pitch in human auditory cortex using model-based encoding and decoding analyses of high field (7 T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collected while participants listened to a wide range of real-life sounds. Specifically, we modeled the fMRI responses as a function of the sounds' perceived pitch height and salience (related to the fundamental frequency and the harmonic structure respectively), which we estimated with a computational algorithm of pitch extraction (de Cheveigné and Kawahara, 2002). First, using single-voxel fMRI encoding, we identified a pitch-coding region in the antero-lateral Heschl's gyrus (HG) and adjacent superior temporal gyrus (STG). In these regions, the pitch representation model combining height and salience predicted the fMRI responses comparatively better than other models of acoustic processing and, in the right hemisphere, better than pitch representations based on height/salience alone. Second, we assessed with model-based decoding that multi-voxel response patterns of the identified regions are more informative of perceived pitch than the remainder of the auditory cortex. Further multivariate analyses showed that complementing a multi-resolution spectro-temporal sound representation with pitch produces a small but significant improvement to the decoding of complex sounds from fMRI response patterns. In sum, this work extends model-based fMRI encoding and decoding methods - previously employed to examine the representation and processing of acoustic sound features in the human auditory system - to the representation and processing of a relevant

  2. The intersubject and intrasubject reproducibility of FMRI activation during three encoding tasks: implications for clinical applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harrington, Greg S.; Tomaszewski Farias, Sarah; Buonocore, Michael H.; Yonelinas, Andrew P.

    2006-01-01

    The goal of the present study was to evaluate the inter- and intrasubject reproducibility of FMRI activation for three memory encoding tasks previously used in the context of presurgical functional mapping. The primary region of interest (ROI) was the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Comparative ROIs included the inferior frontal and fusiform gyri which are less affected by susceptibility-induced signal losses than the MTL regions. Eighteen subjects were scanned using three memory encoding paradigms: word-pair, pattern, and scene encoding. Nine subjects underwent repeat scanning. Intersubject reproducibility of FMRI activation was evaluated by examining the percent of subjects who showed activation within a given ROI and the range to which individual laterality indices (LIs) varied from the mean. Intrasubject test-retest reproducibility was evaluated by examining the LI test-retest correlation, the average difference between LIs from two separate imaging sessions, and concordance ratios of activation volumes (R volume and R overlap ). For scene encoding the reproducibility of activation volume and LIs within the MTL were as good as or better than the reproducibility within the fusiform and inferior frontal ROIs. For pattern encoding and word-pair encoding, the reproducibility of activation volume and LIs within the MTL tended to be worse compared to the fusiform and inferior frontal ROIs. The differences in FMRI reproducibility appeared more dependent on the task than the susceptibility effects. The results of this study suggest that FMRI-based assessment of the neural substrates of memory using a scene encoding task may be a useful clinical tool. (orig.)

  3. The intersubject and intrasubject reproducibility of FMRI activation during three encoding tasks: implications for clinical applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harrington, Greg S. [Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Radiology, Richmond, VA (United States); Tomaszewski Farias, Sarah [University of California at Davis, Department of Neurology, Sacramento (United States); Buonocore, Michael H. [University of California at Davis, Department of Radiology, Sacramento (United States); Yonelinas, Andrew P. [University of California at Davis, Department of Psychology, Davis (United States)

    2006-07-15

    The goal of the present study was to evaluate the inter- and intrasubject reproducibility of FMRI activation for three memory encoding tasks previously used in the context of presurgical functional mapping. The primary region of interest (ROI) was the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Comparative ROIs included the inferior frontal and fusiform gyri which are less affected by susceptibility-induced signal losses than the MTL regions. Eighteen subjects were scanned using three memory encoding paradigms: word-pair, pattern, and scene encoding. Nine subjects underwent repeat scanning. Intersubject reproducibility of FMRI activation was evaluated by examining the percent of subjects who showed activation within a given ROI and the range to which individual laterality indices (LIs) varied from the mean. Intrasubject test-retest reproducibility was evaluated by examining the LI test-retest correlation, the average difference between LIs from two separate imaging sessions, and concordance ratios of activation volumes (R{sub volume} and R{sub overlap}). For scene encoding the reproducibility of activation volume and LIs within the MTL were as good as or better than the reproducibility within the fusiform and inferior frontal ROIs. For pattern encoding and word-pair encoding, the reproducibility of activation volume and LIs within the MTL tended to be worse compared to the fusiform and inferior frontal ROIs. The differences in FMRI reproducibility appeared more dependent on the task than the susceptibility effects. The results of this study suggest that FMRI-based assessment of the neural substrates of memory using a scene encoding task may be a useful clinical tool. (orig.)

  4. Effect of fMRI acoustic noise on non-auditory working memory task: comparison between continuous and pulsed sound emitting EPI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haller, Sven; Bartsch, Andreas J; Radue, Ernst W; Klarhöfer, Markus; Seifritz, Erich; Scheffler, Klaus

    2005-11-01

    Conventional blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is accompanied by substantial acoustic gradient noise. This noise can influence the performance as well as neuronal activations. Conventional fMRI typically has a pulsed noise component, which is a particularly efficient auditory stimulus. We investigated whether the elimination of this pulsed noise component in a recent modification of continuous-sound fMRI modifies neuronal activations in a cognitively demanding non-auditory working memory task. Sixteen normal subjects performed a letter variant n-back task. Brain activity and psychomotor performance was examined during fMRI with continuous-sound fMRI and conventional fMRI. We found greater BOLD responses in bilateral medial frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left hippocampus, right superior frontal gyrus, right precuneus and right cingulate gyrus with continuous-sound compared to conventional fMRI. Conversely, BOLD responses were greater in bilateral cingulate gyrus, left middle and superior frontal gyrus and right lingual gyrus with conventional compared to continuous-sound fMRI. There were no differences in psychomotor performance between both scanning protocols. Although behavioral performance was not affected, acoustic gradient noise interferes with neuronal activations in non-auditory cognitive tasks and represents a putative systematic confound.

  5. Non-symbolic numerical distance effect in children with and without developmental dyscalculia: a parametric fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucian, Karin; Loenneker, Thomas; Martin, Ernst; von Aster, Michael

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated areas of brain activation related to non-symbolic distance effects in children with and without developmental dyscalculia (DD). We examined 15 children with DD (11.3 years) and 15 controls (10.6 years) by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both groups displayed similar behavioral performance, but differences in brain activation were observed, particularly in the supplementary motor area and the right fusiform gyrus, where children with DD demonstrated stronger activation. These results suggest that dyscalculic children engage areas attributed to higher difficulty in response selection more than control children, possibly due to a deficient development of a spatial number representation in DD.

  6. Resting-state fMRI activity predicts unsupervised learning and memory in an immersive virtual reality environment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chi Wah Wong

    Full Text Available In the real world, learning often proceeds in an unsupervised manner without explicit instructions or feedback. In this study, we employed an experimental paradigm in which subjects explored an immersive virtual reality environment on each of two days. On day 1, subjects implicitly learned the location of 39 objects in an unsupervised fashion. On day 2, the locations of some of the objects were changed, and object location recall performance was assessed and found to vary across subjects. As prior work had shown that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI measures of resting-state brain activity can predict various measures of brain performance across individuals, we examined whether resting-state fMRI measures could be used to predict object location recall performance. We found a significant correlation between performance and the variability of the resting-state fMRI signal in the basal ganglia, hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, insula, and regions in the frontal and temporal lobes, regions important for spatial exploration, learning, memory, and decision making. In addition, performance was significantly correlated with resting-state fMRI connectivity between the left caudate and the right fusiform gyrus, lateral occipital complex, and superior temporal gyrus. Given the basal ganglia's role in exploration, these findings suggest that tighter integration of the brain systems responsible for exploration and visuospatial processing may be critical for learning in a complex environment.

  7. Study of human brain functions by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and spectroscopy (fMRS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jagannathan, N.R.

    1998-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a powerful tool in the detection and assessment of cerebral pathophysiology and the regional mapping and characterization of cognitive processes such as motor skills, vision, language and memory. The results of the effect of motor cortex stimulation during repetitive hand squeezing task activation using in-vivo single voxel NMR spectroscopy carried out on normal volunteer subjects are presented

  8. Brain Activation by Visual Food-Related Stimuli and Correlations with Metabolic and Hormonal Parameters: A fMRI Study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jakobsdottir, S.; de Ruiter, M.B.; Deijen, J.B.; Veltman, D.J.; Drent, M.L.

    2012-01-01

    Regional brain activity in 15 healthy, normal weight males during processing of visual food stimuli in a satiated and a hungry state was examined and correlated with neuroendocrine factors known to be involved in hunger and satiated states. Two functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) sessions

  9. Emotion-motion interactions in conversion disorder: an FMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aybek, Selma; Nicholson, Timothy R; O'Daly, Owen; Zelaya, Fernando; Kanaan, Richard A; David, Anthony S

    2015-01-01

    To evaluate the neural correlates of implicit processing of negative emotions in motor conversion disorder (CD) patients. An event related fMRI task was completed by 12 motor CD patients and 14 matched healthy controls using standardised stimuli of faces with fearful and sad emotional expressions in comparison to faces with neutral expressions. Temporal changes in the sensitivity to stimuli were also modelled and tested in the two groups. We found increased amygdala activation to negative emotions in CD compared to healthy controls in region of interest analyses, which persisted over time consistent with previous findings using emotional paradigms. Furthermore during whole brain analyses we found significantly increased activation in CD patients in areas involved in the 'freeze response' to fear (periaqueductal grey matter), and areas involved in self-awareness and motor control (cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor area). In contrast to healthy controls, CD patients exhibited increased response amplitude to fearful stimuli over time, suggesting abnormal emotional regulation (failure of habituation / sensitization). Patients with CD also activated midbrain and frontal structures that could reflect an abnormal behavioral-motor response to negative including threatening stimuli. This suggests a mechanism linking emotions to motor dysfunction in CD.

  10. Neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience in the fMRI era: A recapitulation of localizationist and connectionist views.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutterer, Matthew J; Tranel, Daniel

    2017-11-01

    We highlight the past 25 years of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, focusing on the impact to the field of the introduction in 1992 of functional MRI (fMRI). We reviewed the past 25 years of literature in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, focusing on the relation and interplay of fMRI studies and studies utilizing the "lesion method" in human participants with focal brain damage. Our review highlights the state of localist/connectionist research debates in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology circa 1992, and details how the introduction of fMRI into the field at that time catalyzed a new wave of efforts to map complex human behavior to specific brain regions. This, in turn, eventually evolved into many studies that focused on networks and connections between brain areas, culminating in recent years with large-scale investigations such as the Human Connectome Project. We argue that throughout the past 25 years, neuropsychology-and more precisely, the "lesion method" in humans-has continued to play a critical role in arbitrating conclusions and theories derived from inferred patterns of local brain activity or wide-spread connectivity from functional imaging approaches. We conclude by highlighting the future for neuropsychology in the context of an increasingly complex methodological armamentarium. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Brain activation in response to randomized visual stimulation as obtained from conjunction and differential analysis: an fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nasaruddin, N H; Yusoff, A N; Kaur, S

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this multiple-subjects functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to identify the common brain areas that are activated when viewing black-and-white checkerboard pattern stimuli of various shapes, pattern and size and to investigate specific brain areas that are involved in processing static and moving visual stimuli. Sixteen participants viewed the moving (expanding ring, rotating wedge, flipping hour glass and bowtie and arc quadrant) and static (full checkerboard) stimuli during an fMRI scan. All stimuli have black-and-white checkerboard pattern. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used in generating brain activation. Differential analyses were implemented to separately search for areas involved in processing static and moving stimuli. In general, the stimuli of various shapes, pattern and size activated multiple brain areas mostly in the left hemisphere. The activation in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) was found to be significantly higher in processing moving visual stimuli as compared to static stimulus. In contrast, the activation in the left calcarine sulcus and left lingual gyrus were significantly higher for static stimulus as compared to moving stimuli. Visual stimulation of various shapes, pattern and size used in this study indicated left lateralization of activation. The involvement of the right MTG in processing moving visual information was evident from differential analysis, while the left calcarine sulcus and left lingual gyrus are the areas that are involved in the processing of static visual stimulus

  12. Brain activation in response to randomized visual stimulation as obtained from conjunction and differential analysis: an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasaruddin, N. H.; Yusoff, A. N.; Kaur, S.

    2014-11-01

    The objective of this multiple-subjects functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to identify the common brain areas that are activated when viewing black-and-white checkerboard pattern stimuli of various shapes, pattern and size and to investigate specific brain areas that are involved in processing static and moving visual stimuli. Sixteen participants viewed the moving (expanding ring, rotating wedge, flipping hour glass and bowtie and arc quadrant) and static (full checkerboard) stimuli during an fMRI scan. All stimuli have black-and-white checkerboard pattern. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used in generating brain activation. Differential analyses were implemented to separately search for areas involved in processing static and moving stimuli. In general, the stimuli of various shapes, pattern and size activated multiple brain areas mostly in the left hemisphere. The activation in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) was found to be significantly higher in processing moving visual stimuli as compared to static stimulus. In contrast, the activation in the left calcarine sulcus and left lingual gyrus were significantly higher for static stimulus as compared to moving stimuli. Visual stimulation of various shapes, pattern and size used in this study indicated left lateralization of activation. The involvement of the right MTG in processing moving visual information was evident from differential analysis, while the left calcarine sulcus and left lingual gyrus are the areas that are involved in the processing of static visual stimulus.

  13. Testing competing hypotheses about single trial fMRI

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Lars Kai; Purushotham, Archana; Kim, Seong-Ge

    2002-01-01

    We use a Bayesian framework to compute probabilities of competing hypotheses about functional activation based on single trial fMRI measurements. Within the framework we obtain a complete probabilistic picture of competing hypotheses, hence control of both type I and type II errors....

  14. On the relationship between instantaneous phase synchrony and correlation-based sliding windows for time-resolved fMRI connectivity analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedersen, Mangor; Omidvarnia, Amir; Zalesky, Andrew; Jackson, Graeme D

    2018-06-08

    Correlation-based sliding window analysis (CSWA) is the most commonly used method to estimate time-resolved functional MRI (fMRI) connectivity. However, instantaneous phase synchrony analysis (IPSA) is gaining popularity mainly because it offers single time-point resolution of time-resolved fMRI connectivity. We aim to provide a systematic comparison between these two approaches, on both temporal and topological levels. For this purpose, we used resting-state fMRI data from two separate cohorts with different temporal resolutions (45 healthy subjects from Human Connectome Project fMRI data with repetition time of 0.72 s and 25 healthy subjects from a separate validation fMRI dataset with a repetition time of 3 s). For time-resolved functional connectivity analysis, we calculated tapered CSWA over a wide range of different window lengths that were temporally and topologically compared to IPSA. We found a strong association in connectivity dynamics between IPSA and CSWA when considering the absolute values of CSWA. The association between CSWA and IPSA was stronger for a window length of ∼20 s (shorter than filtered fMRI wavelength) than ∼100 s (longer than filtered fMRI wavelength), irrespective of the sampling rate of the underlying fMRI data. Narrow-band filtering of fMRI data (0.03-0.07 Hz) yielded a stronger relationship between IPSA and CSWA than wider-band (0.01-0.1 Hz). On a topological level, time-averaged IPSA and CSWA nodes were non-linearly correlated for both short (∼20 s) and long (∼100 s) windows, mainly because nodes with strong negative correlations (CSWA) displayed high phase synchrony (IPSA). IPSA and CSWA were anatomically similar in the default mode network, sensory cortex, insula and cerebellum. Our results suggest that IPSA and CSWA provide comparable characterizations of time-resolved fMRI connectivity for appropriately chosen window lengths. Although IPSA requires narrow-band fMRI filtering, we recommend the use of

  15. A wavelet method for modeling and despiking motion artifacts from resting-state fMRI time series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Ameera X.; Kundu, Prantik; Rubinov, Mikail; Jones, P. Simon; Vértes, Petra E.; Ersche, Karen D.; Suckling, John; Bullmore, Edward T.

    2014-01-01

    The impact of in-scanner head movement on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals has long been established as undesirable. These effects have been traditionally corrected by methods such as linear regression of head movement parameters. However, a number of recent independent studies have demonstrated that these techniques are insufficient to remove motion confounds, and that even small movements can spuriously bias estimates of functional connectivity. Here we propose a new data-driven, spatially-adaptive, wavelet-based method for identifying, modeling, and removing non-stationary events in fMRI time series, caused by head movement, without the need for data scrubbing. This method involves the addition of just one extra step, the Wavelet Despike, in standard pre-processing pipelines. With this method, we demonstrate robust removal of a range of different motion artifacts and motion-related biases including distance-dependent connectivity artifacts, at a group and single-subject level, using a range of previously published and new diagnostic measures. The Wavelet Despike is able to accommodate the substantial spatial and temporal heterogeneity of motion artifacts and can consequently remove a range of high and low frequency artifacts from fMRI time series, that may be linearly or non-linearly related to physical movements. Our methods are demonstrated by the analysis of three cohorts of resting-state fMRI data, including two high-motion datasets: a previously published dataset on children (N = 22) and a new dataset on adults with stimulant drug dependence (N = 40). We conclude that there is a real risk of motion-related bias in connectivity analysis of fMRI data, but that this risk is generally manageable, by effective time series denoising strategies designed to attenuate synchronized signal transients induced by abrupt head movements. The Wavelet Despiking software described in this article is freely available for download at www

  16. Large-scale DCMs for resting-state fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adeel Razi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the identification of large directed graphs for resting-state brain networks based on biophysical models of distributed neuronal activity, that is, effective connectivity. This identification can be contrasted with functional connectivity methods based on symmetric correlations that are ubiquitous in resting-state functional MRI (fMRI. We use spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM to invert large graphs comprising dozens of nodes or regions. The ensuing graphs are directed and weighted, hence providing a neurobiologically plausible characterization of connectivity in terms of excitatory and inhibitory coupling. Furthermore, we show that the use of Bayesian model reduction to discover the most likely sparse graph (or model from a parent (e.g., fully connected graph eschews the arbitrary thresholding often applied to large symmetric (functional connectivity graphs. Using empirical fMRI data, we show that spectral DCM furnishes connectivity estimates on large graphs that correlate strongly with the estimates provided by stochastic DCM. Furthermore, we increase the efficiency of model inversion using functional connectivity modes to place prior constraints on effective connectivity. In other words, we use a small number of modes to finesse the potentially redundant parameterization of large DCMs. We show that spectral DCM—with functional connectivity priors—is ideally suited for directed graph theoretic analyses of resting-state fMRI. We envision that directed graphs will prove useful in understanding the psychopathology and pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. We will demonstrate the utility of large directed graphs in clinical populations in subsequent reports, using the procedures described in this paper.

  17. Neuroimaging of love: fMRI meta-analysis evidence toward new perspectives in sexual medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortigue, Stephanie; Bianchi-Demicheli, Francesco; Patel, Nisa; Frum, Chris; Lewis, James W

    2010-11-01

    Brain imaging is becoming a powerful tool in the study of human cerebral functions related to close personal relationships. Outside of subcortical structures traditionally thought to be involved in reward-related systems, a wide range of neuroimaging studies in relationship science indicate a prominent role for different cortical networks and cognitive factors. Thus, the field needs a better anatomical/network/whole-brain model to help translate scientific knowledge from lab bench to clinical models and ultimately to the patients suffering from disorders associated with love and couple relationships. The aim of the present review is to provide a review across wide range of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to critically identify the cortical networks associated with passionate love, and to compare and contrast it with other types of love (such as maternal love and unconditional love for persons with intellectual disabilities). Retrospective review of pertinent neuroimaging literature. Review of published literature on fMRI studies of love illustrating brain regions associated with different forms of love. Although all fMRI studies of love point to the subcortical dopaminergic reward-related brain systems (involving dopamine and oxytocin receptors) for motivating individuals in pair-bonding, the present meta-analysis newly demonstrated that different types of love involve distinct cerebral networks, including those for higher cognitive functions such as social cognition and bodily self-representation. These metaresults provide the first stages of a global neuroanatomical model of cortical networks involved in emotions related to different aspects of love. Developing this model in future studies should be helpful for advancing clinical approaches helpful in sexual medicine and couple therapy. © 2010 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

  18. The fMRI study on the front-parietal activation in abacus mental calculation trained children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao Kunyuan; Wang Bin; Long Jinfeng; Li Lixin; Shen Xiaojun

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the difference in front-parietal activation between the trained and untrained children engaged in addition and multiplication with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and to explore the role of abacus mental calculation in brain development. Methods: Twenty-four children trained with abacus mental calculation and twelve untrained children performed mental calculation tasks including addition, multiplication and number-object control judging tasks. Blood oxygenation level dependence (BOLD) fMRI was performed when they were calculating. All data were analyzed by SPM2 (statistical parametric mapping 2) to generate the brain activation map. Results: The performance of the trained group had better correctness and shorter reaction time than that of the untrained group. The front-parietal activation between two groups had obvious difference. The activation involved less prefrontal cortex in the trained group than in the untrained group (P<0.05). The parietal activation in the trained group was mainly in the posterior superior parietal lobe/ precuneus, whereas the activation areas focused on the inferior parietal lobule in the untrained group. Conclusion: Abacus mental calculation involves multiple functional areas. and these areas may work together as a whole in processing arithmetic problems. Abacus mental calculation not only enhances the information processing in some brain areas and improves the utilization efficiency of neural resources, but also plays an important role in developing brain. (authors)

  19. Neuroethics and fMRI: Mapping a fledgling relationship

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garnett, Alex; Whiteley, Louise Emma; Piwowar, Heather

    2011-01-01

    Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) informs the understanding of the neural basis of mental function and is a key domain of ethical enquiry. It raises questions about the practice and implications of research, and reflexively informs ethics through the empirical investigation of mo...

  20. 'Visual' cortical activation induced by acupuncture at vision-related acupoint: A fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan, B.; Shan, B.C.; Zhi, L.H.; Li, K.; Lu, N.; Li, L.; Liu, H.

    2005-01-01

    It has attracted attention recently that acupuncture at vision-related acupoints, which are used to treat eye diseases according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), could activate the visual cortex. Cho and colleagues have reported that acupuncture at vision-related acupoints in the foot, activate the visual cortex bilaterally. Similar results were reported by Siedentopf and coworkers using laser acupuncture. However, Gareus et al. did not get the result, In this study, manual acupuncture was used to examine the response of central nervous system (CNS) to acupuncture at Liv3, one of important acupoints used to treat eye-related disease in clinic. To avoid the non-specific factors such as pain and anxiety, a sham acupoint which is approximately 10 mm anterior to Liv3 and innervated by the same spinal segment was selected as control. The CNS response was obtained by subtracting fMRI brain images evoked by nearby 'sham' acupoint from that evoked by the 'real' acupoint. 17 healthy right handed volunteers were comprised in the study. The images were got on 1.5T MR with EPI sequence. After 62 baseline scans, a silver needle 0.30 mm in diameter and 25 mm long was inserted and twirled for 60 scans; then the needle was withdrawn while fMRI scanning continued, until a total of 402 scans were acquired. During acupuncture, the needle was twirled manually clockwise and anticlockwise at 1 Hz with 'even reinforcing and reducing' needle manipulation. The depth of needle insertion at the sham acupoint was approximately 15 mm, the same as at the real acupoint. All the points in this study were on the right foot. The data were analyzed with spm99 using random effects analysis, discrepancies in the activation areas between Liv3 and the sham acupoint were obtained at p<0.01. Acupuncture at Liv3 significantly activated Brodmann Area 19 (BA 19) bilaterally, middle temporal gyrus, cerebellum, ipsilateral posterior cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus, contralateral postcentral gyrus, and

  1. 'Visual' cortical activation induced by acupuncture at vision-related acupoint: a fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan, B.; Shan, B.C.; Zhi, L.H.; Li, K.; Lu, N.; Li, L.; Liu, H.

    2005-01-01

    It has attracted attention recently that acupuncture at vision-related acupoints, which are used to treat eye diseases according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), could activate the visual cortex. Cho and colleagues have reported that acupuncture at vision-related acupoints in the foot, activate the visual cortex bilaterally. Similar results were reported by Siedentopf and coworkers using laser acupuncture. However, Gareus et al. did not get the result. In this study, manual acupuncture was used to examine the response of central nervous system (CNS) to acupuncture at Liv3, one of important acupoints used to treat eye-related disease in clinic. To avoid the non-specific factors such as pain and anxiety, a sham acupoint which is approximately 10 mm anterior to Liv3 and innervated by the same spinal segment was selected as control. The CNS response was obtained by subtracting fMRI brain images evoked by nearby 'sham' acupoint from that evoked by the 'real' acupoint. 17 healthy right handed volunteers were comprised in the study. The images were got on 1.5T MR with EPI sequence. After 62 baseline scans, a silver needle 0.30 mm in diameter and 25 mm long was inserted and twirled for 60 scans; then the needle was withdrawn while fMRI scanning continued, until a total of 402 scans were acquired. During acupuncture, the needle was twirled manually clockwise and anticlockwise at 1 Hz with 'even reinforcing and reducing' needle manipulation. The depth of needle insertion at the sham acupoint was approximately 15 mm, the same as at the real acupoint. All the points in this study were on the right foot. The data were analyzed with spm99 using random effects analysis, discrepancies in the activation areas between Liv3 and the sham acupoint were obtained at p<0.01. Acupuncture at Liv3 significantly activated Brodmann Area 19 (BA 19) bilaterally, middle temporal gyrus, cerebellum, ipsilateral posterior cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus, contralateral postcentral gyrus, and

  2. Sex-dependent dissociation between emotional appraisal and memory: a large-scale behavioral and fMRI study

    OpenAIRE

    Spalek, Klara; Fastenrath, Matthias; Ackermann, Sandra; Auschra, Bianca; Coynel, David; Frey, Julia; Gschwind, Leo; Hartmann, Francina; van der Maarel, Nadine; Papassotiropoulos, Andreas; de Quervain, Dominique; Milnik, Annette

    2015-01-01

    Extensive evidence indicates that women outperform men in episodic memory tasks. Furthermore, women are known to evaluate emotional stimuli as more arousing than men. Because emotional arousal typically increases episodic memory formation, the females' memory advantage might be more pronounced for emotionally arousing information than for neutral information. Here, we report behavioral data from 3398 subjects, who performed picture rating and memory tasks, and corresponding fMRI data from up ...

  3. Impaired risk evaluation in people with Internet gaming disorder: fMRI evidence from a probability discounting task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Xiao; Zhou, Hongli; Dong, Guangheng; Du, Xiaoxia

    2015-01-02

    This study examined how Internet gaming disorder (IGD) subjects modulating reward and risk at a neural level under a probability-discounting task with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioral and imaging data were collected from 19 IGD subjects (22.2 ± 3.08 years) and 21 healthy controls (HC, 22.8 ± 3.5 years). Behavior results showed that IGD subjects prefer the probabilistic options to fixed ones and were associated with shorter reaction time, when comparing to HC. The fMRI results revealed that IGD subjects show decreased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and the precentral gyrus when choosing the probabilistic options than HC. Correlations were also calculated between behavioral performances and brain activities in relevant brain regions. Both of the behavioral performance and fMRI results indicate that people with IGD show impaired risk evaluation, which might be the reason why IGD subjects continue playing online games despite the risks of widely known negative consequence. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Abnormal Social Reward Responses in Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Via, Esther; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Sánchez, Isabel; Forcano, Laura; Harrison, Ben J; Davey, Christopher G; Pujol, Jesús; Martínez-Zalacaín, Ignacio; Menchón, José M; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Cardoner, Narcís

    2015-01-01

    Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) display impaired social interactions, implicated in the development and prognosis of the disorder. Importantly, social behavior is modulated by reward-based processes, and dysfunctional at-brain-level reward responses have been involved in AN neurobiological models. However, no prior evidence exists of whether these neural alterations would be equally present in social contexts. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional social-judgment functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of 20 restrictive-subtype AN patients and 20 matched healthy controls. Brain activity during acceptance and rejection was investigated and correlated with severity measures (Eating Disorder Inventory -EDI-2) and with personality traits of interest known to modulate social behavior (The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire). Patients showed hypoactivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during social acceptance and hyperactivation of visual areas during social rejection. Ventral striatum activation during rejection was positively correlated in patients with clinical severity scores. During acceptance, activation of the frontal opercula-anterior insula and dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was differentially associated with reward sensitivity between groups. These results suggest an abnormal motivational drive for social stimuli, and involve overlapping social cognition and reward systems leading to a disruption of adaptive responses in the processing of social reward. The specific association of reward-related regions with clinical and psychometric measures suggests the putative involvement of reward structures in the maintenance of pathological behaviors in AN.

  5. Abnormal Social Reward Responses in Anorexia Nervosa: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther Via

    Full Text Available Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN display impaired social interactions, implicated in the development and prognosis of the disorder. Importantly, social behavior is modulated by reward-based processes, and dysfunctional at-brain-level reward responses have been involved in AN neurobiological models. However, no prior evidence exists of whether these neural alterations would be equally present in social contexts. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional social-judgment functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study of 20 restrictive-subtype AN patients and 20 matched healthy controls. Brain activity during acceptance and rejection was investigated and correlated with severity measures (Eating Disorder Inventory -EDI-2 and with personality traits of interest known to modulate social behavior (The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire. Patients showed hypoactivation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC during social acceptance and hyperactivation of visual areas during social rejection. Ventral striatum activation during rejection was positively correlated in patients with clinical severity scores. During acceptance, activation of the frontal opercula-anterior insula and dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortices was differentially associated with reward sensitivity between groups. These results suggest an abnormal motivational drive for social stimuli, and involve overlapping social cognition and reward systems leading to a disruption of adaptive responses in the processing of social reward. The specific association of reward-related regions with clinical and psychometric measures suggests the putative involvement of reward structures in the maintenance of pathological behaviors in AN.

  6. BROCCOLI: Software for Fast fMRI Analysis on Many-Core CPUs and GPUs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anders eEklund

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI data is becoming ever more computationally demanding as temporal and spatial resolutions improve, and large, publicly available data sets proliferate. Moreover, methodological improvements in the neuroimaging pipeline, such as non-linear spatial normalization, non-parametric permutation tests and Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo approaches, can dramatically increase the computational burden. Despite these challenges, there do not yet exist any fMRI software packages which leverage inexpensive and powerful graphics processing units (GPUs to perform these analyses. Here, we therefore present BROCCOLI, a free software package written in OpenCL (Open Computing Language that can be used for parallel analysis of fMRI data on a large variety of hardware configurations. BROCCOLI has, for example, been tested with an Intel CPU, an Nvidia GPU and an AMD GPU. These tests show that parallel processing of fMRI data can lead to significantly faster analysis pipelines. This speedup can be achieved on relatively standard hardware, but further, dramatic speed improvements require only a modest investment in GPU hardware. BROCCOLI (running on a GPU can perform non-linear spatial normalization to a 1 mm3 brain template in 4-6 seconds, and run a second level permutation test with 10,000 permutations in about a minute. These non-parametric tests are generally more robust than their parametric counterparts, and can also enable more sophisticated analyses by estimating complicated null distributions. Additionally, BROCCOLI includes support for Bayesian first-level fMRI analysis using a Gibbs sampler. The new software is freely available under GNU GPL3 and can be downloaded from github (https://github.com/wanderine/BROCCOLI/.

  7. Processing of vocalizations in humans and monkeys: A comparative fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joly, Olivier; Orban, Guy A.; Pallier, Christophe; Ramus, Franck; Pressnitzer, Daniel; Vanduffel, Wim

    2012-01-01

    Humans and many other animals use acoustical signals to mediate social interactions with con-specifics. The evolution of sound-based communication is still poorly understood and its neural correlates have only recently begun to be investigated. In the present study, we applied functional MRI to humans and macaque monkeys listening to identical stimuli in order to compare the cortical networks involved in the processing of vocalizations. At the first stages of auditory processing, both species showed similar fMRI activity maps within and around the lateral sulcus (the Sylvian fissure in humans). Monkeys showed remarkably similar responses to monkey calls and to human vocal sounds (speech or otherwise), mainly in the lateral sulcus and the adjacent superior temporal gyrus (STG). In contrast, a preference for human vocalizations and especially for speech was observed in the human STG and superior temporal sulcus (STS). The STS and Broca's region were especially responsive to intelligible utterances. The evolution of the language faculty in humans appears to have recruited most of the STS. It may be that in monkeys, a much simpler repertoire of vocalizations requires less involvement of this temporal territory. (authors)

  8. Dominance of layer-specific microvessel dilation in contrast-enhanced high-resolution fMRI: Comparison between hemodynamic spread and vascular architecture with CLARITY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poplawsky, Alexander John; Fukuda, Mitsuhiro; Kang, Bok-Man; Kim, Jae Hwan; Suh, Minah; Kim, Seong-Gi

    2017-08-16

    Contrast-enhanced cerebral blood volume-weighted (CBVw) fMRI response peaks are specific to the layer of evoked synaptic activity (Poplawsky et al., 2015), but the spatial resolution limit of CBVw fMRI is unknown. In this study, we measured the laminar spread of the CBVw fMRI evoked response in the external plexiform layer (EPL, 265 ± 65 μm anatomical thickness, mean ± SD, n = 30 locations from 5 rats) of the rat olfactory bulb during electrical stimulation of the lateral olfactory tract and examined its potential vascular source. First, we obtained the evoked CBVw fMRI responses with a 55 × 55 μm 2 in-plane resolution and a 500-μm thickness at 9.4 T, and found that the fMRI signal peaked predominantly in the inner half of EPL (136 ± 54 μm anatomical thickness). The mean full-width at half-maximum of these fMRI peaks was 347 ± 102 μm and the functional spread was approximately 100 or 200 μm when the effects of the laminar thicknesses of EPL or inner EPL were removed, respectively. Second, we visualized the vascular architecture of EPL from a different rat using a Clear Lipid-exchanged Anatomically Rigid Imaging/immunostaining-compatible Tissue hYdrogel (CLARITY)-based tissue preparation method and confocal microscopy. Microvascular segments with an outer diameter of limit of the fMRI spatial resolution is approximately the average length of 1-2 microvessel segments, which may be sufficient for examining sublaminar circuits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Patterns of resting state connectivity in human primary visual cortical areas: a 7T fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raemaekers, Mathijs; Schellekens, Wouter; van Wezel, Richard J A; Petridou, Natalia; Kristo, Gert; Ramsey, Nick F

    2014-01-01

    The nature and origin of fMRI resting state fluctuations and connectivity are still not fully known. More detailed knowledge on the relationship between resting state patterns and brain function may help to elucidate this matter. We therefore performed an in depth study of how resting state fluctuations map to the well known architecture of the visual system. We investigated resting state connectivity at both a fine and large scale within and across visual areas V1, V2 and V3 in ten human subjects using a 7Tesla scanner. We found evidence for several coexisting and overlapping connectivity structures at different spatial scales. At the fine-scale level we found enhanced connectivity between the same topographic locations in the fieldmaps of V1, V2 and V3, enhanced connectivity to the contralateral functional homologue, and to a lesser extent enhanced connectivity between iso-eccentric locations within the same visual area. However, by far the largest proportion of the resting state fluctuations occurred within large-scale bilateral networks. These large-scale networks mapped to some extent onto the architecture of the visual system and could thereby obscure fine-scale connectivity. In fact, most of the fine-scale connectivity only became apparent after the large-scale network fluctuations were filtered from the timeseries. We conclude that fMRI resting state fluctuations in the visual cortex may in fact be a composite signal of different overlapping sources. Isolating the different sources could enhance correlations between BOLD and electrophysiological correlates of resting state activity. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Somatosensory BOLD fMRI reveals close link between salient blood pressure changes and the murine neuromatrix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reimann, Henning Matthias; Todiras, Mihail; Hodge, Russ; Huelnhagen, Till; Millward, Jason Michael; Turner, Robert; Seeliger, Erdmann; Bader, Michael; Pohlmann, Andreas; Niendorf, Thoralf

    2018-05-15

    The neuromatrix, or "pain matrix", is a network of cortical brain areas which is activated by noxious as well as salient somatosensory stimulation. This has been studied in mice and humans using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Here we demonstrate that BOLD effects observed in the murine neuromatrix in response to salient somatosensory stimuli are prone to reflect mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) changes, rather than neural activity. We show that a standard electrostimulus typically used in murine somatosensory fMRI can induce substantial elevations in MABP. Equivalent drug-induced MABP changes - without somatosensory stimulation - evoked BOLD patterns in the neuromatrix strikingly similar to those evoked by electrostimulation. This constitutes a serious caveat for murine fMRI. The regional specificity of these BOLD patterns can be attributed to the co-localization of the neuromatrix with large draining veins. Based on these findings we propose a cardiovascular support mechanism whereby abrupt elevations in MABP provide additional energy supply to the neuromatrix and other essential brain areas in fight-or-flight situations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Real time fMRI: a tool for the routine presurgical localisation of the motor cortex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moeller, M.; Freund, M.; Schwindt, W.; Gaus, C.; Heindel, W. [University of Muenster, Department of Clinical Radiology, Munster (Germany); Greiner, C. [University of Muenster, Department of Neurosurgery, Munster (Germany)

    2005-02-01

    In patients with brain lesions adjacent to the central area, exact preoperative knowledge of the spatial relation of the tumour to the motor cortex is of major importance. Many studies have shown that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a reliable tool to identify the motor cortex. However, fMRI data acquisition and data processing are time-consuming procedures, and this prevents general routine clinical application. We report a new application of real time fMRI that allows immediate access to fMRI results by automatic on-line data processing. Prior to surgery we examined ten patients with a brain tumour adjacent to the central area. Three measurements were performed at a 1.5-T Magnetom Vision Scanner (Siemens, Forchheim, Germany) on seven patients and at a 1.5-T Intera Scanner (Philips, Best, The Netherlands) on three patients using a sequential finger-tapping paradigm for motor cortex activation versus at rest condition. Blood oxygen level-dependant (BOLD) images were acquired using a multislice EPI sequence (16 slices, TE 60, TR 6000, FOV 210 x 210, matrix 64 x 64). The central sulcus of the left hemisphere could be clearly identified by a maximum of cortical activity after finger tapping of the right hand in all investigated patients. In eight of ten patients the right central sulcus was localised by a signal maximum, whereas in two patients the central sulcus could not be identified due to a hemiparesis in one and strong motion artefacts in the second patient. Finger tapping with one side versus rest condition seems to result in more motion artefacts, while finger tapping of the right versus the left hand yielded the strongest signal in the central area. Real time fMRI is a quick and reliable method to identify the central sulcus and has the potential to become a clinical tool to assess patients non-invasively before neurosurgical treatment. (orig.)

  12. How restful is it with all that noise? Comparison of Interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) and conventional imaging in resting-state fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andoh, J; Ferreira, M; Leppert, I R; Matsushita, R; Pike, B; Zatorre, R J

    2017-02-15

    Resting-state fMRI studies have become very important in cognitive neuroscience because they are able to identify BOLD fluctuations in brain circuits involved in motor, cognitive, or perceptual processes without the use of an explicit task. Such approaches have been fruitful when applied to various disordered populations, or to children or the elderly. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the consequences of the loud acoustic scanner noise associated with conventional fMRI acquisition, which could be an important confounding factor affecting auditory and/or cognitive networks in resting-state fMRI. Several approaches have been developed to mitigate the effects of acoustic noise on fMRI signals, including sparse sampling protocols and interleaved silent steady state (ISSS) acquisition methods, the latter being used only for task-based fMRI. Here, we developed an ISSS protocol for resting-state fMRI (rs-ISSS) consisting of rapid acquisition of a set of echo planar imaging volumes following each silent period, during which the steady state longitudinal magnetization was maintained with a train of relatively silent slice-selective excitation pulses. We evaluated the test-retest reliability of intensity and spatial extent of connectivity networks of fMRI BOLD signal across three different days for rs-ISSS and compared it with a standard resting-state fMRI (rs-STD). We also compared the strength and distribution of connectivity networks between rs-ISSS and rs-STD. We found that both rs-ISSS and rs-STD showed high reproducibility of fMRI signal across days. In addition, rs-ISSS showed a more robust pattern of functional connectivity within the somatosensory and motor networks, as well as an auditory network compared with rs-STD. An increased connectivity between the default mode network and the language network and with the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) network was also found for rs-ISSS compared with rs-STD. Finally, region of interest analysis showed

  13. Novel fMRI working memory paradigm accurately detects cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Flavia; Akhtar, Mohammad A; Zúñiga, Edward; Perez, Carlos A; Hasan, Khader M; Wilken, Jeffrey; Wolinsky, Jerry S; Narayana, Ponnada A; Steinberg, Joel L

    2017-05-01

    Cognitive impairment (CI) cannot be diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms, such as the immediate/delayed memory task (I/DMT), detect varying degrees of working memory (WM). Preliminary findings using I/DMT showed differences in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation between impaired (MSCI, n = 12) and non-impaired (MSNI, n = 9) multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The aim of the study was to confirm CI detection based on I/DMT BOLD activation in a larger cohort of MS patients. The role of T2 lesion volume (LV) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) in magnitude of BOLD signal was also sought. A total of 50 patients (EDSS mean ( m) = 3.2, disease duration (DD) m = 12 years, and age m = 40 years) underwent the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis (MACFIMS) and I/DMT. Working memory activation (WMa) represents BOLD signal during DMT minus signal during IMT. CI was based on MACFIMS. A total of 10 MSNI, 30 MSCI, and 4 borderline patients were included in the analyses. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed MSNI had significantly greater WMa than MSCI, in the left prefrontal cortex and left supplementary motor area ( p = 0.032). Regression analysis showed significant inverse correlations between WMa and T2 LV/EDSS in similar areas ( p = 0.005, 0.004, respectively). I/DMT-based BOLD activation detects CI in MS. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.

  14. Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carhart-Harris, Robin L; Erritzoe, David; Williams, Tim; Stone, James M; Reed, Laurence J; Colasanti, Alessandro; Tyacke, Robin J; Leech, Robert; Malizia, Andrea L; Murphy, Kevin; Hobden, Peter; Evans, John; Feilding, Amanda; Wise, Richard G; Nutt, David J

    2012-02-07

    Psychedelic drugs have a long history of use in healing ceremonies, but despite renewed interest in their therapeutic potential, we continue to know very little about how they work in the brain. Here we used psilocybin, a classic psychedelic found in magic mushrooms, and a task-free functional MRI (fMRI) protocol designed to capture the transition from normal waking consciousness to the psychedelic state. Arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI were used to map cerebral blood flow and changes in venous oxygenation before and after intravenous infusions of placebo and psilocybin. Fifteen healthy volunteers were scanned with arterial spin labeling and a separate 15 with BOLD. As predicted, profound changes in consciousness were observed after psilocybin, but surprisingly, only decreases in cerebral blood flow and BOLD signal were seen, and these were maximal in hub regions, such as the thalamus and anterior and posterior cingulate cortex (ACC and PCC). Decreased activity in the ACC/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was a consistent finding and the magnitude of this decrease predicted the intensity of the subjective effects. Based on these results, a seed-based pharmaco-physiological interaction/functional connectivity analysis was performed using a medial prefrontal seed. Psilocybin caused a significant decrease in the positive coupling between the mPFC and PCC. These results strongly imply that the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are caused by decreased activity and connectivity in the brain's key connector hubs, enabling a state of unconstrained cognition.

  15. Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carhart-Harris, Robin L.; Erritzoe, David; Williams, Tim; Stone, James M.; Reed, Laurence J.; Colasanti, Alessandro; Tyacke, Robin J.; Leech, Robert; Malizia, Andrea L.; Murphy, Kevin; Hobden, Peter; Evans, John; Feilding, Amanda; Wise, Richard G.; Nutt, David J.

    2012-01-01

    Psychedelic drugs have a long history of use in healing ceremonies, but despite renewed interest in their therapeutic potential, we continue to know very little about how they work in the brain. Here we used psilocybin, a classic psychedelic found in magic mushrooms, and a task-free functional MRI (fMRI) protocol designed to capture the transition from normal waking consciousness to the psychedelic state. Arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI were used to map cerebral blood flow and changes in venous oxygenation before and after intravenous infusions of placebo and psilocybin. Fifteen healthy volunteers were scanned with arterial spin labeling and a separate 15 with BOLD. As predicted, profound changes in consciousness were observed after psilocybin, but surprisingly, only decreases in cerebral blood flow and BOLD signal were seen, and these were maximal in hub regions, such as the thalamus and anterior and posterior cingulate cortex (ACC and PCC). Decreased activity in the ACC/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was a consistent finding and the magnitude of this decrease predicted the intensity of the subjective effects. Based on these results, a seed-based pharmaco-physiological interaction/functional connectivity analysis was performed using a medial prefrontal seed. Psilocybin caused a significant decrease in the positive coupling between the mPFC and PCC. These results strongly imply that the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are caused by decreased activity and connectivity in the brain's key connector hubs, enabling a state of unconstrained cognition. PMID:22308440

  16. Ridding fMRI data of motion-related influences: Removal of signals with distinct spatial and physical bases in multiecho data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Power, Jonathan D; Plitt, Mark; Gotts, Stephen J; Kundu, Prantik; Voon, Valerie; Bandettini, Peter A; Martin, Alex

    2018-02-27

    "Functional connectivity" techniques are commonplace tools for studying brain organization. A critical element of these analyses is to distinguish variance due to neurobiological signals from variance due to nonneurobiological signals. Multiecho fMRI techniques are a promising means for making such distinctions based on signal decay properties. Here, we report that multiecho fMRI techniques enable excellent removal of certain kinds of artifactual variance, namely, spatially focal artifacts due to motion. By removing these artifacts, multiecho techniques reveal frequent, large-amplitude blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes present across all gray matter that are also linked to motion. These whole-brain BOLD signals could reflect widespread neural processes or other processes, such as alterations in blood partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO 2 ) due to ventilation changes. By acquiring multiecho data while monitoring breathing, we demonstrate that whole-brain BOLD signals in the resting state are often caused by changes in breathing that co-occur with head motion. These widespread respiratory fMRI signals cannot be isolated from neurobiological signals by multiecho techniques because they occur via the same BOLD mechanism. Respiratory signals must therefore be removed by some other technique to isolate neurobiological covariance in fMRI time series. Several methods for removing global artifacts are demonstrated and compared, and were found to yield fMRI time series essentially free of motion-related influences. These results identify two kinds of motion-associated fMRI variance, with different physical mechanisms and spatial profiles, each of which strongly and differentially influences functional connectivity patterns. Distance-dependent patterns in covariance are nearly entirely attributable to non-BOLD artifacts.

  17. Aggression-related brain function assessed with the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm in fMRI

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skibsted, Anine P; Cunha-Bang, Sofi da; Carré, Justin M

    2017-01-01

    The Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP) measures aggressive behavior in response to provocations. The aim of the study was to implement the PSAP in a functional neuroimaging environment (fMRI) and evaluate aggression-related brain reactivity including response to provocations and associa......The Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP) measures aggressive behavior in response to provocations. The aim of the study was to implement the PSAP in a functional neuroimaging environment (fMRI) and evaluate aggression-related brain reactivity including response to provocations...... and associations with aggression within the paradigm. Twenty healthy participants completed two 12-min PSAP sessions within the scanner. We evaluated brain responses to aggressive behavior (removing points from an opponent), provocations (point subtractions by the opponent), and winning points. Our results showed...... with the involvement of these brain regions in emotional and impulsive behavior. Striatal reactivity may suggest an involvement of reward during winning and stealing points....

  18. The Effects of Audiovisual Inputs on Solving the Cocktail Party Problem in the Human Brain: An fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuanqing; Wang, Fangyi; Chen, Yongbin; Cichocki, Andrzej; Sejnowski, Terrence

    2017-09-25

    At cocktail parties, our brains often simultaneously receive visual and auditory information. Although the cocktail party problem has been widely investigated under auditory-only settings, the effects of audiovisual inputs have not. This study explored the effects of audiovisual inputs in a simulated cocktail party. In our fMRI experiment, each congruent audiovisual stimulus was a synthesis of 2 facial movie clips, each of which could be classified into 1 of 2 emotion categories (crying and laughing). Visual-only (faces) and auditory-only stimuli (voices) were created by extracting the visual and auditory contents from the synthesized audiovisual stimuli. Subjects were instructed to selectively attend to 1 of the 2 objects contained in each stimulus and to judge its emotion category in the visual-only, auditory-only, and audiovisual conditions. The neural representations of the emotion features were assessed by calculating decoding accuracy and brain pattern-related reproducibility index based on the fMRI data. We compared the audiovisual condition with the visual-only and auditory-only conditions and found that audiovisual inputs enhanced the neural representations of emotion features of the attended objects instead of the unattended objects. This enhancement might partially explain the benefits of audiovisual inputs for the brain to solve the cocktail party problem. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. Music Therapy Using Singing Training Improves Psychomotor Speed in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: A Neuropsychological and fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satoh, Masayuki; Yuba, Toru; Tabei, Ken-ichi; Okubo, Yukari; Kida, Hirotaka; Sakuma, Hajime; Tomimoto, Hidekazu

    2015-01-01

    Background/Aims To investigate the effect of singing training on the cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Methods Ten AD patients (mean age 78.1 years) participated in music therapy using singing training once a week for 6 months (music therapy group). Each session was performed with professional musicians using karaoke and a unique voice training method (the YUBA Method). Before and after the intervention period, each patient was assessed by neuropsychological batteries, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed while the patients sang familiar songs with a karaoke device. As the control group, another 10 AD patients were recruited (mean age 77.0 years), and neuropsychological assessments were performed twice with an interval of 6 months. Results In the music therapy group, the time for completion of the Japanese Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices was significantly reduced (p = 0.026), and the results obtained from interviewing the patients' caregivers revealed a significant decrease in the Neuropsychiatric Inventory score (p = 0.042) and a prolongation of the patients' sleep time (p = 0.039). The fMRI study revealed increased activity in the right angular gyrus and the left lingual gyrus in the before-minus-after subtraction analysis of the music therapy intervention. Conclusion Music therapy intervention using singing training may be useful for dementia patients by improving the neural efficacy of cognitive processing. PMID:26483829

  20. Time course based artifact identification for independent components of resting state fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian eRummel

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI coherent oscillations of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal can be detected. These arise when brain regions respond to external stimuli or are activated by tasks. The same networks have been characterized during wakeful rest when functional connectivity of the human brain is organized in generic resting state networks (RSN. Alterations of RSN emerge as neurobiological markers of pathological conditions such as altered mental state. In single-subject fMRI data the coherent components can be identified by blind source separation of the pre-processed BOLD data using spatial independent component analysis (ICA and related approaches. The resulting maps may represent physiological RSNs or may be due to various artifacts. In this methodological study, we propose a conceptually simple and fully automatic time course based filtering procedure to detect obvious artifacts in the ICA output for resting state fMRI. The filter is trained on six and tested on 29 healthy subjects, yielding mean filter accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 0.80, 0.82 and 0.75 in out-of-sample tests. To estimate the impact of clearly artifactual single-subject components on group resting state studies we analyze unfiltered and filtered output with a second level ICA procedure. Although the automated filter does not reach performance values of visual analysis by human raters, we propose that resting state compatible analysis of ICA time courses could be very useful to complement the existing map or task/event oriented artifact classification algorithms.

  1. Preliminary simulation study of doppler reflectometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishii, Yuta; Hojo, Hitoshi; Yoshikawa, Masashi; Ichimura, Makoto; Haraguchi, Yusuke; Imai, Tsuyoshi; Mase, Atsushi

    2010-01-01

    A preliminary simulation study of Doppler reflectometry is performed. The simulations solve Maxwell's equations by a finite difference time domain (FDTD) code method in two dimensions. A moving corrugated metal target is used as a plasma cutoff layer to study the basic features of Doppler reflectometry. We examined the effects of the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the electromagnetic waves and the corrugation depth of the metal target. Furthermore, the effect of a nonuniform plasma is studied using this FDTD analysis. The Doppler shift and velocity are compared with those obtained from FDTD analysis of a uniform plasma. (author)

  2. Preliminary closed Brayton cycle study for a space reactor application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guimaraes, Lamartine Nogueira Frutuoso; Carvalho, Ricardo Pinto de; Camillo, Giannino Ponchio

    2007-01-01

    The Nuclear Energy Division (ENU) of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) has started a preliminary design study for a Closed Brayton Cycle Loop (CBCL) aimed at a space reactor application. The main objectives of the study are to establish a starting concept for the CBCL components specifications, and to develop a demonstrative simulator of CBCL in nominal operation conditions. The ENU/IEAv preliminary design study is developing the CBCL around the NOELLE 60290 turbo machine. The actual nuclear reactor study is being conducted independently. Because of that, a conventional heat source is being used for the CBCL, in this preliminary design phase. This paper describes the steady state simulator of the CBCL operating with NOELLE 60290 turbo machine. In principle, several gases are being considered as working fluid, as for instance: air, helium, nitrogen, CO2 and gas mixtures such as helium and xenon. At this moment the simulator is running with Helium as the working fluid. Simplified models of heat and mass transfer are being developed to simulate thermal components. Future efforts will focus on keeping track of the modifications being implemented at the NOELLE 60290 turbo machine in order to build the CBCL. (author)

  3. Preliminary closed Brayton cycle study for a space reactor application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guimaraes, Lamartine Nogueira Frutuoso; Carvalho, Ricardo Pinto de [Institute for Advanced Studies, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil)]. E-mail: guimarae@ieav.cta.br; Camillo, Giannino Ponchio [Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica (ITA), Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil)]. E-mail: gianninocamillo@gmail.com

    2007-07-01

    The Nuclear Energy Division (ENU) of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv) has started a preliminary design study for a Closed Brayton Cycle Loop (CBCL) aimed at a space reactor application. The main objectives of the study are to establish a starting concept for the CBCL components specifications, and to develop a demonstrative simulator of CBCL in nominal operation conditions. The ENU/IEAv preliminary design study is developing the CBCL around the NOELLE 60290 turbo machine. The actual nuclear reactor study is being conducted independently. Because of that, a conventional heat source is being used for the CBCL, in this preliminary design phase. This paper describes the steady state simulator of the CBCL operating with NOELLE 60290 turbo machine. In principle, several gases are being considered as working fluid, as for instance: air, helium, nitrogen, CO2 and gas mixtures such as helium and xenon. At this moment the simulator is running with Helium as the working fluid. Simplified models of heat and mass transfer are being developed to simulate thermal components. Future efforts will focus on keeping track of the modifications being implemented at the NOELLE 60290 turbo machine in order to build the CBCL. (author)

  4. Applying independent component analysis to clinical fMRI at 7 T

    OpenAIRE

    Simon Daniel Robinson; Veronika eSchöpf; Pedro eCardoso; Alexander eGeissler; Alexander eGeissler; Florian Ph.S Fischmeister; Florian Ph.S Fischmeister; Moritz eWurnig; Moritz eWurnig; Siegfried eTrattnig; Roland eBeisteiner; Roland eBeisteiner

    2013-01-01

    Increased BOLD sensitivity at 7 T offers the possibility to increase the reliability of fMRI, but ultra-high field is also associated with an increase in artifacts related to head motion, Nyquist ghosting and parallel imaging reconstruction errors. In this study, the ability of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to separate activation from these artifacts was assessed in a 7 T study of neurological patients performing chin and hand motor tasks. ICA was able to isolate primary motor activati...

  5. Task-specific feature extraction and classification of fMRI volumes using a deep neural network initialized with a deep belief network: Evaluation using sensorimotor tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Hojin; Plis, Sergey M; Calhoun, Vince D; Lee, Jong-Hwan

    2017-01-15

    Feedforward deep neural networks (DNNs), artificial neural networks with multiple hidden layers, have recently demonstrated a record-breaking performance in multiple areas of applications in computer vision and speech processing. Following the success, DNNs have been applied to neuroimaging modalities including functional/structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron-emission tomography data. However, no study has explicitly applied DNNs to 3D whole-brain fMRI volumes and thereby extracted hidden volumetric representations of fMRI that are discriminative for a task performed as the fMRI volume was acquired. Our study applied fully connected feedforward DNN to fMRI volumes collected in four sensorimotor tasks (i.e., left-hand clenching, right-hand clenching, auditory attention, and visual stimulus) undertaken by 12 healthy participants. Using a leave-one-subject-out cross-validation scheme, a restricted Boltzmann machine-based deep belief network was pretrained and used to initialize weights of the DNN. The pretrained DNN was fine-tuned while systematically controlling weight-sparsity levels across hidden layers. Optimal weight-sparsity levels were determined from a minimum validation error rate of fMRI volume classification. Minimum error rates (mean±standard deviation; %) of 6.9 (±3.8) were obtained from the three-layer DNN with the sparsest condition of weights across the three hidden layers. These error rates were even lower than the error rates from the single-layer network (9.4±4.6) and the two-layer network (7.4±4.1). The estimated DNN weights showed spatial patterns that are remarkably task-specific, particularly in the higher layers. The output values of the third hidden layer represented distinct patterns/codes of the 3D whole-brain fMRI volume and encoded the information of the tasks as evaluated from representational similarity analysis. Our reported findings show the ability of the DNN to classify a single fMRI volume based on the

  6. Exploring fMRI Data for Periodic Signal Components

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Lars Kai; Nielsen, Finn Årup; Larsen, Jan

    2002-01-01

    We use a Bayesian framework to detect periodic components in fMRI data. The resulting detector is sensitive to periodic components with a flexible number of harmonics and with arbitrary amplitude and phases of the harmonics. It is possible to detect the correct number of harmonics in periodic sig...

  7. Contradictory Reasoning Network: An EEG and fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thai, Ngoc Jade; Seri, Stefano; Rotshtein, Pia; Tecchio, Franca

    2014-01-01

    Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO). The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11) activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47) activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32) contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication. PMID:24667491

  8. Adaptive smoothing based on Gaussian processes regression increases the sensitivity and specificity of fMRI data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strappini, Francesca; Gilboa, Elad; Pitzalis, Sabrina; Kay, Kendrick; McAvoy, Mark; Nehorai, Arye; Snyder, Abraham Z

    2017-03-01

    Temporal and spatial filtering of fMRI data is often used to improve statistical power. However, conventional methods, such as smoothing with fixed-width Gaussian filters, remove fine-scale structure in the data, necessitating a tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity. Specifically, smoothing may increase sensitivity (reduce noise and increase statistical power) but at the cost loss of specificity in that fine-scale structure in neural activity patterns is lost. Here, we propose an alternative smoothing method based on Gaussian processes (GP) regression for single subjects fMRI experiments. This method adapts the level of smoothing on a voxel by voxel basis according to the characteristics of the local neural activity patterns. GP-based fMRI analysis has been heretofore impractical owing to computational demands. Here, we demonstrate a new implementation of GP that makes it possible to handle the massive data dimensionality of the typical fMRI experiment. We demonstrate how GP can be used as a drop-in replacement to conventional preprocessing steps for temporal and spatial smoothing in a standard fMRI pipeline. We present simulated and experimental results that show the increased sensitivity and specificity compared to conventional smoothing strategies. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1438-1459, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Gaussian process based independent analysis for temporal source separation in fMRI

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hald, Ditte Høvenhoff; Henao, Ricardo; Winther, Ole

    2017-01-01

    Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) gives us a unique insight into the processes of the brain, and opens up for analyzing the functional activation patterns of the underlying sources. Task-inferred supervised learning with restrictive assumptions in the regression set-up, restricts...... the exploratory nature of the analysis. Fully unsupervised independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms, on the other hand, can struggle to detect clear classifiable components on single-subject data. We attribute this shortcoming to inadequate modeling of the fMRI source signals by failing to incorporate its...

  10. Neural reactivity to visual food stimuli is reduced in some areas of the brain during evening hours compared to morning hours: an fMRI study in women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masterson, Travis D; Kirwan, C Brock; Davidson, Lance E; LeCheminant, James D

    2016-03-01

    The extent that neural responsiveness to visual food stimuli is influenced by time of day is not well examined. Using a crossover design, 15 healthy women were scanned using fMRI while presented with low- and high-energy pictures of food, once in the morning (6:30-8:30 am) and once in the evening (5:00-7:00 pm). Diets were identical on both days of the fMRI scans and were verified using weighed food records. Visual analog scales were used to record subjective perception of hunger and preoccupation with food prior to each fMRI scan. Six areas of the brain showed lower activation in the evening to both high- and low-energy foods, including structures in reward pathways (P foods compared to low-energy foods (P food stimuli tended to produce greater fMRI responses than low-energy food stimuli in specific areas of the brain, regardless of time of day. However, evening scans showed a lower response to both low- and high-energy food pictures in some areas of the brain. Subjectively, participants reported no difference in hunger by time of day (F = 1.84, P = 0.19), but reported they could eat more (F = 4.83, P = 0.04) and were more preoccupied with thoughts of food (F = 5.51, P = 0.03) in the evening compared to the morning. These data underscore the role that time of day may have on neural responses to food stimuli. These results may also have clinical implications for fMRI measurement in order to prevent a time of day bias.

  11. Exploring Possible Neural Mechanisms of Intelligence Differences Using Processing Speed and Working Memory Tasks: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waiter, Gordon D.; Deary, Ian J.; Staff, Roger T.; Murray, Alison D.; Fox, Helen C.; Starr, John M.; Whalley, Lawrence J.

    2009-01-01

    To explore the possible neural foundations of individual differences in intelligence test scores, we examined the associations between Raven's Matrices scores and two tasks that were administered in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting. The two tasks were an n-back working memory (N = 37) task and inspection time (N = 47). The…

  12. Enhanced sympathetic arousal in response to FMRI scanning correlates with task induced activations and deactivations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Muehlhan

    Full Text Available It has been repeatedly shown that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI triggers distress and neuroendocrine response systems. Prior studies have revealed that sympathetic arousal increases, particularly at the beginning of the examination. Against this background it appears likely that those stress reactions during the scanning procedure may influence task performance and neural correlates. However, the question how sympathetic arousal elicited by the scanning procedure itself may act as a potential confounder of fMRI data remains unresolved today. Thirty-seven scanner naive healthy subjects performed a simple cued target detection task. Levels of salivary alpha amylase (sAA, as a biomarker for sympathetic activity, were assessed in samples obtained at several time points during the lab visit. SAA increased two times, immediately prior to scanning and at the end of the scanning procedure. Neural activation related to motor preparation and timing as well as task performance was positively correlated with the first increase. Furthermore, the first sAA increase was associated with task induced deactivation (TID in frontal and parietal regions. However, these effects were restricted to the first part of the experiment. Consequently, this bias of scanner related sympathetic activation should be considered in future fMRI investigations. It is of particular importance for pharmacological investigations studying adrenergic agents and the comparison of groups with different stress vulnerabilities like patients and controls or adolescents and adults.

  13. Adjudicating between face-coding models with individual-face fMRI responses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johan D Carlin

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The perceptual representation of individual faces is often explained with reference to a norm-based face space. In such spaces, individuals are encoded as vectors where identity is primarily conveyed by direction and distinctiveness by eccentricity. Here we measured human fMRI responses and psychophysical similarity judgments of individual face exemplars, which were generated as realistic 3D animations using a computer-graphics model. We developed and evaluated multiple neurobiologically plausible computational models, each of which predicts a representational distance matrix and a regional-mean activation profile for 24 face stimuli. In the fusiform face area, a face-space coding model with sigmoidal ramp tuning provided a better account of the data than one based on exemplar tuning. However, an image-processing model with weighted banks of Gabor filters performed similarly. Accounting for the data required the inclusion of a measurement-level population averaging mechanism that approximates how fMRI voxels locally average distinct neuronal tunings. Our study demonstrates the importance of comparing multiple models and of modeling the measurement process in computational neuroimaging.

  14. A Versatile Software Package for Inter-subject Correlation Based Analyses of fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jukka-Pekka eKauppi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In the inter-subject correlation (ISC based analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI data, the extent of shared processing across subjects during the experiment is determined by calculating correlation coefficients between the fMRI time series of the subjects in the corresponding brain locations. This implies that ISC can be used to analyze fMRI data without explicitly modelling the stimulus and thus ISC is a potential method to analyze fMRI data acquired under complex naturalistic stimuli. Despite of the suitability of ISC based approach to analyze complex fMRI data, no generic software tools have been made available for this purpose, limiting a widespread use of ISC based analysis techniques among neuroimaging community. In this paper, we present a graphical user interface (GUI based software package, ISC Toolbox, implemented in Matlab for computing various ISC based analyses. Many advanced computations such as comparison of ISCs between different stimuli, time window ISC, and inter-subject phase synchronization are supported by the toolbox. The analyses are coupled with re-sampling based statistical inference. The ISC based analyses are data and computation intensive and the ISC toolbox is equipped with mechanisms to execute the parallel computations in a cluster environment automatically and with an automatic detection of the cluster environment in use. Currently, SGE-based (Oracle Grid Engine, Son of a Grid Engine or Open Grid Scheduler and Slurm environments are supported. In this paper, we present a detailed account on the methods behind the ISC Toolbox, the implementation of the toolbox and demonstrate the possible use of the toolbox by summarizing selected example applications. We also report the computation time experiments both using a single desktop computer and two grid environments demonstrating that parallelization effectively reduces the computing time. The ISC Toolbox is available in https://code.google.com/p/isc-toolbox/.

  15. A versatile software package for inter-subject correlation based analyses of fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauppi, Jukka-Pekka; Pajula, Juha; Tohka, Jussi

    2014-01-01

    In the inter-subject correlation (ISC) based analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, the extent of shared processing across subjects during the experiment is determined by calculating correlation coefficients between the fMRI time series of the subjects in the corresponding brain locations. This implies that ISC can be used to analyze fMRI data without explicitly modeling the stimulus and thus ISC is a potential method to analyze fMRI data acquired under complex naturalistic stimuli. Despite of the suitability of ISC based approach to analyze complex fMRI data, no generic software tools have been made available for this purpose, limiting a widespread use of ISC based analysis techniques among neuroimaging community. In this paper, we present a graphical user interface (GUI) based software package, ISC Toolbox, implemented in Matlab for computing various ISC based analyses. Many advanced computations such as comparison of ISCs between different stimuli, time window ISC, and inter-subject phase synchronization are supported by the toolbox. The analyses are coupled with re-sampling based statistical inference. The ISC based analyses are data and computation intensive and the ISC toolbox is equipped with mechanisms to execute the parallel computations in a cluster environment automatically and with an automatic detection of the cluster environment in use. Currently, SGE-based (Oracle Grid Engine, Son of a Grid Engine, or Open Grid Scheduler) and Slurm environments are supported. In this paper, we present a detailed account on the methods behind the ISC Toolbox, the implementation of the toolbox and demonstrate the possible use of the toolbox by summarizing selected example applications. We also report the computation time experiments both using a single desktop computer and two grid environments demonstrating that parallelization effectively reduces the computing time. The ISC Toolbox is available in https://code.google.com/p/isc-toolbox/

  16. A word expressing affective pain activates the anterior cingulate cortex in the human brain: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osaka, Naoyuki; Osaka, Mariko; Morishita, Masanao; Kondo, Hirohito; Fukuyama, Hidenao

    2004-08-12

    We present an fMRI study demonstrating that an onomatopoeia word highly suggestive of subjective pain, heard by the ear, significantly activates the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) while hearing non-sense words that did not imply affective pain under the same task does not activate this area in humans. We concluded that the ACC would be a pivotal locus for perceiving affective pain evoked by an onomatopoeia word that implied affective pain closely associated with the unpleasantness of pain. We suggest that the pain affect sustained by pain unpleasantness may depend on ACC-prefrontal cortical interactions that modify cognitive evaluation of emotions associated with word-induced pain.

  17. Medial temporal lobe function during emotional memory in early Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment and healthy ageing: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parra, Mario A; Pattan, Vivek; Wong, Dichelle; Beaglehole, Anna; Lonie, Jane; Wan, Hong I; Honey, Garry; Hall, Jeremy; Whalley, Heather C; Lawrie, Stephen M

    2013-03-06

    Relative to intentional memory encoding, which quickly declines in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), incidental memory for emotional stimuli appears to deteriorate more slowly. We hypothesised that tests of incidental emotional memory may inform on different aspects of cognitive decline in MCI and AD. Patients with MCI, AD and Healthy Controls (HC) were asked to attend to emotional pictures (i.e., positive and neutral) sequentially presented during an fMRI session. Attention was monitored behaviourally. A surprise post-scan recognition test was then administered. The groups remained attentive within the scanner. The post-scan recognition pattern was in the form of (HC = MCI) > AD, with only the former group showing a clear benefit from emotional pictures. fMRI analysis of incidental encoding demonstrated clusters of activation in para-hippocampal regions and in the hippocampus in HC and MCI patients but not in AD patients. The pattern of activation observed in MCI patients tended to be greater than that found in HC. The results suggest that incidental emotional memory might offer a suitable platform to investigate, using behavioural and fMRI measures, subtle changes in the process of developing AD. These changes seem to differ from those found using standard episodic memory tests. The underpinnings of such differences and the potential clinical use of this methodology are discussed in depth.

  18. Music and Language Syntax Interact in Broca's Area: An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Kunert

    Full Text Available Instrumental music and language are both syntactic systems, employing complex, hierarchically-structured sequences built using implicit structural norms. This organization allows listeners to understand the role of individual words or tones in the context of an unfolding sentence or melody. Previous studies suggest that the brain mechanisms of syntactic processing may be partly shared between music and language. However, functional neuroimaging evidence for anatomical overlap of brain activity involved in linguistic and musical syntactic processing has been lacking. In the present study we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in conjunction with an interference paradigm based on sung sentences. We show that the processing demands of musical syntax (harmony and language syntax interact in Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (without leading to music and language main effects. A language main effect in Broca's area only emerged in the complex music harmony condition, suggesting that (with our stimuli and tasks a language effect only becomes visible under conditions of increased demands on shared neural resources. In contrast to previous studies, our design allows us to rule out that the observed neural interaction is due to: (1 general attention mechanisms, as a psychoacoustic auditory anomaly behaved unlike the harmonic manipulation, (2 error processing, as the language and the music stimuli contained no structural errors. The current results thus suggest that two different cognitive domains-music and language-might draw on the same high level syntactic integration resources in Broca's area.

  19. FMRI Study of Neural Responses to Implicit Infant Emotion in Anorexia Nervosa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenni Leppanen

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Difficulties in social–emotional processing have been proposed to play an important role in the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN. Few studies, thus far, have investigated neural processes that underlie these difficulties, including processing emotional facial expressions. However, the majority of these studies have investigated neural responses to adult emotional display, which may be confounded by elevated sensitivity to social rank and threat in AN. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the neural processes underlying implicit processing of positively and negatively valenced infant emotional display in AN. Twenty-one adult women with AN and twenty-six healthy comparison (HC women were presented with images of positively valenced, negatively valenced, and neutral infant faces during a fMRI scan. Significant differences between the groups in positive > neutral and negative > neutral contrasts were investigated in a priori regions of interest, including the bilateral amygdala, insula, and lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC. The findings revealed that the AN participants showed relatively increased recruitment while the HC participants showed relatively reduced recruitment of the bilateral amygdala and the right dorsolateral PFC in the positive > neutral contrast. In the negative > neutral contrast, the AN group showed relatively increased recruitment of the left posterior insula while the HC groups showed relatively reduced recruitment of this region. These findings suggest that people with AN may engage in implicit prefrontal down-regulation of elevated limbic reactivity to positively social–emotional stimuli.

  20. Preliminary design study of a steady state tokamak device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miya, Naoyuki; Nakajima, Shinji; Ushigusa, Kenkichi; and athors)

    1992-09-01

    Preliminary design study has been made for a steady tokamak with the plasma current of 10MA, as the next to the JT-60U experimental programs. The goal of the research program is the integrated study of steady state, high-power physics and technology. Present candidate design is to use superconducting TF and PF magnet systems and long pulse operation of 100's-1000's of sec with non inductive current drive mainly by 500keV negative ion beam injection of 60MW. Low activation material such as titanium alloy is chosen for the water tank type vacuum vessel, which is also the nuclear shield for the superconducting coils. The present preliminary design study shows that the device can meet the existing JT-60U facility capability. (author)

  1. fMRI orientation decoding in V1 does not require global maps or globally coherent orientation stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alink, Arjen; Krugliak, Alexandra; Walther, Alexander; Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus

    2013-01-01

    The orientation of a large grating can be decoded from V1 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, even at low resolution (3-mm isotropic voxels). This finding has suggested that columnar-level neuronal information might be accessible to fMRI at 3T. However, orientation decodability might alternatively arise from global orientation-preference maps. Such global maps across V1 could result from bottom-up processing, if the preferences of V1 neurons were biased toward particular orientations (e.g., radial from fixation, or cardinal, i.e., vertical or horizontal). Global maps could also arise from local recurrent or top-down processing, reflecting pre-attentive perceptual grouping, attention spreading, or predictive coding of global form. Here we investigate whether fMRI orientation decoding with 2-mm voxels requires (a) globally coherent orientation stimuli and/or (b) global-scale patterns of V1 activity. We used opposite-orientation gratings (balanced about the cardinal orientations) and spirals (balanced about the radial orientation), along with novel patch-swapped variants of these stimuli. The two stimuli of a patch-swapped pair have opposite orientations everywhere (like their globally coherent parent stimuli). However, the two stimuli appear globally similar, a patchwork of opposite orientations. We find that all stimulus pairs are robustly decodable, demonstrating that fMRI orientation decoding does not require globally coherent orientation stimuli. Furthermore, decoding remained robust after spatial high-pass filtering for all stimuli, showing that fine-grained components of the fMRI patterns reflect visual orientations. Consistent with previous studies, we found evidence for global radial and vertical preference maps in V1. However, these were weak or absent for patch-swapped stimuli, suggesting that global preference maps depend on globally coherent orientations and might arise through recurrent or top-down processes related to the perception of

  2. The impact of fMRI on multimodal navigation in surgery of cerebral lesions: four years clinical experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wurm, Gabriele; Schnizer, Mathilde; Fellner, Claudia

    2008-01-01

    Neuronavigation with display of intraoperative structures, instrument locations, orientation and relationships to nearby structures can increase anatomic precision while enhancing the surgeon's confidence and his/her perception of safety. Combination of neuronavigation with functional imaging provides multimodal guidance for surgery of cerebral lesions. We evaluated the impact of functional MRI (fMRI) on surgical decision making and outcome. A neuronavigational device (StealthStation (tm), Medtronic Inc.) was used as platform to merge fMRI data with anatomic images, and to implement intraoperative multimodal guidance. In a 52-month period, where 977 surgical procedures were performed with the aid of neuronavigation, 88 patients underwent image-guided procedures using multimodal guidance. Patient, surgical and outcome data of this series was prospectively collected. Evaluation of 88 procedures on cerebral lesions in complex regions where fMRI data were integrated using the navigation system demonstrated that the additional information was presented in a user-friendly way. Computer assisted fMRI integration was found to be especially helpful in planning the best approach, in assessing alternative approaches, and in defining the extent of the surgical exposure. Furthermore, the surgeons found it more effective to interpret fMRI information when shown in a navigation system as compared to the traditional display on a light board or monitor. Multimodal navigation enhanced by fMRI was judged useful for optimization of surgery of cerebral lesions, especially in and around eloquent regions by experienced neurosurgeons. (orig.)

  3. Sex differences in itch perception and modulation by distraction--an FMRI pilot study in healthy volunteers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Astrid Stumpf

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Even though itch is a common syndrome of many diseases there is only little knowledge about sex and gender differences in pruritus, especially in central itch perception and modulation. To our knowledge, this is the first fMRI study examining sex differences in perception and its modulation by distraction. METHODS: Experimental itch was induced by application of histamine (0.1 mM via microdialysis fibers twice at the left forearm and twice at the left lower leg in 33 healthy volunteers (17 females, 16 males. The brain activation patterns were assessed by fMRI during itch without and with distraction (Stroop task. Between the various conditions, subjects were asked to rate itch intensity, desire to scratch and pain intensity. In a second experiment in 10 of the 33 volunteers histamine was replaced by saline solution to serve as control for the 'Stroop' condition. RESULTS: Women generally presented higher itch intensities compared to men during itch over the course of the experiment. A more specific analysis revealed higher itch intensities and desire to scratch in women during experimental induced itch that can be reduced by distraction at the lower legs when itch is followed by 'Stroop'. In contrast, men depicted significant reduction of 'itch' by 'Stroop' at the forearms. Women depicted higher brain activation of structures responsible for integration of sensory, affective information and motor integration/planning during 'itch' and 'Stroop' condition when compared to men. No sex differences were seen in the saline control condition. CONCLUSION: Women and men exhibited localisation dependent differences in their itch perception with women presenting higher itch intensities and desire to scratch. Our findings parallel clinical observations of women reporting higher itch intensities depending on itch localisation and suffering more from itch as compared to men.

  4. Brain fMRI study of crave induced by cue pictures in online game addicts (male adolescents).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yueji; Ying, Huang; Seetohul, Ravi M; Xuemei, Wang; Ya, Zheng; Qian, Li; Guoqing, Xu; Ye, Sun

    2012-08-01

    To study crave-related cerebral regions induced by game figure cues in online game addicts. fMRI brain imaging was done when the subjects were shown picture cues of the WoW (World of Warcraft, Version: 4.1.014250) game. 10 male addicts of WoW were selected as addicts' group, and 10 other healthy male non-addicts who were matched by age, were used as non-game addicts' group. All volunteers participated in fMRI paradigms. WoW associated cue pictures and neutral pictures were shown. We examined functional cerebral regions activated by the pictures with 3.0 T Philips MRI. The imaging signals' database was analyzed by SPM5. The correlation between game craving scores and different image results were assessed. When the game addicts watch the pictures, some brain areas show increased signal activity namely: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporal cortex, cerebellum, right inferior parietal lobule, right cuneus, right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, left caudate nucleus. But in these same brain regions we did not observe remarkable activities in the control group. Differential image signal densities of the addict group were subtracted from the health control group, results of which were expressed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobe and inferior temporal gyrus, cerebellum, right insular and the right angular gyrus. The increased imaging signal densities were significant and positively correlated with the craving scale scores in the bilateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and right inferior parietal lobe. Craving of online game addicts was successfully induced by game cue pictures. Crave related brain areas are: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and right inferior parietal lobe. The brain regions are overlapped with cognitive and emotion related processing brain areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Clinical fMRI of language function in aphasic patients: Reading paradigm successful, while word generation paradigm fails

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engstroem, Maria; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Ragnehed, Mattias; Lundberg, Peter; Karlsson, Marie; Crone, Marie; Antepohl, Wolfram

    2010-01-01

    Background: In fMRI examinations, it is very important to select appropriate paradigms assessing the brain function of interest. In addition, the patients' ability to perform the required cognitive tasks during fMRI must be taken into account. Purpose: To evaluate two language paradigms, word generation and sentence reading for their usefulness in examinations of aphasic patients and to make suggestions for improvements of clinical fMRI. Material and Methods: Five patients with aphasia after stroke or trauma sequelae were examined by fMRI. The patients' language ability was screened by neurolinguistic tests and elementary pre-fMRI language tests. Results: The sentence-reading paradigm succeeded to elicit adequate language-related activation in perilesional areas whereas the word generation paradigm failed. These findings were consistent with results on the behavioral tests in that all patients showed very poor performance in phonemic fluency, but scored well above mean at a reading comprehension task. Conclusion: The sentence-reading paradigm is appropriate to assess language function in this patient group, while the word-generation paradigm seems to be inadequate. In addition, it is crucial to use elementary pre-fMRI language tests to guide the fMRI paradigm decision.

  6. Basis Expansion Approaches for Regularized Sequential Dictionary Learning Algorithms With Enforced Sparsity for fMRI Data Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seghouane, Abd-Krim; Iqbal, Asif

    2017-09-01

    Sequential dictionary learning algorithms have been successfully applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis. fMRI data sets are, however, structured data matrices with the notions of temporal smoothness in the column direction. This prior information, which can be converted into a constraint of smoothness on the learned dictionary atoms, has seldomly been included in classical dictionary learning algorithms when applied to fMRI data analysis. In this paper, we tackle this problem by proposing two new sequential dictionary learning algorithms dedicated to fMRI data analysis by accounting for this prior information. These algorithms differ from the existing ones in their dictionary update stage. The steps of this stage are derived as a variant of the power method for computing the SVD. The proposed algorithms generate regularized dictionary atoms via the solution of a left regularized rank-one matrix approximation problem where temporal smoothness is enforced via regularization through basis expansion and sparse basis expansion in the dictionary update stage. Applications on synthetic data experiments and real fMRI data sets illustrating the performance of the proposed algorithms are provided.

  7. Clinical fMRI of language function in aphasic patients: Reading paradigm successful, while word generation paradigm fails

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engstroem, Maria; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Ragnehed, Mattias; Lundberg, Peter (Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden)), e-mail: maria.engstrom@liu.se; Karlsson, Marie; Crone, Marie (Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Medicine/Logopedics, Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden)); Antepohl, Wolfram (Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Medicine/Rehabilitation, Linkoeping Univ., Linkoeping (Sweden))

    2010-07-15

    Background: In fMRI examinations, it is very important to select appropriate paradigms assessing the brain function of interest. In addition, the patients' ability to perform the required cognitive tasks during fMRI must be taken into account. Purpose: To evaluate two language paradigms, word generation and sentence reading for their usefulness in examinations of aphasic patients and to make suggestions for improvements of clinical fMRI. Material and Methods: Five patients with aphasia after stroke or trauma sequelae were examined by fMRI. The patients' language ability was screened by neurolinguistic tests and elementary pre-fMRI language tests. Results: The sentence-reading paradigm succeeded to elicit adequate language-related activation in perilesional areas whereas the word generation paradigm failed. These findings were consistent with results on the behavioral tests in that all patients showed very poor performance in phonemic fluency, but scored well above mean at a reading comprehension task. Conclusion: The sentence-reading paradigm is appropriate to assess language function in this patient group, while the word-generation paradigm seems to be inadequate. In addition, it is crucial to use elementary pre-fMRI language tests to guide the fMRI paradigm decision.

  8. Classification of autistic individuals and controls using cross-task characterization of fMRI activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillaume Chanel

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA has been applied successfully to task-based and resting-based fMRI recordings to investigate which neural markers distinguish individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD from controls. While most studies have focused on brain connectivity during resting state episodes and regions of interest approaches (ROI, a wealth of task-based fMRI datasets have been acquired in these populations in the last decade. This calls for techniques that can leverage information not only from a single dataset, but from several existing datasets that might share some common features and biomarkers. We propose a fully data-driven (voxel-based approach that we apply to two different fMRI experiments with social stimuli (faces and bodies. The method, based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs and Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE, is first trained for each experiment independently and each output is then combined to obtain a final classification output. Second, this RFE output is used to determine which voxels are most often selected for classification to generate maps of significant discriminative activity. Finally, to further explore the clinical validity of the approach, we correlate phenotypic information with obtained classifier scores. The results reveal good classification accuracy (range between 69% and 92.3%. Moreover, we were able to identify discriminative activity patterns pertaining to the social brain without relying on a priori ROI definitions. Finally, social motivation was the only dimension which correlated with classifier scores, suggesting that it is the main dimension captured by the classifiers. Altogether, we believe that the present RFE method proves to be efficient and may help identifying relevant biomarkers by taking advantage of acquired task-based fMRI datasets in psychiatric populations.

  9. Classification of autistic individuals and controls using cross-task characterization of fMRI activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chanel, Guillaume; Pichon, Swann; Conty, Laurence; Berthoz, Sylvie; Chevallier, Coralie; Grèzes, Julie

    2015-01-01

    Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) has been applied successfully to task-based and resting-based fMRI recordings to investigate which neural markers distinguish individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) from controls. While most studies have focused on brain connectivity during resting state episodes and regions of interest approaches (ROI), a wealth of task-based fMRI datasets have been acquired in these populations in the last decade. This calls for techniques that can leverage information not only from a single dataset, but from several existing datasets that might share some common features and biomarkers. We propose a fully data-driven (voxel-based) approach that we apply to two different fMRI experiments with social stimuli (faces and bodies). The method, based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE), is first trained for each experiment independently and each output is then combined to obtain a final classification output. Second, this RFE output is used to determine which voxels are most often selected for classification to generate maps of significant discriminative activity. Finally, to further explore the clinical validity of the approach, we correlate phenotypic information with obtained classifier scores. The results reveal good classification accuracy (range between 69% and 92.3%). Moreover, we were able to identify discriminative activity patterns pertaining to the social brain without relying on a priori ROI definitions. Finally, social motivation was the only dimension which correlated with classifier scores, suggesting that it is the main dimension captured by the classifiers. Altogether, we believe that the present RFE method proves to be efficient and may help identifying relevant biomarkers by taking advantage of acquired task-based fMRI datasets in psychiatric populations. PMID:26793434

  10. Ready...go: Amplitude of the FMRI signal encodes expectation of cue arrival time.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xu Cui

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available What happens when the brain awaits a signal of uncertain arrival time, as when a sprinter waits for the starting pistol? And what happens just after the starting pistol fires? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, we have discovered a novel correlate of temporal expectations in several brain regions, most prominently in the supplementary motor area (SMA. Contrary to expectations, we found little fMRI activity during the waiting period; however, a large signal appears after the "go" signal, the amplitude of which reflects learned expectations about the distribution of possible waiting times. Specifically, the amplitude of the fMRI signal appears to encode a cumulative conditional probability, also known as the cumulative hazard function. The fMRI signal loses its dependence on waiting time in a "countdown" condition in which the arrival time of the go cue is known in advance, suggesting that the signal encodes temporal probabilities rather than simply elapsed time. The dependence of the signal on temporal expectation is present in "no-go" conditions, demonstrating that the effect is not a consequence of motor output. Finally, the encoding is not dependent on modality, operating in the same manner with auditory or visual signals. This finding extends our understanding of the relationship between temporal expectancy and measurable neural signals.

  11. Assessment of Functional Characteristics of Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease Using Various Methods of Resting-State FMRI Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jungho Cha

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS FMRI has been widely used to analyze functional alterations in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI and Alzheimer’s disease (AD patients. Although many clinical studies of aMCI and AD patients using RS FMRI have been undertaken, conducting a meta-analysis has not been easy because of seed selection bias by the investigators. The purpose of our study was to investigate the functional differences in aMCI and AD patients compared with healthy subjects in a meta-analysis. Thus, a multimethod approach using regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF, fractional ALFF (fALFF, and global brain connectivity was used to investigate differences between three groups based on previously published data. According to the choice of RS FMRI approach used, the patterns of functional alteration were slightly different. Nevertheless, patients with aMCI and AD displayed consistently decreased functional characteristics with all approaches. All approaches showed that the functional characteristics in the left parahippocampal gyrus were decreased in AD patients compared with healthy subjects. Although some regions were slightly different according to the different RS FMRI approaches, patients with aMCI and AD showed a consistent pattern of decreased functional characteristics with all approaches.

  12. fMRI study of language activation in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and in individuals genetically at high risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaobo; Branch, Craig A; Ardekani, Babak A; Bertisch, Hilary; Hicks, Chindo; DeLisi, Lynn E

    2007-11-01

    Structural and functional abnormalities have been found in language-related brain regions in patients with schizophrenia. We previously reported findings pointing to differences in word processing between people with schizophrenia and individuals who are at high-risk for schizophrenia using a voxel-based (whole brain) fMRI approach. We now extend this finding to specifically examine functional activity in three language related cortical regions using a larger cohort of individuals. A visual lexical discrimination task was performed by 36 controls, 21 subjects at high genetic-risk for schizophrenia, and 20 patients with schizophrenia during blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI scanning. Activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri (Brodmann's area 44-45), bilateral inferior parietal lobe (Brodmann's area 39-40), and bilateral superior temporal gyri (Brodmann's area 22) was investigated. For all subjects, two-tailed Pearson correlations were calculated between the computed laterality index and a series of cognitive test scores determining language functioning. Regional activation in Brodmann's area 44-45 was left lateralized in normal controls, while high-risk subjects and patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder showed more bilateral activation. No significant differences among the three diagnostic groups in the other two regions of interest (Brodmann's area 22 or areas 39-40) were found. Furthermore, the apparent reasons for loss of leftward language lateralization differed between groups. In high-risk subjects, the loss of lateralization was based on reduced left hemisphere activation, while in the patient group, it was due to increased right side activation. Language ability related cognitive scores were positively correlations with the laterality indices obtained from Brodmann's areas 44-45 in the high-risk group, and with the laterality indices from Brodmann's areas 22 and 44-45 in the patient group. This study reinforces previous

  13. Applying independent component analysis to clinical FMRI at 7 t

    OpenAIRE

    Robinson, Simon Daniel; Schöpf, Veronika; Cardoso, Pedro; Geissler, Alexander; Fischmeister, Florian P S; Wurnig, Moritz; Trattnig, Siegfried; Beisteiner, Roland

    2013-01-01

    Increased BOLD sensitivity at 7 T offers the possibility to increase the reliability of fMRI, but ultra-high field is also associated with an increase in artifacts related to head motion, Nyquist ghosting, and parallel imaging reconstruction errors. In this study, the ability of independent component analysis (ICA) to separate activation from these artifacts was assessed in a 7 T study of neurological patients performing chin and hand motor tasks. ICA was able to isolate primary motor activat...

  14. Specificity of aesthetic experience for artworks: an fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia eDi Dio

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available In a previous study aimed at investigating the neural correlates of aesthetic experience in the beholder we found that observation of canonical sculptures, relative to sculptures whose proportions had been modified, produced the activation of a specific brain network. This network included various cortical areas and, most interestingly, the right anterior insula. We interpreted this latter activation as the neural signature underpinning emotion-related responses during aesthetic experience. In the present fMRI study, we investigated whether aesthetic experience for Classical sculptures has a quality of its own, distinct from that underpinning observation of real human bodies. Sculpture images and pictures of young athletes, matched to sculptures for body postures and proportions, were used as stimuli. Participants were students naïve to art criticism. Results showed a similar activation pattern for the two stimulus-categories. Direct comparisons between stimulus-categories highlighted, however, some relevant differences. Observation of sculptures, relative to real human body images, determined a greater activation of some visual areas, including fusiform gyrus, plus the right anterior insula. The opposite contrast showed a stronger activation of the superior temporal sulcus. Moreover, canonical proportion in sculpture, but not in human body images, produced a stronger activation of the right anterior insula with respect to proportion-modified images. These data show that, during observation of sculpture images, attention is more attracted by specific visual aspects of the stimulus, whereas observation of real human body images activates areas encoding biological movement. Most interestingly, sculptures elicited activations in right anterior insula, which we suggested to be crucial in hallmarking emotional responses during aesthetic experience. This pattern was poorly expressed during observation of human bodies, suggesting poverty of true

  15. Attention Network Dysfunction in Bulimia Nervosa - An fMRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jochen Seitz

    Full Text Available Recent evidence has suggested an increased rate of comorbid ADHD and subclinical attentional impairments in bulimia nervosa (BN patients. However, little is known regarding the underlying neural mechanisms of attentional functions in BN.Twenty BN patients and twenty age- and weight-matched healthy controls (HC were investigated using a modified version of the Attention Network Task (ANT in an fMRI study. This design enabled an investigation of the neural mechanisms associated with the three attention networks involved in alerting, reorienting and executive attention.The BN patients showed hyperactivation in parieto-occipital regions and reduced deactivation of default-mode-network (DMN areas during alerting compared with HCs. Posterior cingulate activation during alerting correlated with the severity of eating-disorder symptoms within the patient group. Conversely, BN patients showed hypoactivation during reorienting and executive attention in anterior cingulate regions, the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ and parahippocampus compared with HCs, which was negatively associated with global ADHD symptoms and impulsivity, respectively.Our findings demonstrate altered brain mechanisms in BN associated with all three attentional networks. Failure to deactivate the DMN and increased parieto-occipital activation required for alerting might be associated with a constant preoccupation with food or body image-related thoughts. Hypoactivation of executive control networks and TPJ might increase the likelihood of inattentive and impulsive behaviors and poor emotion regulation. Thus, dysfunction in the attentional network in BN goes beyond an altered executive attentional domain and needs to be considered in the diagnosis and treatment of BN.

  16. Attention Network Dysfunction in Bulimia Nervosa - An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahmen, Brigitte; Schulte-Rüther, Martin; Legenbauer, Tanja; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin

    2016-01-01

    Objective Recent evidence has suggested an increased rate of comorbid ADHD and subclinical attentional impairments in bulimia nervosa (BN) patients. However, little is known regarding the underlying neural mechanisms of attentional functions in BN. Method Twenty BN patients and twenty age- and weight-matched healthy controls (HC) were investigated using a modified version of the Attention Network Task (ANT) in an fMRI study. This design enabled an investigation of the neural mechanisms associated with the three attention networks involved in alerting, reorienting and executive attention. Results The BN patients showed hyperactivation in parieto-occipital regions and reduced deactivation of default-mode-network (DMN) areas during alerting compared with HCs. Posterior cingulate activation during alerting correlated with the severity of eating-disorder symptoms within the patient group. Conversely, BN patients showed hypoactivation during reorienting and executive attention in anterior cingulate regions, the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and parahippocampus compared with HCs, which was negatively associated with global ADHD symptoms and impulsivity, respectively. Discussion Our findings demonstrate altered brain mechanisms in BN associated with all three attentional networks. Failure to deactivate the DMN and increased parieto-occipital activation required for alerting might be associated with a constant preoccupation with food or body image-related thoughts. Hypoactivation of executive control networks and TPJ might increase the likelihood of inattentive and impulsive behaviors and poor emotion regulation. Thus, dysfunction in the attentional network in BN goes beyond an altered executive attentional domain and needs to be considered in the diagnosis and treatment of BN. PMID:27607439

  17. An investigation of fMRI time series stationarity during motor sequence learning foot tapping tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhei-aldin, Othman; VanSwearingen, Jessie; Karim, Helmet; Huppert, Theodore; Sparto, Patrick J; Erickson, Kirk I; Sejdić, Ervin

    2014-04-30

    Understanding complex brain networks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is of great interest to clinical and scientific communities. To utilize advanced analysis methods such as graph theory for these investigations, the stationarity of fMRI time series needs to be understood as it has important implications on the choice of appropriate approaches for the analysis of complex brain networks. In this paper, we investigated the stationarity of fMRI time series acquired from twelve healthy participants while they performed a motor (foot tapping sequence) learning task. Since prior studies have documented that learning is associated with systematic changes in brain activation, a sequence learning task is an optimal paradigm to assess the degree of non-stationarity in fMRI time-series in clinically relevant brain areas. We predicted that brain regions involved in a "learning network" would demonstrate non-stationarity and may violate assumptions associated with some advanced analysis approaches. Six blocks of learning, and six control blocks of a foot tapping sequence were performed in a fixed order. The reverse arrangement test was utilized to investigate the time series stationarity. Our analysis showed some non-stationary signals with a time varying first moment as a major source of non-stationarity. We also demonstrated a decreased number of non-stationarities in the third block as a result of priming and repetition. Most of the current literature does not examine stationarity prior to processing. The implication of our findings is that future investigations analyzing complex brain networks should utilize approaches robust to non-stationarities, as graph-theoretical approaches can be sensitive to non-stationarities present in data. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The dynamic programming high-order Dynamic Bayesian Networks learning for identifying effective connectivity in human brain from fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Shilpa; Chaudhury, Santanu; Lall, Brejesh; Roy, Prasun Kumar

    2017-06-15

    Determination of effective connectivity (EC) among brain regions using fMRI is helpful in understanding the underlying neural mechanisms. Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) are an appropriate class of probabilistic graphical temporal-models that have been used in past to model EC from fMRI, specifically order-one. High-order DBNs (HO-DBNs) have still not been explored for fMRI data. A fundamental problem faced in the structure-learning of HO-DBN is high computational-burden and low accuracy by the existing heuristic search techniques used for EC detection from fMRI. In this paper, we propose using dynamic programming (DP) principle along with integration of properties of scoring-function in a way to reduce search space for structure-learning of HO-DBNs and finally, for identifying EC from fMRI which has not been done yet to the best of our knowledge. The proposed exact search-&-score learning approach HO-DBN-DP is an extension of the technique which was originally devised for learning a BN's structure from static data (Singh and Moore, 2005). The effectiveness in structure-learning is shown on synthetic fMRI dataset. The algorithm reaches globally-optimal solution in appreciably reduced time-complexity than the static counterpart due to integration of properties. The proof of optimality is provided. The results demonstrate that HO-DBN-DP is comparably more accurate and faster than currently used structure-learning algorithms used for identifying EC from fMRI. The real data EC from HO-DBN-DP shows consistency with previous literature than the classical Granger Causality method. Hence, the DP algorithm can be employed for reliable EC estimates from experimental fMRI data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Nonvisual spatial navigation fMRI lateralizes mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in a patient with congenital blindness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toller, Gianina; Adhimoolam, Babu; Grunwald, Thomas; Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen; König, Kristina; Jokeit, Hennric

    2015-01-01

    Nonvisual spatial navigation functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may help clinicians determine memory lateralization in blind individuals with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). We report on an exceptional case of a congenitally blind woman with late-onset left MTLE undergoing presurgical memory fMRI. To activate mesial temporal structures despite the lack of visual memory, the patient was requested to recall familiar routes using nonvisual multisensory and verbal cues. Our findings demonstrate the diagnostic value of a nonvisual fMRI task to lateralize MTLE despite congenital blindness and may therefore contribute to the risk assessment for postsurgical amnesia in rare cases with refractory MTLE and accompanying congenital blindness.

  20. Short- and long-term reliability of language fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nettekoven, Charlotte; Reck, Nicola; Goldbrunner, Roland; Grefkes, Christian; Weiß Lucas, Carolin

    2018-08-01

    When using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for mapping important language functions, a high test-retest reliability is mandatory, both in basic scientific research and for clinical applications. We, therefore, systematically tested the short- and long-term reliability of fMRI in a group of healthy subjects using a picture naming task and a sparse-sampling fMRI protocol. We hypothesized that test-retest reliability might be higher for (i) speech-related motor areas than for other language areas and for (ii) the short as compared to the long intersession interval. 16 right-handed subjects (mean age: 29 years) participated in three sessions separated by 2-6 (session 1 and 2, short-term) and 21-34 days (session 1 and 3, long-term). Subjects were asked to perform the same overt picture naming task in each fMRI session (50 black-white images per session). Reliability was tested using the following measures: (i) Euclidean distances (ED) between local activation maxima and Centers of Gravity (CoGs), (ii) overlap volumes and (iii) voxel-wise intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Analyses were performed for three regions of interest which were chosen based on whole-brain group data: primary motor cortex (M1), superior temporal gyrus (STG) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Our results revealed that the activation centers were highly reliable, independent of the time interval, ROI or hemisphere with significantly smaller ED for the local activation maxima (6.45 ± 1.36 mm) as compared to the CoGs (8.03 ± 2.01 mm). In contrast, the extent of activation revealed rather low reliability values with overlaps ranging from 24% (IFG) to 56% (STG). Here, the left hemisphere showed significantly higher overlap volumes than the right hemisphere. Although mean ICCs ranged between poor (ICC0.75) were found for all ROIs. Voxel-wise reliability of the different ROIs was influenced by the intersession interval. Taken together, we could show that, despite of