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Previously, researchers used functional MRI to identify regional brain activations associated with sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), a proposed normal phenotype trait. To further validate SPS as a behavioral entity, to characterize it anatomically, and to test the usefulness in psychology of methodologies that assess axonal properties, the present study correlated SPS proxy questionnaire scores (adjusted for neuroticism) with diffusion tensor imaging measures. Participants (n=408) from the Young Adult Human Connectome Project that are free of neurologic and psychiatric disorders were investigated. We computed mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), axial diffusivity (AD) and fractional anisotropy (FA). A voxelwise, exploratory analysis showed that MD and RD correlated positively with SPS proxy scores in the right and left subcallosal and anterior ventral cingulum bundle, and the right forceps minor of the corpus callosum (peak Cohen’s D effect size = 0.269). Further analyses showed correlations throughout the entire right and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, including the superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate and arcuate fasciculus. These prefrontal regions are generally involved in emotion, reward and social processing. FA was negatively correlated with SPS proxy scores in white matter of the right premotor/motor/somatosensory/supramarginal gyrus regions, which are associated with empathy, theory of mind, primary and secondary somatosensory processing. Region of interest (ROI) analysis, based-on previous fMRI results and Freesurfer atlas-defined areas, showed small effect sizes, (+0.151 to -0.165) in white matter of the precuneus and inferior frontal gyrus. Other ROI effects were found in regions of the dorsal and ventral visual pathways and primary auditory cortex. The results reveal that in a large, diverse group of participants axonal microarchitectural differences can be identified with SPS traits that are subtle and in the range of typical behavior. The results suggest that the heightened sensory processing in people who show SPS may be influenced by the microstructure of white matter in specific neocortical regions. Although previous fMRI studies had identified most of these general neocortical regions, the DTI results put a new focus on brain areas related to attention and cognitive flexibility, empathy, emotion and low-level sensory processing, as in the primary sensory cortex. Psychological trait characterization may benefit from diffusion tensor imaging methodology by identifying influential brain systems for traits.

Spatially remote brain regions show synchronized activity as typically revealed by correlated functional MRI (fMRI) signals. An emerging line of research has focused on the temporal fluctuations of connectivity; however, its relationships with stationary connectivity have not been clearly illustrated. We examined dynamic and stationary connectivity when the participants watched four different movie clips. We calculated point-by-point multiplication between two regional time series to estimate the time-resolved dynamic connectivity, and estimated the inter-individual consistency of the dynamic connectivity time series. Widespread consistent dynamic connectivity was observed for each movie clip, which also showed differences between the clips. For example, a cartoon movie clip, Wall-E, showed more consistent of dynamic connectivity with the posterior cingulate cortex and supramarginal gyrus, while a court drama clip, A Few Good Men, showed more consistent of dynamic connectivity with the auditory cortex and temporoparietal junction, which might suggest the involvement of specific brain processing for different movie contents. In contrast, the stationary connectivity as measured by the correlations between regional time series was highly similar among the movie clips, and showed fewer statistically significant differences. The patterns of consistent dynamic connectivity could be used to classify different movie clips with higher accuracy than the stationary connectivity and regional activity. These results support the functional significance of dynamic connectivity in reflecting functional brain changes, which could provide more functionally relevant information than stationary connectivity.

There is strong evidence for brain-related pathologies in COVID-19, some of which could be a consequence of viral neurotropism. The vast majority of brain imaging studies so far have focused on qualitative, gross pathology of moderate to severe cases, often carried out on hospitalised patients. It remains unknown however whether the impact of COVID-19 can be detected in milder cases, in a quantitative and automated manner, and whether this can reveal a possible mechanism for the spread of the disease. UK Biobank scanned over 40,000 participants before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to invite back in 2021 hundreds of previously-imaged participants for a second imaging visit. Here, we studied the effects of the disease in the brain using multimodal data from 782 participants from the UK Biobank COVID-19 re-imaging study, with 394 participants having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection between their two scans. We used structural and functional brain scans from before and after infection, to compare longitudinal brain changes between these 394 COVID-19 patients and 388 controls who were matched for age, sex, ethnicity and interval between scans. We identified significant effects of COVID-19 in the brain with a loss of grey matter in the left parahippocampal gyrus, the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the left insula. When looking over the entire cortical surface, these results extended to the anterior cingulate cortex, supramarginal gyrus and temporal pole. We further compared COVID-19 patients who had been hospitalised (n=15) with those who had not (n=379), and while results were not significant, we found comparatively similar findings to the COVID-19 vs control group comparison, with, in addition, a greater loss of grey matter in the cingulate cortex, central nucleus of the amygdala and hippocampal cornu ammonis (all |Z|>3). Our findings thus consistently relate to loss of grey matter in limbic cortical areas directly linked to the primary olfactory and gustatory system. Unlike in post hoc disease studies, the availability of pre-infection imaging data helps avoid the danger of pre-existing risk factors or clinical conditions being mis-interpreted as disease effects. Since a possible entry point of the virus to the central nervous system might be via the olfactory mucosa and the olfactory bulb, these brain imaging results might be the in vivo hallmark of the spread of the disease (or the virus itself) via olfactory and gustatory pathways.

Contains fulltext : 238957.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Becoming a parent requires new skills and frequent task switching during daily childcare. Little is known about the paternal brain during the transition to fatherhood. The present study examined intrinsic neuronal network connectivity in a group of first-time expectant and new fathers (total N = 131) using amygdala seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Furthermore, we examined the association between paternal involvement (i.e. hours spent in childcare and real-time push notifications on smartphone) and connectivity within the parental brain network in new fathers. There were no significant differences in functional connectivity between expectant and new fathers. However, results show that in new fathers, time spent in childcare was positively related to amygdala connectivity with the supramarginal gyrus, postcentral gyrus and the superior parietal lobule - all regions within the cognition/mentalizing network that have been associated with empathy and social cognition. Our results suggest that fathers' time investment in childcare is related to connectivity networks in the parental brain. 8 p.

Background Physical exercise has been proved to reduce the risk of major depression in Subthreshold depression (StD) individuals effectively, yet little is known about the spontaneous brain activity changes associated with physical exercise. Methods A total of 70 adult subjects, including 38 StD and 32 healthy control (HC) subjects, underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) before and after eight-week aerobic exercise respectively. Then, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) alterations between the two groups were quantitatively analyzed. Results Before exercise intervention, the rs-fMRI data showed increased ALFF of the right putamen in the StD group compared with HC group. After exercise intervention, there was no significant ALFF change observed between the StD and HC groups. The longitudinal ALFF differences from pre- to post- exercise intervention showed significantly decreased ALFF in the right middle and inferior occipital gyrus, right middle and inferior temporal gyrus, right fusiform gyrus (FG), while increased ALFF in the right middle cingulate, right superior parietal louble, right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) (inferior parietal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus), and bilateral precuneus in the StD group. As for HC group, the results showed that decreased ALFF in the right FG and right parahippocampus, while increased ALFF in the right precuneus, right middle cingulate, right supplementary motor area, right superior parietal lobule and right paracentral lobule in the HC group. No significant correlation between changes of ALFF and clinical scale scores in the StD group. Limitations The definitions of StD are varied in terms of different studies, the final sample size was relatively small, and the age range of the subjects in this study was narrow. Meanwhile, the exercise intervention trial was short-term. Conclusions These results further support the standpoint that physical exercise has the potential to reshape the abnormal patterns of spontaneous brain activity in adults with StD.

Background Humans can recognize the physical properties of objects by touching them, even when vision is unavailable. Tactile perception is important for humans in interacting with the environment. The triangular ridged textures are usually added to surface to improve the grip reliability of products, but the sharp edge of triangular ridge induces sharp and uncomfortable feeling. Materials and methods To study the effect of the edge shape of triangular ridged texture on brain activity, functional magnetic resonance imaging technique was used to obtain the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal of subjects during the touching of textured surfaces. Samples with sharp, round, and flat shape ridged textures were chosen as the tactile stimulus. Results The contralateral postcentral gyrus, the precentral gyrus, the inferior parietal lobule, and the supramarginal gyrus, corresponding with the functional regions of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), and the primary motor cortex (MI) were related to the perception of three shape ridged textures. The main brain activation located in the postcentral gyrus and the SI. The tactile information of three shape ridged textures was received by Brodmann area (BA) 3 of the SI, and then inputted to BA 2 of the SI, the further tactile discrimination of shape of ridged textures was involved in BA40 of the SII. The intensity, the areas, and the percent signal change (PSC) of brain activation that were evoked by different shape ridged textures were related to the geometric structures of the ridged textures. The more complex the geometric structures of texture are, the larger the intensity, the area, and the PSC in brain activation are. The negative BOLD responses of the ipsilateral sensory cortex that were evoked by the flat ridged texture indicated the ipsilateral neuronal inhibition within the sensory systems. The bilateral precuneus, the superior parietal gyrus, and the inferior parietal gyrus, corresponding with the functional areas of the SII (BA40) and the SSA(BA7), were involved in the tactile discriminate of the differences in shapes of ridged textures. The differences in brain activation were related to the differences in geometric structures of the ridged texture. The larger the differences in geometric structure of texture are, the larger the differences in brain activation are. This study revealed the activated location of brain related to the tactile stimulation of different edge shape of ridged textures and the relationship between the geometric structures of ridged texture and brain activities. This research contributes to optimize surface tactile characteristics on products, especially effective surface textures design for good grip.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a recently identified autoimmune disorder with heterogeneous neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive manifestations. The NMDAR is a key signaling node for neurovascular coupling, the mechanism by which cerebral blood perfusion is enhanced to meet local metabolic requirements from increased neuronal activity. Therefore, anti-NMDAR encephalitis may disrupt neurovascular coupling and induce cognitive deficits. This study examined neurovascular coupling and cognitive function in anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients to identify prognostic biomarkers, reveal potential pathogenic mechanisms, and provide clues to possible therapeutic strategies. In this study, twenty-three anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients and thirty healthy controls received neuropsychological testing and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was calculated from arterial spin labeling, and regional homogeneity (ReHo) was computed from functional MRI. Pearson's correlation coefficients between CBF and ReHo were calculated to obtain neurovascular coupling. At the whole gray matter level, CBF‒ReHo coupling was reduced in patients compared to healthy controls. At the regional level, CBF‒ReHo was significantly lower among patients in the precentral gyrus, frontal gyrus, insula, cuneus, inferior parietal lobe, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, temporal gyrus, and temporal pole. Reduced CBF‒ReHo in the left superior medial frontal gyrus of patients was significantly correlated with a deficit in verbal inhibition control, and the reduced CBF‒ReHo in the left insula was significantly correlated with impaired executive function. In conclusion, anti-NMDAR encephalitis is associated with both global and regional disruptions in neurovascular coupling that may in turn lead to deficits in specific cognitive domains.

OBJECTIVES Despite the widespread use of noise reduction (NR) in modern digital hearing aids, our neurophysiological understanding of how NR affects speech-in-noise perception and why its effect is variable is limited. The current study aimed to (1) characterize the effect of NR on the neural processing of target speech and (2) seek neural determinants of individual differences in the NR effect on speech-in-noise performance, hypothesizing that an individual's own capability to inhibit background noise would inversely predict NR benefits in speech-in-noise perception. DESIGN Thirty-six adult listeners with normal hearing participated in the study. Behavioral and electroencephalographic responses were simultaneously obtained during a speech-in-noise task in which natural monosyllabic words were presented at three different signal-to-noise ratios, each with NR off and on. A within-subject analysis assessed the effect of NR on cortical evoked responses to target speech in the temporal-frontal speech and language brain regions, including supramarginal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus in the left hemisphere. In addition, an across-subject analysis related an individual's tolerance to noise, measured as the amplitude ratio of auditory-cortical responses to target speech and background noise, to their speech-in-noise performance. RESULTS At the group level, in the poorest signal-to-noise ratio condition, NR significantly increased early supramarginal gyrus activity and decreased late inferior frontal gyrus activity, indicating a switch to more immediate lexical access and less effortful cognitive processing, although no improvement in behavioral performance was found. The across-subject analysis revealed that the cortical index of individual noise tolerance significantly correlated with NR-driven changes in speech-in-noise performance. CONCLUSIONS NR can facilitate speech-in-noise processing despite no improvement in behavioral performance. Findings from the current study also indicate that people with lower noise tolerance are more likely to get more benefits from NR. Overall, results suggest that future research should take a mechanistic approach to NR outcomes and individual noise tolerance.

Objective:Evidence from adult literature shows the involvement of cortical grey matter areas of the frontoparietal lobe and the white matter bundle, the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) in motor planning. This is yet to be confirmed in children.Method:A multimodal study was designed to probe the neurostructural basis of childhood motor planning. Behavioural (motor planning), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) data were acquired from 19 boys aged 8–11 years. Motor planning was assessed using the one and two colour sequences of the octagon task. The MRI data were preprocessed and analysed using FreeSurfer 6.0. Cortical thickness and cortical surface area were extracted from the caudal middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), precentral gyrus (PcG), supramarginal gyrus (SMG), superior parietal lobe (SPL) and the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) using the Desikan–Killiany atlas. The DWI data were preprocessed and analysed using ExploreDTI 4.8.6 and the white matter tract, the SLF was reconstructed.Results:Motor planning of the two colour sequence was associated with cortical thickness of the bilateral MFG and left SFG, PcG, IPL and SPL. The right SLF was related to motor planning for the two colour sequence as well as with the left cortical thickness of the SFG.Conclusion:Altogether, morphology within frontodorsal circuity, and the white matter bundles that support communication between them, may be associated with individual differences in childhood motor planning.

Situated models of emotion hypothesize that emotions are optimized for the context at hand, but most neuroimaging approaches ignore context. For the first time, we applied Granger causality (GC) analysis to determine how an emotion is affected by a person’s cultural background and situation. Electroencephalographic recordings were obtained from mainland Chinese (CHN) and US participants as they viewed and rated fearful and neutral images displaying either social or non-social contexts. Independent component analysis and GC analysis were applied to determine the epoch of peak effect for each condition and to identify sources and sinks among brain regions of interest. We found that source–sink couplings differed across culture, situation and culture × situation. Mainland CHN participants alone showed preference for an early-onset source–sink pairing with the supramarginal gyrus as a causal source, suggesting that, relative to US participants, CHN participants more strongly prioritized a scene’s social aspects in their response to fearful scenes. Our findings suggest that the neural representation of fear indeed varies according to both culture and situation and their interaction in ways that are consistent with norms instilled by cultural background.

Purpose: The present study combined resting-state functional connectivity (FC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) to explore frontostriatal network dysfunction in unilateral acute tinnitus (AT) patients with hearing loss. Methods: The participants included 42 AT patients and 43 healthy control (HC) subjects who underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Based on the seed regions in the frontostriatal network, FC and GCA were conducted between the AT patients and HC subjects. Correlation analyses were used to examine correlations among altered FC values, GCA values, and clinical features in AT patients. Results: Compared with HCs, AT patients showed a general reduction in FC between the seed regions in the frontostriatal network and nonauditory areas, including the frontal cortices, midcingulate cortex (MCC) , supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and postcentral gyrus (PoCG) . Using the GCA algorithm, we detected abnormal effective connectivity (EC) in the inferior occipital gyrus (IOG), MCC, Cerebelum_Crus1, and PoCG. Furthermore, correlations between disrupted FC/EC and clinical characteristics, especially tinnitus distress-related characteristics, were found in AT patients. Conclusions: Our work demonstrated abnormal FC and EC between the frontostriatal network and several nonauditory regions in AT patients with hearing loss, suggesting that multiple large-scale network dysfunctions and interactions are involved in the perception of tinnitus. These findings not only enhance the current understanding of the frontostriatal network in tinnitus but also serve as a reminder of the importance of focusing on tinnitus at an early stage.

Background and purpose Magnetic resonance (MR) biomarkers are emerging for sports-related traumatic brain injury (TBI), but the effect of play time has not been characterized. Our goal was to characterize brain and inflammatory marker changes as a function of play time. Methods Nine male players (21±2 years old) from a single collegiate basketball team were included. MR imaging (MRI), MR spectroscopy, and plasma were collected pre, mid, and postseason. Game time played was calculated for each subject. Changes in brain volume, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), metabolites (normalized to total creatine, tCr), temperature, structural and functional connectivity, and inflammatory markers were quantified. Results Myo-inositol/tCr in the left frontal white matter and brain temperature in the left frontal lobe varied significantly between time points. Glutamate (Glu/tCr) in the right frontal white matter and N-acetylaspartate in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were negatively associated with minutes played. Midseason play time was associated with stronger blood-oxygen-level-dependent correlations between PCC and occipital areas, and weaker correlations between PCC and superior frontal connectivity. PCC Glu/tCr was positively associated with connectivity between the PCC and posterior supramarginal gyrus at preseason and with connectivity across time points among several right hemisphere regions. Volume, DTI, and inflammatory markers did not vary significantly. Conclusion Given that MR parameters vary with game play time in the absence of diagnosed injury, play time should be considered as a factor in sports-related TBI research.

OBJECTIVE Given the interindividual variance of functional language anatomy, risk prediction based merely on anatomical data is insufficient in language area–related brain tumor surgery, suggesting the need for direct cortical and subcortical mapping during awake surgery. Reliable, noninvasive preoperative methods of language localization hold the potential for reducing the necessity for awake procedures and may improve patient counseling and surgical planning. Repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rnTMS) is an evolving tool for localizing language-eloquent areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of rnTMS in locating cortical language sites. METHODS Twenty-five patients with brain tumors in speech-related areas were prospectively evaluated with preoperative rnTMS (5 Hz, train of five, average 105% resting motor threshold) and navigated direct cortical stimulation (DCS; bipolar, 50 Hz, 6–8 mA, 200-μsec pulse width) during awake surgeries employing a picture-naming task. Positive and negative stimulation spots within the craniotomy were documented in the same MRI data set. TMS and DCS language-positive areas were compared with regard to their spatial overlap, their allocation in a cortical parcellation system, and their linguistic qualities. RESULTS There were over twofold more positive language spots within the exposed area on rnTMS than on DCS. The comparison of positive rnTMS and DCS (ground truth) overlaps revealed low sensitivity (35%) and low positive predictive value (16%) but high specificity (90%) and high negative predictive value (96%). Within the overlaps, there was no correlation in error quality. On DCS, 73% of language-positive spots were located in the pars opercularis and pars triangularis of the frontal operculum and 24% within the supramarginal gyrus and dorsal portion of the superior temporal gyrus, while on rnTMS language positivity was distributed more evenly over a large number of gyri. CONCLUSIONS The current protocol for rnTMS for language mapping identified language-negative sites with good dependability but was unable to reliably detect language-positive spots. Further refinements of the technique will be needed to establish rnTMS language mapping as a useful clinical tool.

BACKGROUND Adolescence is a critical period for neural development and has been associated with high rates of alcohol abuse. This research examined potential long-term brain and behavioral effects of early versus late-onset adolescent binge drinking in an adult sample of post-9/11 Veterans. METHODS We compared cortical thickness measures in Veterans with a history of binge drinking that began before the age of 15 (n = 50; mean age = 32.1 years) to those with a history of binge drinking with onset after the age of 15 (n = 300; mean age = 32.1 years). Data processing was conducted with FreeSurfer. A targeted neuropsychological battery (Digit Span test, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color-Word Interference Test, California Verbal Learning Test-II) was used to examine the relationships between cortical thickness and attention, memory, and inhibition. A reference group of social drinkers with no history of early binge drinking (n = 31) was used to provide normative data. RESULTS Early-onset adolescent binge drinkers (EBD) had greater cortical thickness in several regions than late-onset adolescent binge drinkers (LBD); both binge-drinking groups had greater cortical thickness than the reference group. There was a stronger negative association between cortical thickness and age in EBDs than LBDs in the (i) lateral orbitofrontal cortex, (ii) supramarginal gyrus, (iii) paracentral lobule, and (iv) anterior caudal cingulate. Poorer performance on the attention and inhibition tasks in the EBDs was also associated with thicker cortices. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates greater cortical thickness across frontoparietal regions in adults who began binge drinking in early versus late adolescence. A stronger negative association between cortical thickness and age in the EBDs suggests that early-onset adolescent binge drinking may be associated with accelerated cortical thinning. Thicker cortex in these regions, which are known to mediate inhibitory control, may increase impulsive behavior and contribute to the risk of alcohol addiction.

Previous studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can affect performance by decreasing regional excitability in a brain region that contributes to the task of interest. To our knowledge, no research to date has found both enhancing and diminishing effects on performance, depending upon which polarity of the current is applied. The supramarginal gyrus (SMG) is an ideal brain region for testing tDCS effects because it is easy to identify using the 10-20 electroencephalography coordinate system, and results of neuroimaging studies have implicated the left SMG in short-term memory for phonological and nonphonological sounds. In the present study, we found that applying tDCS to the left SMG affected pitch memory in a manner that depended upon the polarity of stimulation: cathodal tDCS had a negative impact on performance whereas anodal tDCS had a positive impact. These effects were significantly different from sham stimulation, which did not influence performance; they were also specific to the left hemisphere - no effect was found when applying cathodal stimulation to the right SMG - and were unique to pitch memory as opposed to memory for visual shapes. Our results provide further evidence that the left SMG is a nodal point for short-term auditory storage and demonstrate the potential of tDCS to influence cognitive performance and to causally examine hypotheses derived from neuroimaging studies.

OBJECTIVE Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) enhances vestibular sensory inputs in vestibular afferents. However, it is unclear whether noisy and conventional GVS activate different regions of the brain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in activated brain regions between those two interventions using functional MRI (fMRI). METHODS Twenty-four healthy volunteers who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria were randomly assigned to the noisy GVS or conventional GVS groups. Brain activity was measured during stimulation and compared with that during resting fMRI. This study used a blocked design comprising four task-rest blocks, each consisting of a 30-s period of vestibular stimulation followed by a 30-s period of rest. We evaluated the differences in contrast images between the noisy and conventional GVS groups. RESULTS The noisy GVS group showed significantly increased activation in the vestibular system-related brain regions, including the insula and central operculum. The conventional GVS group showed significant activity in multisensory areas, including the supramarginal gyrus, central operculum and opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Thus, the noisy GVS group showed significantly increased activity in the insula, putamen and central operculum compared with the conventional GVS group. CONCLUSIONS Noisy GVS could increase brain activity in the insular peripheral region compared to conventional GVS. Our results extend the literature about the importance of the stochastic resonance of noise addition for the vestibular system.

Creativity is an important source of success in soccer players. In order to be effective in soccer, unpredictable, sudden and at the same time creative (i.e. unique, original and effective) ideas are required in situations with high time pressure. Accordingly, creative task performance in soccer should be primarily driven by rapid and automatic cognitive processes. This study investigated if functional patterns of brain activation during the observation/encoding of real soccer game situations can predict creative soccer task performance. A machine learning approach (multivariate pattern recognition) was applied in a sample of 35 experienced male soccer players. The results revealed that brain activation during the observation of the soccer scenes significantly predicted creative soccer task performance, while brain activation during the subsequent ideation/elaboration period did not. The identified brain network included areas such as the angular gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, the occipital cortex, parts of the cerebellum and (left) supplementary motor areas, which are important for semantic information processing, memory retrieval, integration of sensory information and motor control. This finding suggests that early and presumably automatized neurocognitive processes, such as (implicit) knowledge about motor movements, and the rapid integration of information from different sources are important for creative task performance in soccer.

The aim of this manuscript is to present our intraoperative technique assessing the ability to perform music. Our protocol excludes cases where performance can be disrupted by motor deficits. The positive cortical sites (the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus) related purely to music performance are also reported. We present the case of a patient, an amateur piano player who underwent surgery for a symptomatic supratentorial cavernoma while awake with intraoperative brain mapping. This case report shows that amateur and possibly professional musicians may benefit from awake procedures. This report confirms that stimulation of the specific area of the brain can disturb the function of a large network responsible for high-level cognitive task, like music performance.

Autoscopic phenomena (AP) are characterized by seeing an image of oneself in extra-personal space. These phenomena are rare and the anatomy of brain regions producing these phenomena is not well defined. We report anatomical electroclinical correlations during a stereoelectroencephalography-recorded seizure with autoscopic hallucination (a form of AP in which the double of oneself is seen from an internal point of view). Seizure onset zone was quantified using the epileptogenicity index method (EI). Maximal EI values were obtained in the left lateral parietal cortex (supramarginal gyrus) and high values were also found in the left posterior-superior insular cortex, left temporo-occipital junction and contralateral inferior parietal lobule. Our case confirms the involvement of the inferior parietal lobule, temporo-parieto-occipital junction and posterior insula in the genesis of autoscopic hallucination.

Background Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) was recently used as a therapeutic application in patients with insomnia. Most of the previous NIBS treatments for insomnia directly selected the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as the stimulation site. As the NIBS target is an important factor in the efficacy of NIBS, it is necessary to detect more potential cortical sites for NIBS in insomnia. Methods A neuroimaging study-based meta-analysis was used to examine sleep-related brain regions. A sleep-associated brain region-based functional connectivity (FC) map was constructed in 50 patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID) without any comorbidity. We also combined the meta-analysis and FC results to examine the potential surface targets for NIBS for CID. Results The results identified the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), left superior temporal gyrus (STG), bilateral DLPFC, precentral lobule, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and middle occipital gyrus as potential brain stimulation targets for insomnia treatment. Notably, the bilateral SMA, right DLPFC and left STG were identified in the FC and meta-analyses. In addition, the SMA and DLPFC were positively and STG was negatively connected with other sleep related brain regions, which indicated inhibitory and excitatory stimulation for NIBS treatment for CID, respectively. Conclusion Our study suggests the SMA, DLPFC and STG as preferentially selected brain targets of NIBS for CID treatment. We recommend an inhibitory stimulation over SMA and DLPFC, and an excitatory stimulation over STG for NIBS treatment. Future studies should test these new targets using NIBS treatment for insomnia.

It has been proposed that the maintenance of phonological information in verbal working memory (vWM) is carried by a domain-specific short-term storage center-the phonological loop-which is composed of a phonological store and an articulatory rehearsal system. Several brain regions including the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and anterior supramarginal gyri (aSMG) are thought to support these processes. However, recent behavioral evidence suggests that verbal and non-verbal auditory information may be processed as part of a unique domain general short-term storage center instead of through specialized subsystems such as the phonological loop. In the current study, we used a single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-delayed priming paradigm with speech (syllables) and acoustically complex non-speech sounds (bird songs) to examine whether the pIFG and aSMG are involved in the processing of verbal information or, alternatively, in the processing of any complex auditory information. Our results demonstrate that TMS delivered to both regions had an effect on performance for speech and non-speech stimuli, but the nature of the effect was different. That is, priming was reduced for the speech sounds because TMS facilitated the detection of different but not identical stimuli, and accuracy was decreased for non-speech sounds. Since TMS interfered with both speech and non-speech sounds, these findings support the existence of an auditory short-term storage center located within the dorsal auditory stream.

Previous studies have suggested that resting-state functional connectivity plays a central role in the physiopathology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the individualized diagnosis of MDD based on resting-state functional connectivity is still unclear, especially in first episode drug-naive patients with MDD. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging was enrolled from 30 first episode drug-naive patients with MDD and age- and gender-matched 31 healthy controls. Whole brain functional connectivity was computed and viewed as classification features. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) was performed to discriminate patients with MDD from controls. The experimental results exhibited a correct classification rate of 82.25% (p

Due to the use of improvised explosive devices, blast exposure and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) have become hallmark injuries of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Although the mechanisms of the effects of blast on human neurobiology remain active areas of investigation, research suggests that the cerebrovasculature may be particularly vulnerable to blast via molecular processes that impact cerebral blood flow. Given that recent work suggests that blast exposure, even without a subsequent TBI, may have negative consequences on brain structure and function, the current study sought to further understand the effects of blast exposure on perfusion. One hundred and eighty military personnel underwent pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) imaging and completed diagnostic and clinical interviews. Whole-brain analyses revealed that with an increasing number of total blast exposures, there was significantly increased perfusion in the right middle/superior frontal gyri, supramarginal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex as well as bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, insulae, middle/superior temporal gyri and occipital poles. Examination of other neurotrauma and clinical variables such as close-range blast exposures, mTBI, and PTSD yielded no significant effects. These results raise the possibility that perfusion may be an important neural marker of brain health in blast exposure.

The application of resting state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) was widely performed using standard statistical tests, however, the machine learning (ML) approach has not yet been investigated in PD using RS-fMRI. In current study, we utilized the mean regional amplitude values as the features in patients with PD (n = 72) and in healthy controls (HC, n = 89). The t-test and linear support vector machine were employed to select the features and make prediction, respectively. Three frequency bins (Slow-5: 0.0107–0.0286 Hz; Slow-4: 0.0286–0.0821 Hz; conventional: 0.01–0.08 Hz) were analyzed. Our results showed that the Slow-4 may provide important information than Slow-5 in PD, and it had almost identical classification performance compared with the Combined (Slow-5 and Slow-4) and conventional frequency bands. Similar with previous neuroimaging studies in PD, the discriminative regions were mainly included the disrupted motor system, aberrant visual cortex, dysfunction of paralimbic/limbic and basal ganglia networks. The lateral parietal lobe, such as right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and supramarginal gyrus (SMG), was detected as the discriminative features exclusively in Slow-4. Our findings, at the first time, indicated that the ML approach is a promising choice for detecting abnormal regions in PD, and a multi-frequency scheme would provide us more specific information.

To reduce the escalation of intergroup conflict, it is important that we understand the processes related to the detection of group-based threat and reconciliation. In the present study, we investigated the neural mechanisms of such processes using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Functional neuroimaging techniques may shed light on quick, automatic responses to stimuli that happen outside of conscious awareness and are thus increasingly difficult to quantify relying only on participants' self-reported experiences. They may further provide invaluable insight into physiological processes occurring in situations of sensitive nature, whereby participants-deliberately or not-may withhold their honest responses due to social desirability. Non-Muslim Western Caucasian participants watched short video clips of stereotypical Middle-Eastern Muslim males threatening their ingroup, offering reconciliation to the ingroup, or making a neutral statement. Threatening statements led to increased activation in the amygdala, insula, supramarginal gyrus, and temporal lobe. Reconciliation efforts led to increased activation in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, and caudate. The results suggest that threat detection is a relatively automatic process while evaluating and responding to reconciliation offers requires more cognitive efforts. The implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.

OBJECTIVE There is much controversy about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of sleep-disordered breathing on the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between markers of sleep-related hypoxemia and brain anatomy. METHODS We used data from a large-scale cohort from the general population (n = 775, 50.6% males, age range = 45-86 years, mean age = 60.3 ± 9.9) that underwent full polysomnography and brain magnetic resonance imaging to correlate respiratory variables with regional brain volume estimates. RESULTS After adjusting for age, gender, and cardiovascular risk factors, only mean oxygen saturation during sleep was associated with bilateral volume of hippocampus (right: p = 0.001; left: p

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this preliminary study was to examine the impact of NFL play on interregional functional connectivity between two brain regions, the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and the thalamus, identified as having higher binding of [(11)C]DPA-713 in NFL players. The authors’ secondary objective was to examine the effect of years since play on the interregional connectivity. METHODS: Resting-state functional MRI was used to examine functional brain changes between regions with evidence of past injury in active or recently retired NFL players (defined as ≤12 years since NFL play) and distantly retired players (defined as >12 years since NFL play). Age-comparable individuals without a history of concussion or participation in collegiate or professional collision sports were included as a control group. RESULTS: Compared with healthy control subjects, NFL players showed a loss of anticorrelation between the left SMG and bilateral thalami (mean z score=−2.434, p=0.015). No difference was observed when examining right SMG connectivity. The pattern of connectivity in active and recently retired players mimicked the pattern observed in distantly retired players and older control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Further study of the clinical significance of this altered pattern of interregional connectivity in active and recently retired NFL players is needed.

The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals characterized by two factors: the levels of stress experienced in early life and in adulthood. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing. Hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. The interaction between early and recent stress was related to alterations during the processing of emotional expressions mainly in to the cerebellum, middle temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. For cumulative stress levels, such alterations were observed in functional connectivity to the middle temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, precuneus, precentral and postcentral gyri, anterior and posterior cingulate gyri, and Heschl’s gyrus. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.3758/s13415-020-00789-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Expectant parents’ responses to infant cry may indicate future risk and resiliency in the parent-child relationship. Most studies of parental reactivity to infant cry have focused on mothers, and few studies have focused on expectant fathers, although fathers make important contributions to parenting. Additionally, although different responses to infant cry (behavioral, psychological and neural) are hypothesized to track together, few studies have analyzed them concurrently. The current investigation aimed to address these gaps by characterizing multimodal responses to infant cry within expectant fathers and testing whether prenatal testosterone moderates these responses. Expectant fathers responded to infant cry vs frequency-matched white noise with increased activation in bilateral areas of the temporal lobe involved in processing speech sounds and social and emotional stimuli. Handgrip force, which has been used to measure parents’ reactivity to cry sounds in previous studies, did not differentiate cry from white noise within this sample. Expectant fathers with higher prenatal testosterone showed greater activation in the supramarginal gyrus, left occipital lobe and precuneus cortex to cry sounds. Expectant fathers appear to interpret and process infant cry as a meaningful speech sound and social cue, and testosterone may play a role in expectant fathers’ response to infant cry.

Significance The ability to reason about other people’s thoughts and beliefs characterizes the complex social interaction among humans. This ability, called Theory of Mind (ToM), has long been argued to develop around 4 y when children start explicitly reasoning about others' beliefs. However, when tested nonverbally, infants already show action expectations congruent with others’ beliefs before the age of 2 y. Do these behaviors reflect different systems for understanding others’ minds—an early and a later developing one—or when does ToM develop? We show that these abilities are supported by the maturation of independent brain networks, suggesting different systems for explicit verbal ToM and early nonverbal action expectations., Human social interaction crucially relies on the ability to infer what other people think. Referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), this ability has long been argued to emerge around 4 y of age when children start passing traditional verbal ToM tasks. This developmental dogma has recently been questioned by nonverbal ToM tasks passed by infants younger than 2 y of age. How do young children solve these tests, and what is their relation to the later-developing verbal ToM reasoning? Are there two different systems for nonverbal and verbal ToM, and when is the developmental onset of mature adult ToM? To address these questions, we related markers of cortical brain structure (i.e., cortical thickness and surface area) of 3- and 4-y-old children to their performance in novel nonverbal and traditional verbal TM tasks. We showed that verbal ToM reasoning was supported by cortical surface area and thickness of the precuneus and temporoparietal junction, classically involved in ToM in adults. Nonverbal ToM reasoning, in contrast, was supported by the cortical structure of a distinct and independent neural network including the supramarginal gyrus also involved in emotional and visual perspective taking, action observation, and social attention or encoding biases. This neural dissociation suggests two systems for reasoning about others’ minds—mature verbal ToM that emerges around 4 y of age, whereas nonverbal ToM tasks rely on different earlier-developing possibly social-cognitive processes.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been implicated in auditory–motor integration for accurate control of vocal production, but its precise role in this feedback-based process remains largely unknown. To this end, the present event-related potential study applied a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, continuous theta-burst stimulation (c-TBS), to disrupt cortical activity in the left DLPFC as young adults vocalized vowel sounds while hearing their voice unexpectedly shifted upwards in pitch. The results showed that, as compared to the sham condition, c-TBS over left DLPFC led to significantly larger vocal compensations for pitch perturbations that were accompanied by significantly smaller cortical P2 responses. Source localization analyses revealed that this brain activity pattern was the result of reduced activation in the left superior frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule (supramarginal gyrus). These findings demonstrate c-TBS-induced modulatory effects of DLPFC on the neurobehavioral processing of vocal pitch regulation, suggesting that disrupting prefrontal function may impair top–down inhibitory control mechanisms that prevent speech production from being excessively influenced by auditory feedback, resulting in enhanced vocal compensations for feedback perturbations. This is the first study that provides direct evidence for a causal role of the left DLPFC in auditory feedback control of vocal production.

The sense of agency is defined as the subjective experience that “I” am the one who is causing the action. Theoretical studies postulate that this subjective experience is developed through multistep processes extending from the sensorimotor to the cognitive level. However, it remains unclear how the brain processes such different levels of information and constitutes the neural substrates for the sense of agency. To answer this question, we combined two strategies: an experimental paradigm, in which self-agency gradually evolves according to sensorimotor experience, and a multivoxel pattern analysis. The combined strategies revealed that the sensorimotor, posterior parietal, anterior insula, and higher visual cortices contained information on self-other attribution during movement. In addition, we investigated whether the found regions showed a preference for self-other attribution or for sensorimotor information. As a result, the right supramarginal gyrus, a portion of the inferior parietal lobe (IPL), was found to be the most sensitive to self-other attribution among the found regions, while the bilateral precentral gyri and left IPL dominantly reflected sensorimotor information. Our results demonstrate that multiple brain regions are involved in the development of the sense of agency and that these show specific preferences for different levels of information.

Previous studies have identified the ventral and dorsal brain regions that respectively support semantic and non-semantic phonological access. Nevertheless, the specific role of the left occipitotemporal cortex (lOTC) in the two pathways of phonological access is ambiguous. To address that question, the present study compared word reading in Chinese (presumably relying on the semantic pathway) with that in English (presumably relying on the non-semantic pathway). Results revealed a clear dissociation in the involvement of the anterior and posterior lOTC in semantic and non-semantic phonological access. Specifically, the anterior lOTC showed greater activation for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior lOTC showed greater activation for English than for Chinese. More importantly, both psychophysiological interaction analysis and resting-state functional connectivity analysis showed that the anterior lOTC was functionally connected to the ventral brain regions (e.g., left anterior fusiform gyrus, anterior temporal lobe, and ventral inferior frontal gyrus), whereas the posterior lOTC was functionally connected to the dorsal brain regions (e.g., left posterior superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and dorsal inferior frontal gyrus). These results suggest that the anterior and posterior lOTC are involved in semantic and non-semantic phonological access, respectively.

Background Previous neuroimaging studies have showed that imbalanced functional integration of distributed large-scale brain networks is associated with pathophysiological characteristics of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the association between network integrative disturbances and clinical features and cognitive functions remains largely unclear in adolescent MDD. This study investigated the neural correlates of abnormal functional connectivity networks with clinical and cognitive characteristics in adolescent MDD. Methods Twenty-eight first-episode, treatment-naive adolescents with MDD and 24 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a battery of cognitive tests. A seed-based functional connectivity (FC) approach was used to depict connectivity patterns of the cognitive control network (CCN), affective network (AN) and default mode network (DMN), whose between-group differences were correlated with clinical variables and cognitive functions in the patients. Results Compared with the HCs, the MDD patients exhibited impaired executive functions. The FC analysis revealed lower CCN FC with the temporal, parietal and frontal regions and the limbic system, higher AN FC with the temporal and occipital regions and the cerebellum, and lower DMN FC with the cerebellum and insula. Interestingly, the decreased CCN FC was related to disease severity (with the inferior frontal gyrus) and executive dysfunctions (with the middle cingulate gyrus and supramarginal gyrus) in the patients. Limitations The main limitations were the relatively small sample size and suboptimal imaging parameters. Conclusion Functional alteration of CCN during the developmentally sensitive period may be important in the neurobiology of adolescent MDD.

Few studies have reported on brain functional differences between healthy individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations (Hi-AVH) with and without insight, so we designed a study to address this knowledge gap. We enrolled 12 Hi-AVH with insight, 15 Hi-AVH without insight, and 15 AVH-free controls (Healthy controls). Global functional connectivity density (gFCD) mapping was used to estimate brain networks. We found that the most common alterations in both Hi-AVH groups were increased gFCD in superior parietal lobule and superior temporal gyrus. We also found that distinct brain functional patterns of Hi-AVH without insight comprised lower gFCD in the frontal lobe oculomotor area, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supramarginal gyrus, primary auditory cortex, sensorimotor cortex, ventral anterior, and posterior cingulate Our pilot findings support the hypothesis that abnormal reciprocal action in the circuits for processing perception, memory, language, and attentional control may be pathological features of auditory verbal hallucinations.

INTRODUCTION Recent neuroimaging studies have indicated that some brain areas are involved in the sexual behavior process. Pre-mature ejaculation patients exhibit altered brain activation and abnormal cortical structures. However, there has been no research evaluating the topological organization of structural brain network in anejaculation (AE). METHODS We employed diffusion tensor imaging data and graph theory to examine the whole-brain structural networks among 16 AE patients and 23 healthy controls. In addition, the results of sexual function assessment were also obtained from each patient for symptom assessment. Moreover, the relationships between these clinical features and the altered topological characteristics of AE patients were also explored. RESULTS Decreased clustering coefficient was found in the right amygdala, inferior temporal gyrus, and left pallidum of AE. AE also showed increased path length in the right post-central gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, putamen, pallidum and left heschl gyrus, temporal pole (superior temporal gyrus); however, these altered brain regions showed no significant differences after false discovery rate correction. Moreover, the path length between subcortical and frontal regions was increased in AE. In addition, negative correlations were found between the altered nodal parameters and the amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potentials of dorsal nerve, sympathetic skin response located in the penis. CONCLUSION Together, our results suggest that AE was associated with disruptions in the topological organization of structural brain networks. The decreased clustering coefficient in temporal and subcortical regions and the increased path length between subcortical and frontal regions may contribute to AE. These findings provide new insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of AE.

Previous research in patients with psychotic disorder has shown widespread abnormalities in brain activation during reward anticipation. Research at the level of subclinical psychotic experiences in individuals unexposed to antipsychotic medication is limited with inconclusive results. Therefore, brain activation during reward anticipation was examined in a larger sample of individuals with subclinical psychotic experiences (PE). Participants in the PE-group were included based on CAPE scores. A sample of emerging adults aged 16-26 years (n = 47) with PE and healthy controls (HC) (n = 40) underwent fMRI scanning. The Monetary Incentive Delay task was conducted with cues related to win, loss or neutral conditions. fMRI nonparametric tests were used to examine the reward versus neutral cue contrast. A significant main effect of the large win ((sic)3.00) > neutral contrast was found in both groups showing activation in many brain areas, including classic reward regions. Whole brain analysis on the group comparison regarding the large win > neutral contrast showed significantly decreased activation in the right insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus in the PE-group compared to controls. There was no group difference in the hypothesized reward-related region. Decreased activation in the right insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus during reward anticipation in individuals with PE may be consistent with altered processing of sensory information, related to decreased emotional valuing and motivational tendencies and/or altered motor-cognitive processes. The absence of group differences in striatal activation suggests that activation here is intact in the earliest stages of psychosis and may exhibit progressive deterioration in as the disease develops. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Background The high recurrence of major depressive disorder (MDD) may derive from underlying state-independent structural alterations. Methods First-episode drug-naive currently depressed (cMDD) patients (N = 97), remitted depressed (RD) patients (N = 72), and healthy controls (HCs, N = 100) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Group differences in cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), and local gyrification index (lGI) were analyzed in FreeSurfer. Results Both groups of depressed patients had significantly decreased CT, relative to HCs, in the left precentral gyrus and significantly increased lGI values in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) indicative of state-independent alterations. Relative to HCs, the cMDD group had decreased CT of the SFG, caudal middle frontal gyrus (MFG), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and lateral occipital regions as well as increased SA or lGI of the superior temporal gyrus, precuneus, and pericalcarine, whereas the RD group had increased SA or lGI of the SFG, caudal MFG, and supramarginal gyrus; these alterations appeared to be state-dependent. SA or lGI values of the fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule differed between the cMDD and RD groups, consistent with state-dependent alterations. Beck depression inventory scores correlated with CT or lGI values of the caudal MFG, lateral occipital cortex in depressed patients. Limitations The structural features of several subcortical limbic regions were not analyzed. Conclusions Left precentral gyrus CT and left SFG gyrification alterations may represent state-independent alterations in MDD.

Although prediction plays an important role in language comprehension, its precise neural basis remains unclear. This fMRI study investigated whether and how semantic-category-specific and common cerebral areas are recruited in predictive semantic processing during sentence comprehension. We manipulated the semantic constraint of sentence contexts, upon which a tool-related, a building-related, or no specific category of noun is highly predictable. This noun-predictability effect was measured not only over the target nouns but also over their preceding transitive verbs. Both before and after the appearance of target nouns, left anterior supramarginal gyrus was specifically activated for tool-related nouns and left parahippocampal place area was activated specifically for building-related nouns. The semantic-category common areas included a subset of left inferior frontal gyrus during the anticipation of incoming target nouns (activity enhancement for high predictability) and included a wide spread of areas (bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left superior/middle temporal gyrus, left medial pFC, and left TPJ) during the integration of actually perceived nouns (activity reduction for high predictability). These results indicated that the human brain recruits fine divisions of cortical areas to distinguish different semantic categories of predicted words, and anticipatory semantic processing relies, at least partially, on top–down prediction conducted in higher-level cortical areas.

Understanding of emotions and intentions are key processes in social cognition at which serotonin is an important neuromodulator. Its precursor is the essential amino acid tryptophan (TRP). Reduced TRP availability leads to weaker impulse control ability and higher aggression, while TRP supplementation promotes confidence. In a double-blind placebo-controlled fMRI study with 77 healthy adults, we investigated the influence of a 4 week TRP enriched diet and an acute 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) intake on two social-cognitive tasks, a moral evaluation and an emotion recognition task. With 5-HTP, immoral behavior without negative consequences was rated as more reprehensible. Additionally, during story reading, activation in insula and supramarginal gyrus was increased after TRP intake. No significant effects of TRP on emotion recognition were identified for the whole sample. Importantly, emotion recognition ability decreased with age which was for positive emotions compensated by TRP. Since the supramarginal gyrus is associated with empathy, pain and related information integration results could be interpreted as reflecting stricter evaluation of negative behavior due to better integration of information. Improved recognition of positive emotions with TRP in older participants supports the use of a TRP-rich diet to compensate for age related decline in social-cognitive processes.

Dealing with one's emotions is a core skill in everyday life. Effective cognitive control strategies have been shown to be neurobiologically represented in prefrontal structures regulating limbic regions. In addition to cognitive strategies, mindfulness-associated methods are increasingly applied in psychotherapy. We compared the neurobiological mechanisms of these two strategies, i.e. cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness, during both the cued expectation and perception of negative and potentially negative emotional pictures. Fifty-three healthy participants were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (47 participants included in analysis). Twenty-four subjects applied mindfulness, 23 used cognitive reappraisal. On the neurofunctional level, both strategies were associated with comparable activity of the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. When expecting negative versus neutral stimuli, the mindfulness group showed stronger activations in ventro- and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, supramarginal gyrus as well as in the left insula. During the perception of negative versus neutral stimuli, the two groups only differed in an increased activity in the caudate in the cognitive group. Altogether, both strategies recruited overlapping brain regions known to be involved in emotion regulation. This result suggests that common neural circuits are involved in the emotion regulation by mindfulness-based and cognitive reappraisal strategies. Identifying differential activations being associated with the two strategies in this study might be one step towards a better understanding of differential mechanisms of change underlying frequently used psychotherapeutic interventions.

Prior neuroimaging studies of the relationship between the kidney and the brain have been limited to clinical populations and have largely relied on a single modality. We sought to examine the kidney-brain associations in healthy subjects using a combined analysis of multi-modal imaging data. Structural, diffusion, and perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed to measure cortical thickness, white matter integrity, and cerebral blood flow in 157 healthy young adults. Peripheral venous blood samples were collected to measure serum renal function indexes. Correlation analyses were performed to investigate the relations between brain MRI measures and renal function indexes. Results showed that higher serum uric acid level was associated with increased cortical thickness in the transverse temporal gyrus. We also found that decreased serum creatinine level was linked to lower white matter integrity in the sagittal stratum, anterior corona radiata, superior corona radiata, and external capsule. Furthermore, we observed that increased serum uric acid level was related to hyperperfusion in the opercular and triangular parts of inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, and hypoperfusion in the calcarine sulcus, cuneus and lingual gyrus. More importantly, mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between serum uric acid and working memory performance was mediated by perfusion in the supramarginal gyrus and lingual gyrus. These findings not only may extend current knowledge regarding the relationship between the kidney and the brain, but also may inform real-world clinical practice by identification of potential brain regions vulnerable to renal dysfunction.

Background In jargonaphasia, speech is fluent but meaningless. While neuropsychological evaluation may distinguish a neologistic component characterised by non-word production and a semantic component where pronounced words are real but speech is senseless, how this relates to the underlying white matter anatomy is debated. Objective To identify white matter pathways causally involved in jargonaphasia. Methods We retrospectively screened the intraoperative brain mapping data of 571 awake oncological resections using direct cortico-subcortical electrostimulation. Jargonaphasia was induced in 17 patients (19 sites) during a naming task. Stimulation sites were normalized to the Montreal Neurological Institute template space and used to generate individual disconnectome maps. Non-parametric voxelwise one and two sample t-tests were performed to identify the underlying white matter anatomy. Results Jargonaphasia was induced only during stimulation of the left hemisphere. No cortical stimulation generated jargonaphasia. Subcortical sites causally associated with jargonaphasia clustered in 3 regions: in the temporal lobe (middle to inferior temporal gyri; n = 12), in the parietal lobe (supramarginal gyrus; n = 3) and in the temporal stem (n = 4). Disconnectome analysis indicated the inferior-fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF) was damaged in both neologistic and semantic jargonaphasia, while the involvement of the arcuate fasciculus was specific to neologistic jargonaphasia. Conclusion For the first time, we show that jargonaphasia is induced by white matter stimulation, hinting at disconnection. As IFOF disconnection unites both variants, these may represent a continuum of disorders distinguished by semantic impairment. Conversely, damage to the arcuate fasciculus in addition to the IFOF is specific to neologistic jargonaphasia, thus suggesting a dual-disconnection syndrome.

Highlights • Volumetric abnormalities detected in the perirhinal, entorhinal memory regions. • Volumetric abnormalities detected in key additional brain regions. • Extensive clinical validation of previous Down Syndrome findings included. • Perirhinal and entorhinal involvement in Alzheimer’s etiology hypothesized., Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21 and characterized by intellectual disability. We hypothesize that performing a retrospective analysis of 73 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of participants with DS (aged 0 to 22 years) and comparing them to a large cohort of 993 brain MRI examinations of neurotypical participants (aged 0 to 32 years), will assist in better understanding what brain differences may explain phenotypic developmental features in DS, as well as to provide valuable confirmation of prospective literature findings clinically. Measurements for both absolute volumes and volumes corrected as a percentage of estimated total intracranial volume (%ETIV) were extracted from each examination. Our results presented novel findings such as volume increases (%ETIV) in the perirhinal cortex, entorhinal cortex, choroid plexus, and Brodmann’s areas (BA) 3a, 3b, and 44, as well as volume decreases (%ETIV) in the white matter of the cuneus, the paracentral lobule, the postcentral gyrus, and the supramarginal gyrus. We also confirmed volumetric brain abnormalities previously discussed in the literature. Findings suggest the presence of volumetric brain abnormalities in DS that can be detected clinically with MRI.

Stress may impact the ability to effectively regulate emotions. To study the impact of stressful experiences in early and recent life on emotion regulation, we examined the relationship between early life stress, recent stress, and brain activation during cognitive reappraisal. We investigated two regulation goals: the decrease and increase of emotional response to both negative and positive stimuli. Furthermore, two models of stress consequences were examined: the cumulative and match/mismatch models. A total of 83 participants (Mage = 21.66) took part in the study. There was an interaction between cumulative stress and stimuli valence in the cuneus, superior lateral occipital cortex, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus extending to superior temporal gyrus, and precentral gyrus extending to supplementary motor area. Interaction between mismatched stress index and stimuli valence was found in the left hippocampus, left insula extending to the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala, and in a cluster including the anterior cingulate cortex, superior frontal gyrus, and frontal pole. Furthermore, there were differences between the effects of cumulative and mismatched stress indices on brain activation during reappraisal of positive but not negative stimuli. Results indicate that cumulative stress and match/mismatch approaches are both useful for explaining brain activation during reappraisal. This finding is important for our understanding of the multifaceted impact of stress on emotion regulation.

Increasing evidence suggests that genetic factors play a key role in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). The variant rs11240572 in the PARK16 gene locus is strongly associated with PD. However, its effect on the pathogenesis of PD is yet to be clarified. The objective of the study was to explore the effect of the PARK16 rs11240572 variant on brain structure in PD patients. A total of 51 PD patients were enrolled in the study and genotyped for the rs11240572 variant. Clinical assessments and MRI scans were conducted across all participants. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate gray matter volume (GMV) of the whole brain between these two groups. Correlation analysis was performed to identify the relationships between GMV and clinical features. There were 17 rs11240572-A variant carriers and 34 non-carriers, with no significant demographic differences between these two groups. Compared with non-carriers, rs11240572-A carriers showed increased GMV in the left caudate nucleus and putamen, but decreased GMV in the left superior temporal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. In non-carriers, left basal ganglia GMV was positively correlated with UPDRS III (r = 0.365, p = 0.034) and bradykinesia (r = 0.352, p = 0.042), but negatively correlated with MMSE (r = – 0.344, p = 0.047), while in carriers negative correlation between basal ganglia GMV and MMSE was also observed (r = – 0.666, p = 0.004). Moreover, the GMV of left temporoparietal cortex was positively associated with cognitive function in both groups (carriers, r = 0.692, p = 0.002; non-carriers, r = 0.879, p

Homotopic functional connectivity reflects the degree of synchrony in spontaneous activity between homologous voxels in the two hemispheres. Previous studies have associated increased brain homotopy and decreased white matter integrity with performance decrements on different cognitive tasks across the life-span. Here, we correlated functional homotopy, both at the whole-brain level and specifically in fronto-parietal network nodes, with task-switching performance in young adults. Cue-to-target intervals (CTI: 300 vs. 1200 ms) were manipulated on a trial-by-trial basis to modulate cognitive demands and strategic control. We found that mixing costs, a measure of task-set maintenance and monitoring, were significantly correlated to homotopy in different nodes of the fronto-parietal network depending on CTI. In particular, mixing costs for short CTI trials were smaller with lower homotopy in the superior frontal gyrus, whereas mixing costs for long CTI trials were smaller with lower homotopy in the supramarginal gyrus. These results were specific to the fronto-parietal network, as similar voxel-wise analyses within a control language network did not yield significant correlations with behavior. These findings extend previous literature on the relationship between homotopy and cognitive performance to task-switching, and show a dissociable role of homotopy in different fronto-parietal nodes depending on task demands. ispartof: BRAIN STRUCTURE & FUNCTION vol:227 issue:2 pages:655-672 ispartof: location:Germany status: published

Objectives This study aimed to investigate changes in three intrinsic functional connectivity networks (IFCNs; default mode network [DMN], salience network [SN], and task‐positive network [TPN]) in individuals who had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Methods Resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) data were acquired from 27 mTBI patients with persistent postconcussive symptoms, along with 26 age‐ and sex‐matched controls. These individuals were recruited from a Level‐1 trauma center, at least 3 months after a traumatic episode. IFCNs were established based on seed‐to‐voxel, region‐of‐interest (ROI) to ROI, and independent component analyses (ICA). Subsequently, we analyzed the relationship between functional connectivity and postconcussive symptoms. Results Seed‐to‐voxel analysis of rs‐fMRI demonstrated decreased functional connectivity in the right lateral parietal lobe, part of the DMN, and increased functional connectivity in the supramarginal gyrus, part of the SN. Our TPN showed both hypo‐ and hyperconnectivity dependent on seed location. Within network hypoconnectivity was observed in the visual network also using group comparison. Using an ICA, we identified altered network functional connectivity in regions within four IFCNs (sensorimotor, visual, DMN, and dorsal attentional). A significant negative correlation between dorsal attentional network connectivity and behavioral symptoms score was also found. Conclusions Our findings indicate that rs‐fMRI may be of use clinically in order to assess disrupted functional connectivity among IFCNs in mTBI patients. Improved mTBI diagnostic and prognostic information could be especially relevant for athletes looking to safely return to play, as well for individuals from the general population with persistent postconcussive symptoms months after injury, who hope to resume activity., We found extensive functional connectivity changes in a group of mild traumatic brain injury patients who were still experiencing post‐concussive symptoms months after injury. These results suggest that resting state fMRI may help improve diagnosis, prognosis and overall management of mild traumatic brain injury in athletes as well as in the general population suffering from this prevalent, yet commonly overlooked condition.