Abstract
While task-dependent responses of specific brain areas during cognitive tasks are well established, much less is known about the changes occurring in resting state networks (RSNs) in relation to continuous cognitive processing. In particular, the functional involvement of cerebro-cerebellar loops connecting the posterior cerebellum to associative cortices, remains unclear. In this study, 22 healthy volunteers underwent a multi-session functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol composed of four consecutive 8-min resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans. After a first control scan, participants listened to a narrated story for the entire duration of the second rs-fMRI scan; two further rs-fMRI scans followed the end of story listening. The story plot was purposely designed to stimulate specific cognitive processes that are known to involve the cerebro-cerebellar loops. Almost all of the identified 15 RSNs showed changes in functional connectivity (FC) during and for several minutes after the story. The FC changes mainly occurred in the frontal and prefrontal cortices and in the posterior cerebellum, especially in Crus I-II and lobule VI. The FC changes occurred in cerebellar clusters belonging to different RSNs, including the cerebellar network (CBLN), sensory networks (lateral visual network, LVN; medial visual network, MVN) and cognitive networks (default mode network, DMN; executive control network, ECN; right and left ventral attention networks, RVAN and LVAN; salience network, SN; language network, LN; and working memory network, WMN). Interestingly, a k-means analysis of FC changes revealed clustering of FCN, ECN, and WMN, which are all involved in working memory functions, CBLN, DMN, and SN, which play a key-role in attention switching, and RSNs involved in visual imagery. These results show that the cerebellum is deeply entrained in well-structured network clusters, which reflect multiple aspects of cognitive processing, during and beyond the conclusion of auditory stimulation.
Highlights
The brain is known to operate through multiple loops forming networks consisting of spatially distributed, but functionally connected regions that continuously share information with each other
The results of independent component analysis (ICA) processing on all functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans resulted in 57 independent components, 15 of which were recognized as plausible networks based on their frequency spectra and spatial pattern (Smith et al, 2009; Castellazzi et al, 2014)
sensory motor network (SMN), lateral visual network (LVN), medial visual network (MVN), and auditory network (AN) are directly implicated in sensory processing, while default mode network (DMN), frontal cortex network (FCN), executive control network (ECN), ventral attention networks (VAN) (RVAN and LVAN), task positive network (TPN), precuneus network (PN), salience network (SN), language network (LN), and working memory network (WMN) are associated with higher cognitive functions (Papanicolaou, 2017)
Summary
The brain is known to operate through multiple loops forming networks consisting of spatially distributed, but functionally connected regions that continuously share information with each other (van den Heuvel and Hulshoff Pol, 2010). The organization and integration of processing into RSNs can be effectively investigated using independent component analysis (ICA) of T∗2-weighted fMRI time series as proposed for resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) (Fox and Raichle, 2007). Rs-fMRI is based on the assumption of temporal stationarity, in which linear correlation of BOLD signals has been used to assess FC across regions computed over the whole duration of a single-session scan (Fox and Raichle, 2007). How RSNs are recruited and operate during continuous cognitive processing under naturalistic stimulation in humans in vivo is still elusive and it is unclear whether and how long for the RSNs engagement persists after the conclusion of sensory stimulation (Hasson et al, 2009; Berns et al, 2013; Mackey et al, 2013)
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