Activity In Sensory Cortex Research Articles

TMS-induced neural noise in sensory cortex interferes with short-term memory storage in prefrontal cortex

In a previous study, Harris et al. (2002) found disruption of vibrotactile short-term memory after applying single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to primary somatosensory cortex (SI) early in the maintenance period, and suggested that this demonstrated a role for SI in vibrotactile memory storage. While such a role is compatible with recent suggestions that sensory cortex is the storage substrate for working memory, it stands in contrast to a relatively large body of evidence from human EEG and single-cell recording in primates that instead points to prefrontal cortex as the storage substrate for vibrotactile memory. In the present study, we use computational methods to demonstrate how Harris et al.'s results can be reproduced by TMS-induced activity in sensory cortex and subsequent feedforward interference with memory traces stored in prefrontal cortex, thereby reconciling discordant findings in the tactile memory literature.

Dopamine-Modulated Recurrent Corticoefferent Feedback in Primary Sensory Cortex Promotes Detection of Behaviorally Relevant Stimuli

Dopaminergic neurotransmission in primary auditory cortex (AI) has been shown to be involved in learning and memory functions. Moreover, dopaminergic projections and D1/D5 receptor distributions display a layer-dependent organization, suggesting specific functions in the cortical circuitry. However, the circuit effects of dopaminergic neurotransmission in sensory cortex and their possible roles in perception, learning, and memory are largely unknown. Here, we investigated layer-specific circuit effects of dopaminergic neuromodulation using current source density (CSD) analysis in AI of Mongolian gerbils. Pharmacological stimulation of D1/D5 receptors increased auditory-evoked synaptic currents in infragranular layers, prolonging local thalamocortical input via positive feedback between infragranular output and granular input. Subsequently, dopamine promoted sustained cortical activation by prolonged recruitment of long-range corticocortical networks. A detailed circuit analysis combining layer-specific intracortical microstimulation (ICMS), CSD analysis, and pharmacological cortical silencing revealed that cross-laminar feedback enhanced by dopamine relied on a positive, fast-acting recurrent corticoefferent loop, most likely relayed via local thalamic circuits. Behavioral signal detection analysis further showed that activation of corticoefferent output by infragranular ICMS, which mimicked auditory activation under dopaminergic influence, was most effective in eliciting a behaviorally detectable signal. Our results show that D1/D5-mediated dopaminergic modulation in sensory cortex regulates positive recurrent corticoefferent feedback, which enhances states of high, persistent activity in sensory cortex evoked by behaviorally relevant stimuli. In boosting horizontal network interactions, this potentially promotes the readout of task-related information from cortical synapses and improves behavioral stimulus detection.

Relative & Cumulative efficacy of Auditory & Visual Imagery on Upper Limb Functional Activity among Chronic Stroke Patients

Introduction: Stroke is a very limiting disease for the patient and a major health problem in most parts of the world. Activity limitations of the upper extremity are a common finding for individuals living with the effects of stroke, with its prevalence reported between 33% and 95% of this population. This study aims to explore whether imagery involves the activation of primary sensory cortices and to determine the therapeutic effectiveness and benefits of mental imagery training for arm function in chronic stroke patients.

Auditory responses and stimulus-specific adaptation in rat auditory cortex are preserved across NREM and REM sleep.

Sleep entails a disconnection from the external environment. By and large, sensory stimuli do not trigger behavioral responses and are not consciously perceived as they usually are in wakefulness. Traditionally, sleep disconnection was ascribed to a thalamic "gate," which would prevent signal propagation along ascending sensory pathways to primary cortical areas. Here, we compared single-unit and LFP responses in core auditory cortex as freely moving rats spontaneously switched between wakefulness and sleep states. Despite robust differences in baseline neuronal activity, both the selectivity and the magnitude of auditory-evoked responses were comparable across wakefulness, Nonrapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (pairwise differences <8% between states). The processing of deviant tones was also compared in sleep and wakefulness using an oddball paradigm. Robust stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) was observed following the onset of repetitive tones, and the strength of SSA effects (13-20%) was comparable across vigilance states. Thus, responses in core auditory cortex are preserved across sleep states, suggesting that evoked activity in primary sensory cortices is driven by external physical stimuli with little modulation by vigilance state. We suggest that sensory disconnection during sleep occurs at a stage later than primary sensory areas.

Conscious Awareness in Patients in Vegetative States: Myth or Reality?

Do vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) patients experience emotions and have conscious awareness of themselves and their surroundings? Can neuroimaging clarify these questions? Neuroimaging responses to stimuli are classified into four levels: level 0 indicates no response; level 1 indicates responses limited to the primary sensory cortices; level 2 indicates activation of primary sensory cortices and higher-order associative areas; level 3 indicates activation of cortical regions to either mental imagery tasks or high-level language stimuli requiring distinction of ambiguous from unambiguous words. Level 0 or level 1 was noted in 125 of 193 VS patients (65 %) and 46 of 121 MCS patients (38 %), suggesting no evidence of conscious awareness. Level 2 or level 3 was observed in 68 of 193 VS patients (35 %) and 75 of 121 MCS patients (62 %), indicating some cognitive processing. These data may denote the presence of conscious awareness or may simply identify neuronal processing without phenomenological awareness. The pro and cons of these conflicting interpretations are discussed.

Abnormal MEG oscillatory activity during visual processing in the prefrontal cortices and frontal eye-fields of the aging HIV brain.

Shortly after infection, HIV enters the brain and causes widespread inflammation and neuronal damage, which ultimately leads to neuropsychological impairments. Despite a large body of neuroscience and imaging studies, the pathophysiology of these HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remains unresolved. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown greater activation in HIV-infected patients during strenuous tasks in frontal and parietal cortices, and less activation in the primary sensory cortices during rest and sensory stimulation. High-density magnetoencephalography (MEG) was utilized to evaluate the basic neurophysiology underlying attentive, visual processing in older HIV-infected adults and a matched non-infected control group. Unlike other neuroimaging methods, MEG is a direct measure of neural activity that is not tied to brain metabolism or hemodynamic responses. During MEG, participants fixated on a centrally-presented crosshair while intermittent visual stimulation appeared in their top-right visual-field quadrant. All MEG data was imaged in the time-frequency domain using beamforming. Uninfected controls had increased neuronal synchronization in the 6-12 Hz range within the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right frontal eye-fields, and the posterior cingulate. Conversely, HIV-infected patients exhibited decreased synchrony in these same neural regions, and the magnitude of these decreases was correlated with neuropsychological performance in several cortical association regions. MEG-based imaging holds potential as a noninvasive biomarker for HIV-related neuronal dysfunction, and may help identify patients who have or may develop HAND. Reduced synchronization of neural populations in the association cortices was strongly linked to cognitive dysfunction, and likely reflects the impact of HIV on neuronal and neuropsychological health.

Steady state responses to temporally congruent and incongruent auditory and vibrotactile amplitude modulated stimulation

Recent research suggests that multisensory integration may occur at an early phase in sensory processing and within cortical regions traditionally though to be exclusively unisensory. Evidence from perceptual and electrophysiological studies indicate that the cross modal temporal correspondence of multisensory stimuli plays a fundamental role in the cortical integration of information across separate sensory modalities. Further, oscillatory neural activity in sensory cortices may provide the principle mechanism whereby sensory information from separate modalities is integrated.In the present study we aimed to extend this prior research by using the steady-state EEG response (SSR) to examine whether variations in the cross-modality temporal correspondence of amplitude modulated auditory and vibrotactile stimulation are apparent in SSR activity to multisensory stimulation. To achieve this we varied the cross-modal congruence of modulation rate for passively and simultaneously presented amplitude modulated auditory and vibrotactile stimuli. In order to maximise the SSR response in both modalities 21 and 40Hz modulation rates were selected. Consistent with prior SSR studies, the present results showed clear evidence of phase-locking for EEG frequencies corresponding to the modulation rate of auditory and vibrotactile stimulation. As also found previously, the optimal modulation rate for SSR activity differed according to the modality, being greater at 40Hz for auditory responses and greater at 21Hz for vibrotactile responses. Despite consistent and reliable changes in SSR activity with manipulations of modulation rate within modality, the present study failed to provide strong evidence of multisensory interactions in SSR activity for temporally congruent, relative to incongruent, cross modal conditions. The results are discussed in terms of the role of attention as a possible factor in reconciling inconsistencies in SSR studies of multisensory integration.

Correction: Emrich et al., Distributed Patterns of Activity in Sensory Cortex Reflect the Precision of Multiple Items Maintained in Visual Short-Term Memory

Correction: Emrich et al., Distributed Patterns of Activity in Sensory Cortex Reflect the Precision of Multiple Items Maintained in Visual Short-Term Memory

A unified selection signal for attention and reward in primary visual cortex

Stimuli associated with high rewards evoke stronger neuronal activity than stimuli associated with lower rewards in many brain regions. It is not well understood how these reward effects influence activity in sensory cortices that represent low-level stimulus features. Here, we investigated the effects of reward information in the primary visual cortex (area V1) of monkeys. We found that the reward value of a stimulus relative to the value of other stimuli is a good predictor of V1 activity. Relative value biases the competition between stimuli, just as has been shown for selective attention. The neuronal latency of this reward value effect in V1 was similar to the latency of attentional influences. Moreover, V1 neurons with a strong value effect also exhibited a strong attention effect, which implies that relative value and top-down attention engage overlapping, if not identical, neuronal selection mechanisms. Our findings demonstrate that the effects of reward value reach down to the earliest sensory processing levels of the cerebral cortex and imply that theories about the effects of reward coding and top-down attention on visual representations should be unified.

Distributed Patterns of Activity in Sensory Cortex Reflect the Precision of Multiple Items Maintained in Visual Short-Term Memory

Traditionally, load sensitivity of sustained, elevated activity has been taken as an index of storage for a limited number of items in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Recently, studies have demonstrated that the contents of a single item held in VSTM can be decoded from early visual cortex, despite the fact that these areas do not exhibit elevated, sustained activity. It is unknown, however, whether the patterns of neural activity decoded from sensory cortex change as a function of load, as one would expect from a region storing multiple representations. Here, we use multivoxel pattern analysis to examine the neural representations of VSTM in humans across multiple memory loads. In an important extension of previous findings, our results demonstrate that the contents of VSTM can be decoded from areas that exhibit a transient response to visual stimuli, but not from regions that exhibit elevated, sustained load-sensitive delay-period activity. Moreover, the neural information present in these transiently activated areas decreases significantly with increasing load, indicating load sensitivity of the patterns of activity that support VSTM maintenance. Importantly, the decrease in classification performance as a function of load is correlated with within-subject changes in mnemonic resolution. These findings indicate that distributed patterns of neural activity in putatively sensory visual cortex support the representation and precision of information in VSTM.

BOLD fMRI in infants under sedation: Comparing the impact of pentobarbital and propofol on auditory and language activation

To elucidate differences in the disruption of language network function, as measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast functional MRI (fMRI), attributable to two common sedative agents administered to infants under clinical imaging protocols. The sedatives pentobarbital (Nembutal) and Propofol, administered clinically to infants at 1 year of age, were compared with respect to BOLD activation profiles in response to passive story-listening stimulation. An intermittent event-related imaging protocol was used with which the temporal evolution of language processing resulting from this stimulation was explored. Propofol and Nembutal were found to have distinct and complementary responses to story-listening. Propofol exhibited more activation in higher processing networks with increasing response toward the end of narrative stimulus. Nembutal, in contrast, had much more robust activation of primary and secondary sensory cortices but a decreasing response over time in fronto-parietal default-mode regions. This may suggest a breakdown of top-down feedback for Propofol versus the lack of bottom-up feed-forward processing for Nembutal. Two popular sedative agents for use in children for clinical fMRI were found to induce distinct alteration of activation patterns from a language stimulus. This has ramifications for clinical fMRI of sedated infants and encourages further study to build a framework for more confident interpretation.

The neural correlates of regulating positive and negative emotions in medication-free major depression

Depressive cognitive schemas play an important role in the emergence and persistence of major depressive disorder (MDD). The current study adapted emotion regulation techniques to reflect elements of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and related psychotherapies to delineate neurocognitive abnormalities associated with modulating the negative cognitive style in MDD. Nineteen non-medicated patients with MDD and 19 matched controls reduced negative or enhanced positive feelings elicited by emotional scenes while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although both groups showed significant emotion regulation success as measured by subjective ratings of affect, the controls were significantly better at modulating both negative and positive emotion. Both groups recruited regions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when regulating negative emotions. Only in controls was this accompanied by reduced activity in sensory cortices and amygdala. Similarly, both groups showed enhanced activity in VLPFC and ventral striatum when enhancing positive affect; however, only in controls was ventral striatum activity correlated with regulation efficacy. The results suggest that depression is associated with both a reduced capacity to achieve relief from negative affect despite recruitment of ventral and dorsal prefrontal cortical regions implicated in emotion regulation, coupled with a disconnect between activity in reward-related regions and subjective positive affect.

A gate for sensory responses

Spontaneous, irregular cortical activity in sensory cortex may reflect top-down control of the representation of sensory stimuli.

Gating of Sensory Input by Spontaneous Cortical Activity

The activity of neural populations is determined not only by sensory inputs but also by internally generated patterns. During quiet wakefulness, the brain produces spontaneous firing events that can spread over large areas of cortex and have been suggested to underlie processes such as memory recall and consolidation. Here we demonstrate a different role for spontaneous activity in sensory cortex: gating of sensory inputs. We show that population activity in rat auditory cortex is composed of transient 50-100 ms packets of spiking activity that occur irregularly during silence and sustained tone stimuli, but reliably at tone onset. Population activity within these packets had broadly consistent spatiotemporal structure, but the rate and also precise relative timing of action potentials varied between stimuli. Packet frequency varied with cortical state, with desynchronized state activity consistent with superposition of multiple overlapping packets. We suggest that such packets reflect the sporadic opening of a "gate" that allows auditory cortex to broadcast a representation of external sounds to other brain regions.

Positive and negative reinforcement activate human auditory cortex.

Prior studies suggest that reward modulates neural activity in sensory cortices, but less is known about punishment. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and an auditory discrimination task, where participants had to judge the duration of frequency modulated tones. In one session correct performance resulted in financial gains at the end of the trial, in a second session incorrect performance resulted in financial loss. Incorrect performance in the rewarded as well as correct performance in the punishment condition resulted in a neutral outcome. The size of gains and losses was either low or high (10 or 50 Euro cent) depending on the direction of frequency modulation. We analyzed neural activity at the end of the trial, during reinforcement, and found increased neural activity in auditory cortex when gaining a financial reward as compared to gaining no reward and when avoiding financial loss as compared to receiving a financial loss. This was independent on the size of gains and losses. A similar pattern of neural activity for both gaining a reward and avoiding a loss was also seen in right middle temporal gyrus, bilateral insula and pre-supplemental motor area, here however neural activity was lower after correct responses compared to incorrect responses. To summarize, this study shows that the activation of sensory cortices, as previously shown for gaining a reward is also seen during avoiding a loss.

Odor mental imagery in non-experts in odors: a paradox?

In agreement with the theoretical framework stipulating that mental images arise from neural activity in early sensory cortices, the primary olfactory cortex [i.e., the piriform cortex (PC)] is activated when non-olfactory-experts try to generate odor mental images. This finding strongly contrasts with the allegation that it is typically impossible to mentally imagine odors. However, other neurophysiological or cognitive processes engaged in the endeavor of odor mental imagery such as sniffing, attention, expectation, and cross-modal interactions involve the PC and could explain this paradox. To unambiguously study the odor mental imagery, we first argued the need to investigate odor experts who have learned to specifically reactivate olfactory percepts. We then assert the necessity to explore the network dedicated to this function by considering variations in both the activity level and the connection strength of the areas belonging to this network as a function of the level of expertise of the odor experts.

Improving Visual Perception through Neurofeedback

Perception depends on the interplay of ongoing spontaneous activity and stimulus-evoked activity in sensory cortices. This raises the possibility that training ongoing spontaneous activity alone might be sufficient for enhancing perceptual sensitivity. To test this, we trained human participants to control ongoing spontaneous activity in circumscribed regions of retinotopic visual cortex using real-time functional MRI-based neurofeedback. After training, we tested participants using a new and previously untrained visual detection task that was presented at the visual field location corresponding to the trained region of visual cortex. Perceptual sensitivity was significantly enhanced only when participants who had previously learned control over ongoing activity were now exercising control and only for that region of visual cortex. Our new approach allows us to non-invasively and non-pharmacologically manipulate regionally specific brain activity and thus provide "brain training" to deliver particular perceptual enhancements.

FEF-microstimulation causes task-dependent modulation of occipital fMRI activity

Electrical microstimulation of FEF (FEF-EM) modulates neuronal activity in area V4 (Moore and Armstrong, 2003) and elicits functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activations in visual cortex in a bottom-up dependent manner (Ekstrom et al., 2008). Here we test the hypothesis that FEF-EM-induced modulations of fMRI activity are also function of task demands, which would suggest top-down dependent gating of FEF signals in early visual cortex. We scanned two monkeys performing a visually guided saccade task; a passive fixation task with a very similar visual display; and a passive fixation task without peripheral dots. We found increased effects of FEF-EM on fMRI-activity in visual cortex during saccades compared to fixation, indicating that the FEF-EM induced modulation is task-dependent. Finally, the effect of FEF-EM is mainly present in voxels which were less activated by visual stimuli in the absence of electrical stimulation. Our results show that the FEF-EM-induced pattern of activation in early visual cortex is topographically specific and more pronounced during increased task demands. These results fit with models suggesting that FEF is an important source modulating activity in early sensory cortex and that these influences can be enhanced by coincident bottom-up or top-down signals.

Local Category-Specific Gamma Band Responses in the Visual Cortex Do Not Reflect Conscious Perception

Which neural processes underlie our conscious experience? One theoretical view argues that the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) reside in local activity in sensory cortices. Accordingly, local category-specific gamma band responses in visual cortex correlate with conscious perception. However, as most studies manipulated conscious perception by altering the amount of sensory evidence, it is possible that they reflect prerequisites or consequences of consciousness rather than the actual NCC. Here we directly address this issue by developing a new experimental paradigm in which conscious perception is modulated either by sensory evidence or by previous exposure of the images while recording intracranial EEG from the higher-order visual cortex of human epilepsy patients. A clear prediction is that neural processes directly reflecting conscious perception should be present regardless of how it comes about. In contrast, we observed that although subjective reports were modulated both by sensory evidence and by previous exposure, gamma band responses solely reflected sensory evidence. This result contradicts the proposal that local gamma band responses in the higher-order visual cortex reflect conscious perception.

Saccadic Reaction Times to Audiovisual Stimuli Show Effects of Oscillatory Phase Reset

Initiating an eye movement towards a suddenly appearing visual target is faster when an accessory auditory stimulus occurs in close spatiotemporal vicinity. Such facilitation of saccadic reaction time (SRT) is well-documented, but the exact neural mechanisms underlying the crossmodal effect remain to be elucidated. From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multisensory processing. Specifically, it is assumed that the phase of an ongoing neural oscillation is shifted due to the occurrence of a sensory stimulus so that, across trials, phase values become highly consistent (phase reset). If one can identify the phase an oscillation is reset to, it is possible to predict when temporal windows of high and low excitability will occur. However, in behavioral experiments the pre-stimulus phase will be different on successive repetitions of the experimental trial, and average performance over many trials will show no signs of the modulation. Here we circumvent this problem by repeatedly presenting an auditory accessory stimulus followed by a visual target stimulus with a temporal delay varied in steps of 2 ms. Performing a discrete time series analysis on SRT as a function of the delay, we provide statistical evidence for the existence of distinct peak spectral components in the power spectrum. These frequencies, although varying across participants, fall within the beta and gamma range (20 to 40 Hz) of neural oscillatory activity observed in neurophysiological studies of multisensory integration. Some evidence for high-theta/alpha activity was found as well. Our results are consistent with the phase reset hypothesis and demonstrate that it is amenable to testing by purely psychophysical methods. Thus, any theory of multisensory processes that connects specific brain states with patterns of saccadic responses should be able to account for traces of oscillatory activity in observable behavior.