Common Brain Network Research Articles

Understanding Consumer Tradeoffs Between Form and Function Through Metaconjoint and Cognitive Neuroscience Analyses

This work investigates how consumers make preference judgments when taking into account both product form and function. In prior work, where aesthetic preference is quantified using visual conjoint methods, aesthetic preference and functional preference were handled separately. Here, we introduce a new methodology, metaconjoint analysis, for testing the hypothesis that when consumers make decisions taking into account both a product's form and its function they employ a more complex decision-making strategy than when basing their decisions on form or function alone. We anticipate that this strategy will involve both analytical and emotional processes. When compared with participant ratings of form and function combinations across 28 subjects, the metaconjoint model is shown to have a correlation that was not statistically different from an additive model of form and function. However, unlike the additive model, the metaconjoint model gave additional information about how participants make tradeoffs between form and function. Next, we developed a novel paradigm using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine what parts of the brain are primarily involved with a given tradeoff between form and function. While in the scanner, study participants were asked to make decisions in trials where only form varied, where only function varied, and where both form and function varied. Results from 14 participants suggest that choices based on products that vary in both form and function involve some unique and some common brain networks as compared to choices based on form or function alone; notably, emotion-related regions are activated during these complex decisions where form and function are in conflict. These results are consistent with the inclusion of emotion in decision-making with regards to product choice and demonstrate the feasibility of using fMRI to address questions about the mental processes underlying consumer decisions. Studying preference decisions together with their accompanying neurological activity will give engineers and designers greater insight into the consumer decision-making process.

Neuroanatomical correlates of the behavioral and psychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease: A voxel-based morphometry study

Background: Self-referential processing of personality trait words is generally associated with better remembering compared to words processed in a semantic condition, an effect called self-reference effect (SRE). Previous works suggest that SRE is subserved by neural activity during encoding in several cortical areas including the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by early memory deficits and Ab deposits that predominate in the prefrontal cortex. The goal of the present study was to assess whether SREwas altered in AD and to highlight the neural basis of this effect using fMRI in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients with Ab deposits. Methods: We used an fMRI event-related self-referential paradigm in 16 patients (8 MCI and 8 AD) with a florbetapir-positive scan and 27 healthy elderly with a florbetapir-negative scan. The neural activity associated with self-reference processing compared to a semantic control condition during both encoding and retrieval was compared between groups and correlated with behavioral measures of memory and SRE. Results are reported at p 0.05; condition x group interaction p1⁄40.01). In both groups, self-related processing was associated with increased activity during encoding in a common brain network involving midline cortical structures. Memory performance correlated with selfrelated activity in the hippocampus during both encoding and retrieval in the patients. SRE score was related to MPFC activity during encoding in controls. In patients, no such relationship was found with SRE, and self-related activity during encoding was decreased in theMPFC and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) compared to controls.Conclusions:While the PCC and the hippocampus may have a more general role in self and memory processes, the positive effect of self-reference processing on memory appears to be subserved by increased activity in the MPFC. In AD patients, this effect is lost as self-reference processing does not improve memory performance, and this abnormality seems to be due to impaired MPFC activity.

Altered Resting-State Brain Activity in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Structural and functional brain changes may contribute to neural dysfunction in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, the effect of OSA on resting-state brain activity has not been established. The objective of this study was to investigate alterations in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the common brain networks in patients with OSA and their relationships with changes in gray matter volume (GMV) in the corresponding brain regions. Resting-state functional and structural MRI data were acquired from patients with OSA and healthy controls. Seven brain networks were identified by independent component analysis. The rsFC in each network was compared between groups and the GMV of brain regions with significant differences in rsFC was also compared. University hospital. Twenty-four male patients with untreated OSA and 21 matched healthy controls. N/A. OSA specifically affected the cognitive and sensorimotor-related brain networks but not the visual and auditory networks. The medial prefrontal cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) showed decreased rsFC and GMV in patients with OSA, suggesting structural and functional deficits. The right DLPFC and left precentral gyrus showed decreased rsFC and unchanged GMV, suggesting a functional deficit. The right posterior cingulate cortex demonstrated increased rsFC and unchanged GMV, suggesting functional compensation. In patients with OSA, the rsFC of the right DLPFC was negatively correlated with the apnea-hypopnea index. OSA specifically affects resting-state functional connectivity in cognitive and sensorimotor-related brain networks, which may be related to the impaired cognitive and motor functions in these patients.

Brain networks underlying mental imagery of auditory and visual information

Mental imagery is a complex cognitive process that resembles the experience of perceiving an object when this object is not physically present to the senses. It has been shown that, depending on the sensory nature of the object, mental imagery also involves correspondent sensory neural mechanisms. However, it remains unclear which areas of the brain subserve supramodal imagery processes that are independent of the object modality, and which brain areas are involved in modality-specific imagery processes. Here, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to reveal supramodal and modality-specific networks of mental imagery for auditory and visual information. A common supramodal brain network independent of imagery modality, two separate modality-specific networks for imagery of auditory and visual information, and a common deactivation network were identified. The supramodal network included brain areas related to attention, memory retrieval, motor preparation and semantic processing, as well as areas considered to be part of the default-mode network and multisensory integration areas. The modality-specific networks comprised brain areas involved in processing of respective modality-specific sensory information. Interestingly, we found that imagery of auditory information led to a relative deactivation within the modality-specific areas for visual imagery, and vice versa. In addition, mental imagery of both auditory and visual information widely suppressed the activity of primary sensory and motor areas, for example deactivation network. These findings have important implications for understanding the mechanisms that are involved in generation of mental imagery.

Analysis of Group ICA-Based Connectivity Measures from fMRI: Application to Alzheimer's Disease

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful tool for the in vivo study of the pathophysiology of brain disorders and disease. In this manuscript, we propose an analysis stream for fMRI functional connectivity data and apply it to a novel study of Alzheimer's disease. In the first stage, spatial independent component analysis is applied to group fMRI data to obtain common brain networks (spatial maps) and subject-specific mixing matrices (time courses). In the second stage, functional principal component analysis is utilized to decompose the mixing matrices into population-level eigenvectors and subject-specific loadings. Inference is performed using permutation-based exact logistic regression for matched pairs data. The method is applied to a novel fMRI study of Alzheimer's disease risk under a verbal paired associates task. We found empirical evidence of alternative ICA-based metrics of connectivity when comparing subjects evidencing mild cognitive impairment relative to carefully matched controls.

Levels of Integration in Cognitive Control and Sequence Processing in the Prefrontal Cortex

Cognitive control is necessary to flexibly act in changing environments. Sequence processing is needed in language comprehension to build the syntactic structure in sentences. Functional imaging studies suggest that sequence processing engages the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). In contrast, cognitive control processes additionally recruit bilateral rostral lateral PFC regions. The present study aimed to investigate these two types of processes in one experimental paradigm. Sequence processing was manipulated using two different sequencing rules varying in complexity. Cognitive control was varied with different cue-sets that determined the choice of a sequencing rule. Univariate analyses revealed distinct PFC regions for the two types of processing (i.e. sequence processing: left ventrolateral PFC and cognitive control processing: bilateral dorsolateral and rostral PFC). Moreover, in a common brain network (including left lateral PFC and intraparietal sulcus) no interaction between sequence and cognitive control processing was observed. In contrast, a multivariate pattern analysis revealed an interaction of sequence and cognitive control processing, such that voxels in left lateral PFC and parietal cortex showed different tuning functions for tasks involving different sequencing and cognitive control demands. These results suggest that the difference between the process of rule selection (i.e. cognitive control) and the process of rule-based sequencing (i.e. sequence processing) find their neuronal underpinnings in distinct activation patterns in lateral PFC. Moreover, the combination of rule selection and rule sequencing can shape the response of neurons in lateral PFC and parietal cortex.

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

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

Cognition–Emotion Integration in the Anterior Insular Cortex

Both cognitive and affective processes require mental resources. However, it remains unclear whether these 2 processes work in parallel or in an integrated fashion. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated their interaction using an empathy-for-pain paradigm, with simultaneous manipulation of cognitive demand of the tasks and emotional valence of the stimuli. Eighteen healthy adult participants viewed photographs showing other people's hands and feet in painful or nonpainful situations while performing tasks of low (body part judgment) and high (laterality judgment) cognitive demand. Behavioral data showed increased reaction times and error rates for painful compared with nonpainful stimuli under laterality judgment relative to body part judgment, indicating an interaction between cognitive demand and stimulus valence. Imaging analyses showed activity in bilateral anterior insula (AI) and primary somatosensory cortex (SI), but not posterior insula, for main effects of cognitive demand and stimulus valence. Importantly, cognitive demand and stimulus valence showed a significant interaction in AI, SI, and regions of the frontoparietal network. These results suggest that cognitive and emotional processes at least partially share common brain networks and that AI might serve as a key node in a brain network subserving cognition-emotion integration.

Predicting others’ actions via grasp and gaze: evidence for distinct brain networks

During social interactions, how do we predict what other people are going to do next? One view is that we use our own motor experience to simulate and predict other people's actions. For example, when we see Sally look at a coffee cup or grasp a hammer, our own motor system provides a signal that anticipates her next action. Previous research has typically examined such gaze and grasp-based simulation processes separately, and it is not known whether similar cognitive and brain systems underpin the perception of object-directed gaze and grasp. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine to what extent gaze- and grasp-perception rely on common or distinct brain networks. Using a 'peeping window' protocol, we controlled what an observed actor could see and grasp. The actor could peep through one window to see if an object was present and reach through a different window to grasp the object. However, the actor could not peep and grasp at the same time. We compared gaze and grasp conditions where an object was present with matched conditions where the object was absent. When participants observed another person gaze at an object, left anterior inferior parietal lobule (aIPL) and parietal operculum showed a greater response than when the object was absent. In contrast, when participants observed the actor grasp an object, premotor, posterior parietal, fusiform and middle occipital brain regions showed a greater response than when the object was absent. These results point towards a division in the neural substrates for different types of motor simulation. We suggest that left aIPL and parietal operculum are involved in a predictive process that signals a future hand interaction with an object based on another person's eye gaze, whereas a broader set of brain areas, including parts of the action observation network, are engaged during observation of an ongoing object-directed hand action.

Common and unique responses to dopamine agonist therapy and deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: An H215O PET study

Dopamine agonist therapy and deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) are antiparkinsonian treatments that act on a different part of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical motor circuitry, yet produce similar symptomatic improvements. The purpose of this study was to identify common and unique brain network features of these standard treatments. We analyzed images produced by H(2)(15)O positron emission tomography (PET) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) at rest. Nine patients were scanned before and after injection of apomorphine, and 11 patients were scanned while bilateral stimulators were off and while they were on. Both treatments produced common deactivations of the neocortical sensorimotor areas, including the supplementary motor area, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus, and in subcortical structures, including the putamen and cerebellum. We observed concomitant activations of the superior parietal lobule and the midbrain in the region of the substantia nigra/STN. We also detected unique, treatment-specific changes with possible motor-related consequences in the basal ganglia, thalamus, neocortical sensorimotor cortex, and posterolateral cerebellum. Unique changes in nonmotor regions may reflect treatment-specific effects on verbal fluency and limbic functions. Many of the common effects of these treatments are consistent with the standard pathophysiologic model of PD. However, the common effects in the cerebellum are not readily explained by the model. Consistent deactivation of the cerebellum is interesting in light of recent reports of synaptic pathways directly connecting the cerebellum and basal ganglia, and may warrant further consideration for incorporation into the model.

Intention Processing in Communication: A Common Brain Network for Language and Gestures

Human communicative competence is based on the ability to process a specific class of mental states, namely, communicative intention. The present fMRI study aims to analyze whether intention processing in communication is affected by the expressive means through which a communicative intention is conveyed, that is, the linguistic or extralinguistic gestural means. Combined factorial and conjunction analyses were used to test two sets of predictions: first, that a common brain network is recruited for the comprehension of communicative intentions independently of the modality through which they are conveyed; second, that additional brain areas are specifically recruited depending on the communicative modality used, reflecting distinct sensorimotor gateways. Our results clearly showed that a common neural network is engaged in communicative intention processing independently of the modality used. This network includes the precuneus, the left and right posterior STS and TPJ, and the medial pFC. Additional brain areas outside those involved in intention processing are specifically engaged by the particular communicative modality, that is, a peri-sylvian language network for the linguistic modality and a sensorimotor network for the extralinguistic modality. Thus, common representation of communicative intention may be accessed by modality-specific gateways, which are distinct for linguistic versus extralinguistic expressive means. Taken together, our results indicate that the information acquired by different communicative modalities is equivalent from a mental processing standpoint, in particular, at the point at which the actor's communicative intention has to be reconstructed.

Myelin integrity mediates age-related slowing in cognitive processing speed in a sample of healthy elderly men

concerned the subiculum (r1⁄4 0.64; p< 10-5), a slighter effectwas found for CA1 (r 1⁄4 0.36; p 1⁄4 0.004), whereas the other subfields were spared (r 1⁄4 0.02; p 1⁄4 0.90). Subicular volume positively correlated to WM density in the posterior CC, the cingulum bundle and the fornix (Figure b). This association was still significant when controlling for age. No significant correlation was found for CA1 nor the Other subfields. Conclusions: We showed that with aging, WM undergoes extensive changes encompassing frontal but also limbic areas. Besides, WM density in limbic areas is correlated to the shrinkage of the subiculum, the major hippocampal output sending fibres through the fornix and to the retrosplenial cortex. It is thus likely that age-related alterations in the subiculum and in these WM tracts are related, and together participate to the impairment of a common brain network.

Mental Imagery for Full and Upper Human Bodies: Common Right Hemisphere Activations and Distinct Extrastriate Activations

The processing of human bodies is important in social life and for the recognition of another person's actions, moods, and intentions. Recent neuroimaging studies on mental imagery of human body parts suggest that the left hemisphere is dominant in body processing. However, studies on mental imagery of full human bodies reported stronger right hemisphere or bilateral activations. Here, we measured functional magnetic resonance imaging during mental imagery of bilateral partial (upper) and full bodies. Results show that, independently of whether a full or upper body is processed, the right hemisphere (temporo-parietal cortex, anterior parietal cortex, premotor cortex, bilateral superior parietal cortex) is mainly involved in mental imagery of full or partial human bodies. However, distinct activations were found in extrastriate cortex for partial bodies (right fusiform face area) and full bodies (left extrastriate body area). We propose that a common brain network, mainly on the right side, is involved in the mental imagery of human bodies, while two distinct brain areas in extrastriate cortex code for mental imagery of full and upper bodies.

Dyspnea and pain share emotion-related brain network

The early detection of stimuli signalling threat to an organism is a crucial evolutionary advantage. For example, the perception of aversive bodily sensations such as dyspnea and pain strongly motivates fast adaptive behaviour to ensure survival. Their similarly threatening and motivating characters led to the speculation that both sensations are mediated by common brain areas, which has also been suggested by neuroimaging studies on either dyspnea or pain. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we formally tested this hypothesis and compared the cortical processing of perceived heat pain and resistive load induced dyspnea in the same group of participants. Here we show that the perception of both aversive sensations is processed in similar brain areas including the insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and medial thalamus. These areas have a documented role in the processing of emotions such as fear and anxiety. Thus, the current study highlights the role of a common emotion-related human brain network which underlies the perception of aversive bodily sensations such as dyspnea and pain. This network seems crucial for translating the threatening character of different bodily signals into behavioural consequences that promote survival.

Placebo conditioning and placebo analgesia modulate a common brain network during pain anticipation and perception

The neural mechanisms whereby placebo conditioning leads to placebo analgesia remain unclear. In this study we aimed to identify the brain structures activated during placebo conditioning and subsequent placebo analgesia. We induced placebo analgesia by associating a sham treatment with pain reduction and used fMRI to measure brain activity associated with three stages of the placebo response: before, during and after the sham treatment, while participants anticipated and experienced brief laser pain. In the control session participants were explicitly told that the treatment was inactive. The sham treatment group reported a significant reduction in pain rating (p=0.012). Anticipatory brain activity was modulated during placebo conditioning in a fronto-cingulate network involving the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), medial frontal cortex and the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC). Identical areas were modulated during anticipation in the placebo analgesia phase with the addition of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, during altered pain experience only aMCC, post-central gyrus and posterior cingulate demonstrated altered activity. The common frontal cortical areas modulated during anticipation in both the placebo conditioning and placebo analgesia phases have previously been implicated in placebo analgesia. Our results suggest that the main effect of placebo arises from the reduction of anticipation of pain during placebo conditioning that is subsequently maintained during placebo analgesia.

Common and distinct brain networks underlying explicit emotional evaluation: a meta-analytic study

Brain mechanisms underlying explicit evaluation of emotion have been explored using different tasks including 'stimulus-focused evaluation', 'evaluation of one's own emotion' and 'evaluation of others' emotions'. Yet the extent to which similar brain mechanisms underlie different evaluation tasks is unclear. A meta-analysis of published neuroimaging studies of explicit emotional evaluation was conducted to examine common and distinct regions underlying these different evaluation tasks. This study revealed regions common to all three tasks: The amygdala and LPFC as common regions may be involved in emotion-cognition interactions, and the DMPFC may possibly play integrative roles in explicit emotional evaluation. Distinct regions were also identified: (i) the sensory cortex and VLPFC were specifically associated with 'stimulus evaluation', possibly involved in perceptual and conceptual processing; (ii) the insula and rACC were specifically associated with 'evaluation of one's own emotion', potentially associated with interoceptive and experiential processing; and (iii) the STS and TPJ were specifically associated with 'evaluation of others' emotions', potentially reflecting their roles in TOM and empathy. These findings suggest that different types of explicit emotional evaluation may involve common and distinct networks and provide new insights on multiple mechanisms underlying explicit emotional evaluation.

Adding complexity to emotion-cognition interactions: the stressed individual

Adding complexity to emotion-cognition interactions: the stressed individual

Hand and Mouth: Cortical Correlates of Lexical Processing in British Sign Language and Speechreading English

Spoken languages use one set of articulators -- the vocal tract, whereas signed languages use multiple articulators, including both manual and facial actions. How sensitive are the cortical circuits for language processing to the particular articulators that are observed? This question can only be addressed with participants who use both speech and a signed language. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the processing of speechreading and sign processing in deaf native signers of British Sign Language (BSL) who were also proficient speechreaders. The following questions were addressed: To what extent do these different language types rely on a common brain network? To what extent do the patterns of activation differ? How are these networks affected by the articulators that languages use? Common peri-sylvian regions were activated both for speechreading English words and for BSL signs. Distinctive activation was also observed reflecting the language form. Speechreading elicited greater activation in the left mid-superior temporal cortex than BSL, whereas BSL processing generated greater activation at the temporo-parieto-occipital junction in both hemispheres. We probed this distinction further within BSL, where manual signs can be accompanied by different types of mouth action. BSL signs with speech-like mouth actions showed greater superior temporal activation, whereas signs made with non-speech-like mouth actions showed more activation in posterior and inferior temporal regions. Distinct regions within the temporal cortex are not only differentially sensitive to perception of the distinctive articulators for speech and for sign but also show sensitivity to the different articulators within the (signed) language.

I learned from what you did: Retrieving visuomotor associations learned by observation

Observational learning allows individuals to acquire knowledge without incurring in the costs and risks of discovering and testing. The neural mechanisms mediating the retrieval of rules learned by observation are currently unknown. To explore this fundamental cognitive ability, we compared the brain responses when retrieving visuomotor associations learned either by observation or by individual learning. To do so, we asked eleven adults to learn two sets of arbitrary visuomotor associations: one set was learned through the observation of an expert actor while the other was learned by trial and error. During fMRI scanning, subjects were requested to retrieve the visuomotor associations previously learned under the two modalities. The conjunction analysis between the two learning conditions revealed a common brain network that included the ventral and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortices, the superior parietal lobe and the pre-SMA. This suggests the existence of a mirror-like system responsible for the storage of rules learned either by trial and error or by observation of others' actions. In addition, the pars triangularis in the right prefrontal cortex (BA45) was found to be selective for rules learned by observation. This suggests a preferential role of this area in the storage of rules learned in a social context.

A common brain network modulates pain anticipation during placebo conditioning and placebo analgesia

A common brain network modulates pain anticipation during placebo conditioning and placebo analgesia