fMRI Investigation Research Articles

Neural Correlates of Decisions in Quasi-Realistic, Affective Social Interactions in Individuals With Violence-Related Socialization.

Appropriate social behavior in aggressive-provocative interactions is a prerequisite for a peaceful life. In previous research, the dysfunctions of the control of aggression were suggested to be modulated by enhanced bottom-up (sub-cortically driven) and reduced top-down (iso-cortical frontal) processing capability. In the present study, two groups of individuals with enhanced (EG) and normal (NG) experiences of violent acts during their socialization made binary behavioral decisions in quasi-realistic social interactions. These interactions were presented in short video clips taken from a first-person perspective. The video clips showed social interaction scenarios oriented on realistic everyday life situations. The behavioral data supported the distinct affective qualities of three categories of social interactions. These categories were labeled as aggressive–provocative, social–positive, and neutral–social interactions. Functional neuroimaging data showed extended activation patterns and higher signal intensity for the NG compared to the EG in the lateral inferior frontal brain regions for the aggressive provocative interactions. Furthermore, the peri-aqueductal gray (PAG) produced enhanced activations for the affective interaction scenarios (i.e., aggressive-provocative and social-positive) in both groups and as a trend with the medium effect size for the neutral interactions in the EG. As the individuals in the EG did not show open aggression during the functional MRIA (fMRI) investigation, we concluded that they applied individual self-control strategies to regulate their aggressive impulses immediately. These strategies appeared to be top-down regulated through the dorsal frontal brain areas. The predominant recruitment of the heteromodal cortices during the neural processing of complex social interactions pointed to the important role of the learning history of individuals and their socialization with differing levels of violent experiences as crucial modulators in convicts. Our data suggest that building or strengthening the association between prototypical social contexts (e.g., aggressive-provocative interactions) and appropriate behaviors as a response to it provides a promising approach to successfully re-socialize people with a delinquent history.

Advanced MRI view into the central mechanisms of migraine

Since migraine is primarily a disorder of brain function and excitability, functional MRI (fMRI) studies represent a powerful tool to explore central nervous system correlates in migraine. In this frame, fMRI investigations fall into two main categories, specifically the event-related and the resting state ones, exploring respectively the brain activity in response to tasks and the connectivity of specific brain areas or networks at rest. The latter relays on several methodological approaches such as seed-based analysis, independent component analysis (ICA) and graph theory-based analysis.

Implicit induction of emotional control-A comparative fMRI investigation of self-control and reappraisal goal pursuit.

Implicit forms of emotion regulation are of growing interest and have been shown to be efficient in controlling emotional responses despite the fact that they operate without conscious awareness of the ongoing regulatory process and deliberate attempts to influence emotional responding. Although such forms of affective modulation are considered natural and crucial for mental health, their brain mechanisms have hardly been studied until now. Here, we employ a novel procedure and compare directly brain responses to emotional stimuli after implicitly inducing either a self-control goal or a reappraisal goal with a scrambled sentence task. Both induction methods showed robust attenuation of visual, attentional, and emotion-related brain networks. Moreover, after induction of the self-control goal we observed increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the right insula, which are involved in top-down modulation of emotional responses. Reappraisal goal induction led to weaker activation in the right dlPFC, which was localized similarly as in the self-control induction task. Our results not only confirm the effectiveness of implicit induction of affective control, but also indicate the important similarities in underlying neural mechanisms that are putatively shared with conscious forms of emotional regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dual coding of knowledge in the human brain.

How does the human brain code knowledge about the world? While disciplines such as artificial intelligence represent world knowledge based on human language, neurocognitive models of knowledge have been dominated by sensory embodiment, in which knowledge is derived from sensory/motor experience and supported by high-level sensory/motor and association cortices. The neural correlates of an alternative disembodied symbolic system had previously been difficult to establish. A recent line of studies exploring knowledge about visual properties, such as color, in visually deprived individuals converge to provide positive, compelling evidence for non-sensory, language-derived, knowledge representation in dorsal anterior temporal lobe and extended language network, in addition to the sensory-derived representations, leading to a sketch of a dual-coding knowledge neural framework.

An fMRI investigation of the intention-outcome interactions in second- and third-party punishment

Second-party punishment (SPP) and third-party punishment (TPP) are two basic forms of costly punishment that play an essential role in maintaining social orders. Despite scientific breakthroughs in understanding that costly punishment is driven by an integration of the wrongdoers' intention and the outcome of their actions, so far, few studies have compared the neurocognitive processes associated with the intention-outcome integration between SPP and TPP. Here, we combined economic exchange games measuring SPP and TPP with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the neuropsychological architectures underlying the intention-outcome integration during one-shot interactions with anonymous partners across four types of norm violations (no norm, accidental, attempted, and intentional violations). Our behavioral findings showed that third-parties punished only attempted norm violations less frequently than second-parties. Our neuroimaging findings revealed higher activities in the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) for attempted norm violations during TPP relative to SPP; more activities in these regions with less punishment frequency; and enhancement of functional connectivity of the right TPJ with the right dlPFC and dorsomedial PFC. Our findings demonstrated specific psychological and neural mechanisms of intention-outcome interactions between SPP and TPP -helping to unravel the complex neurocognitive processes of costly punishment.

An fMRI Investigation into the Effects of Ketogenic Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Cognitive Function in Elderly Adults: A Pilot Study.

Evidence suggests that oral intake of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which promote the production of ketone bodies, may improve cognitive functions in elderly people; however, the underlying brain mechanisms remain elusive. We tested the hypothesis that cognitive improvement accompanies physiological changes in the brain and reflects the use of ketone bodies as an extra energy source. To this end, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging, cerebral blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals were measured while 20 healthy elderly subjects (14 females and 6 males; mean age: 65.7 ± 3.9 years) were engaged in executive function tasks (N-back and Go-Nogo) after ingesting a single MCT meal (Ketonformula®) or placebo meal in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled design (UMIN000031539). Morphological characteristics of the brain were also examined in relation to the effects of an MCT meal. The MCT meal improved N-back task performance, and this was prominent in subjects who had reduced grey matter volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region known to promote executive functions. When the participants were dichotomized into high/low level groups of global cognitive function at baseline, the high group showed improved N-back task performance, while the low group showed improved Go-Nogo task performance. This was accompanied by decreased BOLD signals in the DLPFC, indicative of the consumption of ketone bodies as an extra energy source.

FMRI Investigation of Semantic Lexical Processing in Healthy Control and Alzheimer's Disease Subjects Using Naming Task: A Preliminary Study.

For decades, scientists have been trying to solve the problem of dementia, with no cure currently available. Semantic–lexical impairment is well established as the early critical sign of dementia, although there are still gaps in knowledge that must be investigated. In this study, we used fMRI to observe the neural activity of 31 subjects, including 16 HC (Healthy Control) and 15 AD (Alzheimer’s Disease), who participated in the naming task. The neuropsychology profile of HC (Healthy Control) and AD (Alzheimer’s Disease) are discussed in this study. The involvement of FG (Fusiform Gyrus) and IFG (Inferior Frontal Gyrus) shows dominant activation in both of the groups. We observed a decrease in neural activity in the AD group, resulting in semantic deficit problems in this preliminary study. Furthermore, ROI analysis was performed and revealed both hyperactivation and hypoactivation in the AD group. The compensatory mechanism demonstrated during the task, due to the effort required to identify an animal’s name, represents the character profile of AD.

A Multisensory fMRI Investigation of Nociceptive-Preferential Cortical Regions and Responses.

The existence of nociceptive-specific brain regions has been a controversial issue for decades. Multisensory fMRI studies, which examine fMRI activities in response to various types of sensory stimulation, could help identify nociceptive-specific brain regions, but previous studies are limited by sample size and they did not differentiate nociceptive-specific regions and nociceptive-preferential regions, which have significantly larger responses to nociceptive input. In this study, we conducted a multisensory fMRI experiment on 80 healthy participants, with the aim to determine whether there are certain brain regions that specifically or preferentially respond to nociceptive stimulation. By comparing the evoked fMRI responses across four sensory modalities, we found a series of brain regions specifically or preferentially involved in nociceptive sensory input. Particularly, we found different parts of some cortical regions, such as insula and cingulate gyrus, play different functional roles in the processing of nociceptive stimulation. Hence, this multisensory study improves our understanding of the functional integrations and segregations of the nociceptive-related regions.

Expectancy changes the self-monitoring of voice identity.

Self‐voice attribution can become difficult when voice characteristics are ambiguous, but functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations of such ambiguity are sparse. We utilized voice‐morphing (self‐other) to manipulate (un‐)certainty in self‐voice attribution in a button‐press paradigm. This allowed investigating how levels of self‐voice certainty alter brain activation in brain regions monitoring voice identity and unexpected changes in voice playback quality. FMRI results confirmed a self‐voice suppression effect in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) when self‐voice attribution was unambiguous. Although the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was more active during a self‐generated compared to a passively heard voice, the putative role of this region in detecting unexpected self‐voice changes during the action was demonstrated only when hearing the voice of another speaker and not when attribution was uncertain. Further research on the link between right aSTG and IFG is required and may establish a threshold monitoring voice identity in action. The current results have implications for a better understanding of the altered experience of self‐voice feedback in auditory verbal hallucinations.

Behavioral and neural correlates of speech motor sequence learning in stuttering and neurotypical speakers: an fMRI investigation.

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired production of coordinated articulatory movements needed for fluent speech. It is currently unknown whether these abnormal production characteristics reflect disruptions to brain mechanisms underlying the acquisition and/or execution of speech motor sequences. To dissociate learning and control processes, we used a motor sequence learning paradigm to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls. Participants intensively practiced producing pseudowords containing non-native consonant clusters (e.g., "gvasf") over two days. The behavioral results indicated that although the two experimental groups showed comparable learning trajectories, AWS performed significantly worse on the task prior to and after speech motor practice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors compared brain activity during articulation of the practiced words and a set of novel pseudowords (matched in phonetic complexity). FMRI analyses revealed no differences between AWS and controls in cortical or subcortical regions; both groups showed comparable increases in activation in left-lateralized brain areas implicated in phonological working memory and speech motor planning during production of the novel sequences compared to the practiced sequences. Moreover, activation in left-lateralized basal ganglia sites was negatively correlated with in-scanner mean disfluency in AWS. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that AWS exhibit no deficit in constructing new speech motor sequences but do show impaired execution of these sequences before and after they have been acquired and consolidated.

Stopping information search: An fMRI investigation

Facilitating information search to support decision making is one of the core purposes of information technology. In both personal and workplace environments, advances in information technology and the availability of information have enabled people to perform much more search and access much more information for decision making than ever before. Because of this abundance of information, there is an increasing need to develop an improved understanding of how people stop search, since information available for most decisions is now almost infinite. Our goal in this paper is to further our understanding of information search and stopping, and we do so by examining the neurocorrelates of stopping information search. This is a process that involves both stopping the search and the decision to stop the search. We asked subjects to search for information about consumer products and to stop when they believed they had enough information to make a subsequent decision about whether to purchase those products while in a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) chamber. Brain activation patterns revealed an extensive distributed network of areas that are engaged in the decision to stop searching for information that are not engaged in search itself, suggesting that stopping is a complex and cognitively demanding neurological activity. Implications for theory, particularly information overconsumption, and for IT design are discussed.

A simultaneous [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of striatal dopamine binding in autism

The social motivation hypothesis of autism posits that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired motivation to seek out social experience early in life that interferes with the development of social functioning. This framework suggests that impaired mesolimbic dopamine function underlies compromised responses to social rewards in ASD. Although this hypothesis is supported by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, no molecular imaging study has evaluated striatal dopamine functioning in response to rewards in ASD. Here, we examined striatal functioning during monetary incentive processing in ASD and controls using simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET) and fMRI. Using a bolus + infusion protocol with the D2/D3 dopamine receptor antagonist [11C]raclopride, voxel-wise binding potential (BPND) was compared between groups (controls = 12, ASD = 10) in the striatum. Striatal clusters showing significant between-group BPND differences were used as seeds in whole-brain fMRI general functional connectivity analyses. Relative to controls, the ASD group demonstrated decreased phasic dopamine release to incentives in the bilateral putamen and left caudate, as well as increased functional connectivity between a PET-derived right putamen seed and the precuneus and insula. Within the ASD group, decreased phasic dopamine release in the putamen was related to poorer theory-of-mind skills. Our findings that ASD is characterized by impaired striatal phasic dopamine release to incentives provide support for the social motivation hypothesis of autism. PET-fMRI may be a suitable tool to evaluate novel ASD therapeutics targeting the striatal dopamine system.

Enjoyment of watching pimple popping videos: An fMRI investigation

BackgroundMillions of people enjoy watching videos of pimple treatments. The underlying neural mechanisms of this enjoyment have not been investigated so far. MethodWe administered a total of 96 video clips from three categories: Pimple Popping (PP), Water Fountains (WF), and Steam Cleaning (SC). The PP videos showed a pimple or blackhead that was opened to squeeze out the pus or sebum. The female participants (mean age: 24 years) were assigned to one of two groups: females who reported to enjoy watching PP (PPE_high; n = 38) and those with little enjoyment (PPE_low; n = 42). We analyzed brain activity in regions of interest (ROI) involved in the encoding of pleasure and aversion (e.g., nucleus accumbens (NAc), insula). ResultsThe PPE_high group showed less deactivation of the NAc (ROI finding), more frontopolar activation (whole-brain finding), and stronger accumbens-insula coupling than the PPE_low group. ConclusionsA specific pattern of brain activity and connectivity that involves the NAc and insula (coding of aversion/pleasure) and the frontopolar region (prediction of outcomes of motor decisions) is associated with the enjoyment of PP videos.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of prefrontal cortex deep transcranial magnetic stimulation efficacy in adults with attention deficit/hyperactive disorder: A double blind, randomized clinical trial

ADHD is one of the most prevalent neurocognitive disorders. Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation tool that holds promise in treatment of neurocognitive disorders. Hypoactivity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been observed in ADHD. This study examined the clinical, cognitive, and neural effects of dTMS to the PFC in adults with ADHD by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). High frequency repetitive dTMS was applied to either the right or left PFC in 62 adults with ADHD in a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled protocol with 3 study groups: 2 treatment arms (rPFC, or lPFC) and a Sham arm. The study included 15 dTMS/cognitive training treatment sessions. Clinical effects were assessed with the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS) self-report and the Clinical Global Impression score (CGI) as primary outcome measures. Self-report/observer questionnaires and computerized cognitive testing were also performed to assess clinical and cognitive effects. Neural effects were assessed with fMRI using working-memory (WM) and resting-state paradigms. While the study did not show improvement in the primary endpoints, significant improvements were observed in the CAARS (self-report) inattention/memory sub-scale, as well as increased activations in the rDLPFC, right parietal-cortex and right insula/IFG during WM conditions after treatment in the right stimulation group. Increased rDLPFC activation was associated with larger symptom improvement in the right stimulation group. This study indicates that dTMS is effective in modulating attention related brain networks, and is a feasible technique that may improve attention symptoms in adults with ADHD.

The effect of feedback valence and source on perception and metacognition: An fMRI investigation

ABSTRACT Receiving feedback from our environment that informs us about the outcomes of our actions helps us assess our abilities (e.g., metacognition) and to flexibly adapt our behavior, consequently increasing our chances of success. However, a detailed examination of the effect of feedback on the brain activation during perceptual and confidence judgments as well as the interrelations between perceptual accuracy, prospective and retrospective confidence remains unclear. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural response to feedback valence and source in visual contrast discrimination together with prospective confidence judgments at the beginning of each block and retrospective confidence judgments after every decision. Positive feedback was associated with higher activation (or lower deactivation depending on the area) in areas previously involved in attention, performance monitoring and visual regions during the perceptual judgment than during the confidence judgment. Changes in prospective confidence were positively related to changes in perceptual accuracy as well as to the corresponding retrospective confidence. Thus, feedback information impacted multiple, qualitatively different brain processing states, and we also revealed the dynamic interplay between prospective, perceptual accuracy and retrospective self-assessment.

An fMRI investigation of neural activation predicting memory formation in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with physical anomalies, growth restriction, and a range of neurobehavioral deficits. Although declarative memory impairment has been documented extensively in individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), this cognitive process has been examined in only one functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, and mechanisms underlying this impairment are not well understood. We used an event-related fMRI design to examine neural activations during visual scene encoding that predict subsequent scene memory in 51 right-handed children (age range = 10–14 years, M = 11.3, SD = 1.3) whose mothers had been recruited and interviewed prospectively about their alcohol use during pregnancy. Following examination by expert dysmorphologists, children were assigned to one of three FASD diagnostic groups: FAS/PFAS (nFAS = 7; nPFAS = 4), nonsyndromal heavily exposed (HE; n = 14), and Controls (n = 26). Subsequent memory was assessed in a post-scan recognition test, and subsequent memory activations were examined by contrasting activations during encoding of scenes that were subsequently remembered (hits) to those for incorrectly judged as ‘new’ (misses). Recognition accuracy did not differ between groups. Pooled across groups, we observed extensive bilateral subsequent memory effects in regions including the hippocampal formation, posterior parietal cortex, and occipital cortex—a pattern consistent with previous similar studies of typically developing children. Critically, in the group of children with FAS or PFAS, we observed activations in several additional regions compared to HE and Control groups. Given the absence of between-group differences in recognition accuracy, these data suggest that in achieving similar memory compared to children in the HE and Control groups, children with FAS and PFAS recruit more extensive neural resources to achieve successful memory formation.

Does Cue Focality Modulate Age-related Performance in Prospective Memory? An fMRI Investigation

Does Cue Focality Modulate Age-related Performance in Prospective Memory? An fMRI Investigation

Does Cue Focality Modulate Age-related Performance in Prospective Memory? An fMRI Investigation

ABSTRACT How prospective memory (PM) weakens with increasing age has been largely debated. We hypothesized that automatic and strategic PM processes, respectively mediated by focal and non-focal cues, are differently affected by aging, even starting from 50–60 years of age. We investigated this issue using a 2 × 2 design in which focal and non-focal experimental conditions were created by varying the conjoint nature of the ongoing task (lexical decision vs. syllable matching tasks) and the PM cue (words vs. syllables). In the whole-brain analysis we found that the left inferior frontal gyrus and the middle cingulate cortex were more activated when young compared to older individuals performed a PM task; moreover, the anterior cingulate cortex was selectively activated during non-focal PM when the cues were words. In a region-of-interest analysis we observed that the medial and the lateral portions of the rostral prefrontal cortex were associated with the focal and non-focal conditions respectively, more in young than in older adults. Our findings provide evidence in support of early age-related differences in automatic/strategic PM functioning.

Supplemental Material for Implicit Induction of Emotional Control—A Comparative fMRI Investigation of Self-Control and Reappraisal Goal Pursuit

Supplemental Material for Implicit Induction of Emotional Control—A Comparative fMRI Investigation of Self-Control and Reappraisal Goal Pursuit

Lateralized effects of post-learning transcranial direct current stimulation on motor memory consolidation in older adults: An fMRI investigation

Previous research has consistently demonstrated that older adults have difficulties transforming recently learned movements into robust, long-lasting memories (i.e., motor memory consolidation). One potential avenue to enhance consolidation in older individuals is the administration of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to task-relevant brain regions after initial learning. Although this approach has shown promise, the underlying cerebral correlates have yet to be revealed. Moreover, it is unknown whether the effects of tDCS are lateralized, an open question with implications for rehabilitative approaches following predominantly unilateral neurological injuries. In this research, healthy older adults completed a sequential motor task before and 6 h after receiving anodal or sham stimulation to right or left primary motor cortex (M1) while functional magnetic resonance images were acquired. Unexpectedly, anodal stimulation to right M1 following left-hand sequence learning significantly hindered consolidation as compared to a sham control, whereas no differences were observed with left M1 stimulation following right-hand learning. Impaired performance following right M1 stimulation was paralleled by sustained engagement of regions known to be critical for early learning stages, including the caudate nucleus and the premotor and parietal cortices. Thus, post-learning tDCS in older adults not only exerts heterogenous effects across the two hemispheres but can also disrupt ongoing memory processing.