Lateral Brain Regions Research Articles

Asymmetry of radiomics features in the white matter of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia (P6-12.005)

<h3>Objective:</h3> Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a neurological disease characterized by linguistic deficits. Semantic (svPPA) and non-fluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) variants are the two main subtypes of PPA. <h3>Background:</h3> Several studies have investigated brain morphometric changes in PPA patients documenting patterns of asymmetry in gray and white matter (WM) properties. We applied a novel radiomics framework to investigate WM asymmetry. Moreover, we examined whether WM asymmetry in specific brain regions could be associated with verbal fluency impairments. <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> Analyses were performed on 3 Tesla T1-MRI. We included 31 svPPA, 25 nfvPPA and 53 age- and sex-matched controls. Asymmetry Index (AI) was computed for 86 radiomics features in 34 WM regions. Between-group comparisons in AIs were performed using analysis of variance. Correlation analyses investigated the relationships between performance at verbal fluency tasks (semantic and phonemic) and at Boston Naming Test and AIs. <h3>Results:</h3> Relative to controls, WM asymmetry in svPPA patients involved regions adjacent to middle temporal cortex as part of the inferior longitudinal (ILF), fronto-occipital (IFOF) and superior longitudinal (SLF) fasciculi. Conversely, nfvPPA patients showed an asymmetry of WM in lateral occipital brain regions (ILF/IFOF). A higher lateralization of radiomics features involving IFOF, cingulum and forceps minor was found in nfvPPA compared to svPPA patients. Correlation analysis highlighted a positive relationship between semantic fluency and AI in WM adjacent to the lateral occipital gyrus in nfvPPA patients. Performances at Boston Naming Test were significantly associated with AI in WM regions located close to the middle temporal and parahippocampal gyri in svPPA patients. <h3>Conclusions:</h3> Radiomics depicted distinct pathways of WM asymmetry in svPPA and nfvPPA involving damage of fiber tracts associated to linguistic functions. Assessing asymmetry of radiomics in PPA allows achieving a deeper insight into the neuroanatomical damage and a possible marker to evaluate the language severity changes related to drug therapy or rehabilitation speech treatments. <b>Disclosure:</b> Dr. Tafuri has nothing to disclose. Dr. Filardi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Urso has nothing to disclose. Dr. Gnoni has nothing to disclose. Dr. DE BLASI has nothing to disclose. Dr. Nigro has nothing to disclose. Dr. Logroscino has nothing to disclose.

Evaluation of A Direct Regional Reprojection Reconstruction Method to Improve Quantitation of Amyloid and Tau PET Images using 3D Printed Phantoms

AbstractBackgroundImage reconstruction and partial volume correction (PVC) techniques designed to account for the limited spatial resolution of PET are used inconsistently in amyloid and tau PET imaging, likely due to a lack of characterization of the techniques and their unknown effect on reliability. In this study, we aimed to test the accuracy and reliability of a variety of reconstruction and image‐based correction methods using 3D‐printed PET phantoms.MethodTwo phantoms modeled on the lateral temporal brain region of two human subjects (67‐year‐old male and 69‐year‐old female, both cognitively normal) were created using 3D‐printing technology (Formlabs Form 3). The phantoms had six thin‐walled chambers corresponding to inferior, middle, and superior temporal grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM). Phantoms were scanned (Siemens Biograph mCT) multiple times as chambers were filled with F‐18 solution to mimic various distributions of activity seen in amyloid‐positive, amyloid‐negative, or tau‐positive subjects. 16 scans were completed in total. Data from each 3‐hour scan were binned into 16 statistically equivalent frames and reconstructed with three techniques: FBP, OSEM, and TrueX, a manufacturer‐supplied method including point spread function modeling (Figure 1). Two image‐based correction techniques were also applied and evaluated: Geometric Mean Transfer Matrix (GTM) PVC and a novel Direct Regional Reprojection Reconstruction (DRRR) method, an iterative algorithm that reprojects images directly into regions‐of‐interest. To evaluate accuracy, fractional error of each region (F = M/T ‐ 1, where M is the measured regional value averaged over 16 frames and T is the true regional value) was calculated. To evaluate reliability, the coefficient of variation (CV) of M over all 16 frames in each scan was assessed for every region of the phantoms.ResultFractional errors (Figure 2) and CVs (Figure 3) are shown for each reconstruction and image‐based correction method. Uncorrected TrueX fractional error was not apparently improved relative to uncorrected FBP and OSEM fractional error. For all reconstructions, GTM and DRRR improved accuracy relative to uncorrected. For the FBP and OSEM reconstructions, GTM was more accurate than DRRR, but DRRR was more reliable than GTM.ConclusionDRRR is a promising novel method for PET quantification that improves accuracy without compromising reliability.

Reorganization of the Social Brain in Individuals with Only One Intact Cerebral Hemisphere

Social cognition and emotion are ubiquitous human processes that recruit a reliable set of brain networks in healthy individuals. These brain networks typically comprise midline (e.g., medial prefrontal cortex) as well as lateral regions of the brain including homotopic regions in both hemispheres (e.g., left and right temporo-parietal junction). Yet the necessary roles of these networks, and the broader roles of the left and right cerebral hemispheres in socioemotional functioning, remains debated. Here, we investigated these questions in four rare adults whose right (three cases) or left (one case) cerebral hemisphere had been surgically removed (to a large extent) to treat epilepsy. We studied four closely matched healthy comparison participants, and also compared the patient findings to data from a previously published larger healthy comparison sample (n = 33). Participants completed standardized socioemotional and cognitive assessments to investigate social cognition. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were obtained during passive viewing of a short, animated movie that distinctively recruits two social brain networks: one engaged when thinking about other agents’ internal mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires, emotions; so-called Theory of Mind or ToM network), and the second engaged when thinking about bodily states (e.g., pain, hunger; so-called PAIN network). Behavioral assessments demonstrated remarkably intact general cognitive functioning in all individuals with hemispherectomy. Social-emotional functioning was somewhat variable in the hemispherectomy participants, but strikingly, none of these individuals had consistently impaired social-emotional processing and none of the assessment scores were consistent with a psychiatric disorder. Using inter-region correlation analyses, we also found surprisingly typical ToM and PAIN networks, as well as typical differentiation of the two networks (in the intact hemisphere of patients with either right or left hemispherectomy), based on idiosyncratic reorganization of cortical activation. The findings argue that compensatory brain networks can process social and emotional information following hemispherectomy across different age levels (from 3 months to 20 years old), and suggest that social brain networks typically distributed across midline and lateral brain regions in this domain can be reorganized, to a substantial degree.

A Representational Similarity Analysis of Cognitive Control during Color-Word Stroop.

Progress in understanding the neural bases of cognitive control has been supported by the paradigmatic color-word Stroop task, in which a target response (color name) must be selected over a more automatic, yet potentially incongruent, distractor response (word). For this paradigm, models have postulated complementary coding schemes: dorsomedial frontal cortex (DMFC) is proposed to evaluate the demand for control via incongruency-related coding, whereas dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) is proposed to implement control via goal and target-related coding. Yet, mapping these theorized schemes to measured neural activity within this task has been challenging. Here, we tested for these coding schemes relatively directly, by decomposing an event-related color-word Stroop task via representational similarity analysis. Three neural coding models were fit to the similarity structure of multivoxel patterns of human fMRI activity, acquired from 65 healthy, young-adult males and females. Incongruency coding was predominant in DMFC, whereas both target and incongruency coding were present with indistinguishable strength in DLPFC. In contrast, distractor information was strongly encoded within early visual cortex. Further, these coding schemes were differentially related to behavior: individuals with stronger DLPFC (and lateral posterior parietal cortex) target coding, but weaker DMFC incongruency coding, exhibited less behavioral Stroop interference. These results highlight the utility of the representational similarity analysis framework for investigating neural mechanisms of cognitive control and point to several promising directions to extend the Stroop paradigm.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How the human brain enables cognitive control - the ability to override behavioral habits to pursue internal goals - has been a major focus of neuroscience research. This ability has been frequently investigated by using the Stroop color-word naming task. With the Stroop as a test-bed, many theories have proposed specific neuroanatomical dissociations, in which medial and lateral frontal brain regions underlie cognitive control by encoding distinct types of information. Yet providing a direct confirmation of these claims has been challenging. Here, we demonstrate that representational similarity analysis, which estimates and models the similarity structure of brain activity patterns, can successfully establish the hypothesized functional dissociations within the Stroop task. Representational similarity analysis may provide a useful approach for investigating cognitive control mechanisms.

This Month in Anesthesiology

This Month in Anesthesiology

Direct brain recordings identify hippocampal and cortical networks that distinguish successful versus failed episodic memory retrieval

Human data collected using noninvasive imaging techniques have established the importance of parietal regions towards episodic memory retrieval, including the angular gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex. Such regions comprise part of a putative core episodic retrieval network. In free recall, comparisons between contextually appropriate and inappropriate recall events (i.e. prior list intrusions) provide the opportunity to study memory retrieval networks supporting veridical recall, and existing findings predict that differences in electrical activity in these brain regions should be identified according to the accuracy of recall. However, prior iEEG studies, utilizing principally subdural grid electrodes, have not fully characterized brain activity in parietal regions during memory retrieval and have not examined connectivity between core recollection areas and the hippocampus or prefrontal cortex. Here, we employed a data set obtained from 100 human patients implanted with stereo EEG electrodes for seizure mapping purposes as they performed a free recall task. This data set allowed us to separately analyze activity in midline versus lateral parietal brain regions, and in anterior versus posterior hippocampus, to identify areas in which retrieval-related activity predicted the recollection of a correct versus an incorrect memory. With the wide coverage afforded by the stereo EEG approach, we were also able to examine interregional connectivity. Our key findings were that differences in gamma band activity in the angular gyrus, precuneus, posterior temporal cortex, and posterior (more than anterior) hippocampus discriminated accurate versus inaccurate recall as well as active retrieval versus memory search. The left angular gyrus exhibited a significant power decrease preceding list intrusions as well as unique phase–amplitude coupling properties, whereas the prefrontal cortex was unique in exhibiting a power increase during list intrusions. Analysis of connectivity revealed significant hemispheric asymmetry, with relatively sparse left-sided functional connections compared to the right hemisphere. One exception to this finding was elevated connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and left angular gyrus. This finding is interpreted as evidence for the engagement of prefrontal cortex in memory monitoring and mnemonic decision-making.

Does Delta Connectivity Differentiate Sleep and Anesthesia?

Does Delta Connectivity Differentiate Sleep and Anesthesia?

M49. BEHAVIOURAL SOCIAL COGNITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM DISORDERS IN COMPARISON TO AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

BackgroundSchizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) both feature social cognitive deficits, which are highly debilitating. These include lower-level processes (e.g. emotion recognition), thought to be subserved by a frontoparietal mirroring network, and higher-level mentalizing processes (e.g. theory of mind), involving cortical midline and lateral temporal brain regions. Across both disorders, impairments in social cognition persist over time, drive disability, and predict functional outcome. Overlapping symptoms in SSDs and ASD have long been recognized, particularly in the realm of social deficits. However, despite some studies including both individuals with SSDs and ASD showing similar levels of social cognitive impairment, including lower-level and higher-level deficits, results are mixed. Thus, our objective was to determine based on the extant literature how deficits in social cognition diverge or overlap between individuals with SSDs and ASD by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies directly comparing these groups on behavioural social cognitive measures.MethodsLiterature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and Web of Science to identify articles that utilized behavioural measures to assess social cognition in both SSD and ASD samples. Of 3682 articles identified, 28 met all inclusion criteria. Across the accepted articles, lower-level (e.g. facial and/or context-embedded emotion recognition) and higher-level (e.g. intention understanding, perspective taking) social cognitive measures were identified, and random-effects meta-analyses were conducted for each category. A separate meta-analysis was also conducted for the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test given that it was the most commonly used social cognitive metric. Effect sizes were estimated using Hedges’ g. Homogeneity of effects and publication bias were also assessed for each meta-analysis.ResultsA significant difference in lower-level social cognitive performance was found between individuals with SSDs and ASD, with the SSD group performing better than the ASD group (Hedges’ g = 0.30, 95% CI [0.05, 0.56], p = .018). In contrast, there was no significant difference in higher-level social cognitive performance between SSD and ASD groups (Hedges’ g = -0.14, 95% CI [-0.52, 0.24], p = .46). Similarly, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test meta-analysis revealed no significant difference in effect sizes between disorders (Hedges’ g = 0.24, 95% CI [-0.07, 0.55], p = .14). Effect size distributions were significantly heterogeneous in all three cases (all p < .001).DiscussionBased on meta-analyses of the extant literature, both shared and differential social cognitive deficits may be present between individuals with SSDs and ASD. Though no differences were detected between SSD and ASD groups on higher-level social cognitive tasks or the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, lower-level social cognitive deficits were found to be more severe in individuals with ASD than SSDs. Notably, the majority of studies included in the meta-analyses had small sample sizes, and heterogeneity of effect sizes was apparent. Thus, studies including larger sample sizes and validated measures of social cognition in conjunction with other methodologies are needed to substantiate these results, and better understand the shared and unique behavioural underpinnings and associated neural circuit abnormalities underlying social cognitive deficits in SSDs and ASD.

Cortisol secretion predicts functional macro-scale connectivity of the visual cortex: A data-driven Multivoxel Pattern Analysis (MVPA)

BackgroundFunctional connectivity is a fundamental principle of brain organization. Cortisol, the end product of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, is a potent modulator of brain functions. Previous studies investigating the association between cortisol levels on brain connectivity are, however, limited to specifica priori defined brain networks. Such hypothesis-driven approaches only partly capture the full extent of spatial modulatory effects that cortisol exerts on brain connectivity. Consequently, the aim of this study was a data-driven identification of brain regions where connectivity patterns covary significantly with cortisol levels. MethodsEighty-eight healthy right-handed individuals participated in a task-independent fMRI-resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) measurement. The cortisol concentrations in saliva were measured at eight points in time around the resting state measurement. Using a multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), seed regions were identified whose activity covaried strongest with cortisol levels. Seed-to-voxel analyses were then performed to isolate corresponding networks affected by cortisol variation. ResultsThe MVPA identified three regions in the primary and secondary visual cortex where connectivity patterns were associated with cortisol secretion. Seed-to-voxel analysis revealed large lateral connectivity clusters that mainly correspond to the salience and control network, but also to auditory and pericentral regions. Subsequent dose-response analysis suggests that cortisol levels below ∼10 nmol/L weakly influenced connectivity between the identified regions. DiscussionThe results indicate a dose-dependent association between cortisol levels and the rsFC of the visual cortex to several lateral brain regions associated with perception, attention, cognition, salience mapping and motor actions. It is possible that the effects of cortisol on cognitive functions may be (at least partially) mediated by cortisol effects on the underlying sensory processes.

Splicing Players Are Differently Expressed in Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Molecular Clusters and Brain Regions.

Splicing is a tightly orchestrated process by which the brain produces protein diversity over time and space. While this process specializes and diversifies neurons, its deregulation may be responsible for their selective degeneration. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), splicing defects have been investigated at the singular gene level without considering the higher-order level, involving the entire splicing machinery. In this study, we analyzed the complete spectrum (396) of genes encoding splicing factors in the motor cortex (41) and spinal cord (40) samples from control and sporadic ALS (SALS) patients. A substantial number of genes (184) displayed significant expression changes in tissue types or disease states, were implicated in distinct splicing complexes and showed different topological hierarchical roles based on protein–protein interactions. The deregulation of one of these splicing factors has a central topological role, i.e., the transcription factor YBX1, which might also have an impact on stress granule formation, a pathological marker associated with ALS.

Characterization of Ionic and Lipid Gradients within Corpus Callosum White Matter after Diffuse Traumatic Brain Injury in the Rat.

There is increased recognition of the effects of diffuse traumatic brain injury (dTBI), which can initiate yet unknown biochemical cascades, resulting in delayed secondary brain degeneration and long-term neurological sequela. There is limited availability of therapies that minimize the effect of secondary brain damage on the quality of life of people who have suffered TBI, many of which were otherwise healthy adults. Understanding the cascade of biochemical events initiated in specific brain regions in the acute phase of dTBI and how this spreads into adjacent brain structures may provide the necessary insight into drive development of improved therapies. In this study, we have used direct biochemical imaging techniques (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic imaging) and elemental mapping (X-ray fluorescence microscopy) to characterize biochemical and elemental alterations that occur in corpus callosum white matter in the acute phase of dTBI. The results provide direct visualization of differential biochemical and ionic changes that occur in the highly vulnerable medial corpus callosum white matter relative to the less vulnerable lateral regions of the corpus callosum. Specifically, the results suggest that altered ionic gradients manifest within mechanically damaged medial corpus callosum, potentially spreading to and inducing lipid alterations to white matter structures in lateral brain regions.

Contextual Fear Conditioning Alter Microglia Number and Morphology in the Rat Dorsal Hippocampus.

Contextual fear conditioning is a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm capable of rapidly creating fear memories to contexts, such as rooms or chambers. Contextual fear conditioning protocols have long been utilized to evaluate how fear memories are consolidated, maintained, expressed, recalled, and extinguished within the brain. These studies have identified the lateral portion of the amygdala and the dorsal portion of the hippocampus as essential for contextual fear memory consolidation. The current study was designed to evaluate how two different contextual fear memories alter amygdala and hippocampus microglia, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and phosphorylated cyclic-AMP response element binding (pCREB). We find rats provided with standard contextual fear conditioning to have more microglia and more cells expressing BDNF in the dentate gyrus as compared to a context only control group. Additionally, standard contextual fear conditioning altered microglia morphology to become amoeboid in shape – a common response to central nervous system insult, such as traumatic brain injury, infection, ischemia, and more. The unpaired fear conditioning procedure (whereby non-reinforced and non-overlapping auditory tones were provided at random intervals during conditioning), despite producing equivalent levels of fear as the standard procedure, did not alter microglia, BDNF or pCREB number in any dorsal hippocampus or lateral amygdala brain regions. Despite this, the unpaired fear conditioning protocol produced some alterations in microglia morphology, but less compared to rats provided with standard contextual fear conditioning. Results from this study demonstrate that contextual fear conditioning is capable of producing large alterations to dentate gyrus plasticity and microglia, whereas unpaired fear conditioning only produces minor changes to microglia morphology. These data show, for the first time, that Pavlovian fear conditioning protocols can induce similar responses as trauma, infection or other insults within the central nervous system.

Asymmetric intra- and interhemispheric interactions during covert and overt sentence reading

Covert and overt sentence reading evoke lateralized activations in overall bihemispheric networks. We assumed that the study of functional connectivity may reveal underlying principles of functional lateralization. Left-lateralized activations could relate to stronger reading-related modulation of intrahemispheric functional connectivity in the left than the right hemisphere. Alternatively, left-lateralization could result from suppression of contralateral processing and thus reflect asymmetric interhemispheric interactions. To address this issue, this functional MRI study investigated the regional lateralization of covert and overt German sentence reading in 39 healthy participants. Further, it revealed the modulation of the lateralized brain regions’ functional connectivity and their contralateral homotopes by covert and overt reading (psychophysiological interactions).Left-lateralization during covert reading was associated with stronger intrahemispheric coupling particularly in the left dorsal stream rather than with suppression of contralateral processing. Lateralization during overt sentence reading instead went along with additional recruitment of right perisylvian cortices involved in articulation by asymmetric positive heterotopic interhemispheric interactions. Given the paucity of interhemispheric anti-correlations with homotopic regions, functional lateralization is likely a consequence of a task-dependent interplay between asymmetric positive intra- and interhemispheric coupling.

Speed-accuracy strategy regulations in prefrontal tumor patients

The ability to flexibly switch between fast and accurate decisions is crucial in everyday life. Recent neuroimaging evidence suggested that left lateral prefrontal cortex plays a role in switching from a quick response strategy to an accurate one. However, the causal role of the left prefrontal cortex in this particular, non-verbal, strategy switch has never been demonstrated. To fill this gap, we administered a perceptual decision-making task to neuro-oncological prefrontal patients, in which the requirement to be quick or accurate changed randomly on a trial-by-trial basis. To directly assess hemispheric asymmetries in speed-accuracy regulation, patients were tested a few days before and a few days after surgical excision of a brain tumor involving either the left (N=13) or the right (N=12) lateral frontal brain region. A group of age- and education-matched healthy controls was also recruited. To gain more insight on the component processes implied in the task, performance data (accuracy and speed) were not only analyzed separately but also submitted to a diffusion model analysis. The main findings indicated that the left prefrontal patients were impaired in appropriately adopting stricter response criteria in speed-to-accuracy switching trials with respect to healthy controls and right prefrontal patients, who were not impaired in this condition. This study demonstrates that the prefrontal cortex in the left hemisphere is necessary for flexible behavioral regulations, in particular when setting stricter response criteria is required in order to successfully switch from a speedy strategy to an accurate one.

Early brain perfusion improvement after ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery in patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus evaluated by 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT - preliminary report.

Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a clinical syndrome that consists of the triad: gait disturbance, mental deterioration and urinary incontinence associated with normal cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSF), without pre-existing abnormalities. The most popular treatment option is surgical implantation of a shunt. Brain perfusion increase occurring months or years after successful shunt surgery is well described in the literature. Early improvement of perfusion is not well documented. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine patterns of brain perfusion changes 3-6 days after the ventriculoperitoneal shunting in patients with iNPH by using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT. Sixteen patients with iNPH (9 women, 7 men, mean age 64.1 ± 12.7 years) who underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery were included into the study group. Indications for implanting a shunt were based on clinical history, neuroimaging and CSF dynamic studies with an infusion test. Brain perfusion SPECT was performed 1-2 days before and 3-6 days after the surgical treatment. For comparison of perfusion before and after the surgery SPECT scans were assessed visually and semiquantitatively with voxel based analysis. No side effects were observed after the surgery. Brain perfusion improvement after shunting was observed in 10 patients (62.5%). Patterns of perfusion changes varied between patients, with combinations of different bilateral and lateralized brain regions involved. Perfusion increased in the whole brain (3 patients), in the right cerebral hemisphere (1 patient) or in the separate cerebral regions (6 patients): frontal, parietal, temporal, cerebellum, cingulate gyrus. Perfusion improvement was predominantly observed in the frontal lobes: right frontal (3 cases, 18.8%), left frontal (3 cases, 18.8%). Cerebral perfusion is recovered promptly after ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery in about 60% of patients with iNPH. This improvement may be global or regional in different cerebral areas with prevalence of the frontal lobes.

Functional Integration Between Brain Regions at Rest Occurs in Multiple-Frequency Bands

Studies of resting-state fMRI have shown that blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals giving rise to temporal correlation across voxels (or regions) are dominated by low-frequency fluctuations in the range of ∼ 0.01-0.1 Hz. These low-frequency fluctuations have been further divided into multiple distinct frequency bands (slow-5 and -4) based on earlier neurophysiological studies, though low sampling frequency of fMRI (∼ 0.5 Hz) has substantially limited the exploration of other known frequency bands of neurophysiological origins (slow-3, -2, and -1). In this study, we used resting-state fMRI data acquired from 21 healthy subjects at a higher sampling frequency of 1.5 Hz to assess the presence of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) across multiple frequency bands: slow-5 to slow-1. The effect of different frequency bands on spatial extent and connectivity strength for known resting-state networks (RSNs) was also evaluated. RSNs were derived using independent component analysis and seed-based correlation. Commonly known RSNs, such as the default mode, the fronto-parietal, the dorsal attention, and the visual networks, were consistently observed at multiple frequency bands. Significant inter-hemispheric connectivity was observed between each seed and its contra lateral brain region across all frequency bands, though overall spatial extent of seed-based correlation maps decreased in slow-2 and slow-1 frequency bands. These results suggest that functional integration between brain regions at rest occurs over multiple frequency bands and RSFC is a multiband phenomenon. These results also suggest that further investigation of BOLD signal in multiple frequency bands for related cognitive processes should be undertaken.

Habits: bridging the gap between personhood and personal identity.

In philosophy, the criteria for personhood (PH) at a specific point in time (synchronic), and the necessary and sufficient conditions of personal identity (PI) over time (diachronic) are traditionally separated. Hence, the transition between both timescales of a person's life remains largely unclear. Personal habits reflect a decision-making (DM) process that binds together synchronic and diachronic timescales. Despite the fact that the actualization of habits takes place synchronically, they presuppose, for the possibility of their generation, time in a diachronic sense. The acquisition of habits therefore rests upon PI over time; that is, the temporal extension of personal decisions is the necessary condition for the possible development of habits. Conceptually, habits can thus be seen as a bridge between synchronic and diachronic timescales of a person's life. In order to investigate the empirical mediation of this temporal linkage, we draw upon the neuronal mechanisms underlying DM; in particular on the distinction between internally and externally guided DM. Externally guided DM relies on external criteria at a specific point in time (synchronic); on a neural level, this has been associated with lateral frontal and parietal brain regions. In contrast, internally guided DM is based on the person's own preferences that involve a more longitudinal and thus diachronic timescale, which has been associated with the brain's intrinsic activity. Habits can be considered to reflect a balance between internally and externally guided DM, which implicates a particular temporal balance between diachronic and synchronic elements, thus linking two different timescales. Based on such evidence, we suggest a habit-based neurophilosophical approach of PH and PI by focusing on the empirically-based linkage between the synchronic and diachronic elements of habits. By doing so, we propose to link together what philosophically has been described and analyzed separately as PH and PI.

Selective Development of Anticorrelated Networks in the Intrinsic Functional Organization of the Human Brain

We examined the normal development of intrinsic functional connectivity of the default network (brain regions typically deactivated for attention-demanding tasks) as measured by resting-state fMRI in children, adolescents, and young adults ages 8-24 years. We investigated both positive and negative correlations and employed analysis methods that allowed for valid interpretation of negative correlations and that also minimized the influence of motion artifacts that are often confounds in developmental neuroimaging. As age increased, there were robust developmental increases in negative correlations, including those between medial pFC (MPFC) and dorsolateral pFC (DLPFC) and between lateral parietal cortices and brain regions associated with the dorsal attention network. Between multiple regions, these correlations reversed from being positive in children to negative in adults. Age-related changes in positive correlations within the default network were below statistical threshold after controlling for motion. Given evidence in adults that greater negative correlation between MPFC and DLPFC is associated with superior cognitive performance, the development of an intrinsic anticorrelation between MPFC and DLPFC may be a marker of the large growth of working memory and executive functions that occurs from childhood to young adulthood.

Assessing EEG sleep spindle propagation. Part 2: Experimental characterization

BackgroundThis communication is the second of a two-part series that describes and tests a new methodology for assessing the propagation of EEG sleep spindles. Whereas the first part describes the methodology in detail, this part proposes a thorough evaluation of the approach by applying it to a sample of laboratory sleep recordings. New methodThe tested methodology is based on the alignment of time–frequency representations of spindle activity across recording channels and is used for assessing sleep spindle propagation over the human scalp using noninvasive EEG. ResultsSpindle propagation displays features that suggest wave displacements of global synaptic potential fields. Propagation patterns that are coherent (as opposed to random), laterally symmetrical, and highly repeatable within and between subjects were observed. Propagation was slower from posterior to anterior and from central to lateral brain regions than in the opposite directions. Propagation speeds varying between 2.3 and 7.0m/s were obtained. A distinct grouping of propagation properties was noted for a small cluster of frontal electrodes. No propagation between distantly separated scalp locations was observed. The values of spindle characteristics such as average frequency, RMS amplitude, frequency slope, and duration, depend largely on propagation direction but are only mildly correlated with propagation delay. Comparison with existing method(s)Results obtained are in line with many results published in the literature and offer new measures for describing sleep spindle behavior. ConclusionsPropagation properties provide new information about sleep spindle behavior and thus allow more precise automated assessments of spindle-related functions.

Neural representation and clinically relevant moderators of individualised self-criticism in healthy subjects

Many people routinely criticise themselves. While self-criticism is largely unproblematic for most individuals, depressed patients exhibit excessive self-critical thinking, which leads to strong negative affects. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy subjects (N = 20) to investigate neural correlates and possible psychological moderators of self-critical processing. Stimuli consisted of individually selected adjectives of personally negative content and were contrasted with neutral and negative non-self-referential adjectives. We found that confrontation with self-critical material yielded neural activity in regions involved in emotions (anterior insula/hippocampus-amygdala formation) and in anterior and posterior cortical midline structures, which are associated with self-referential and autobiographical memory processing. Furthermore, contrasts revealed an extended network of bilateral frontal brain areas. We suggest that the co-activation of superior and inferior lateral frontal brain regions reflects the recruitment of a frontal top-down pathway, representing cognitive reappraisal strategies for dealing with evoked negative affects. In addition, activation of right superior frontal areas was positively associated with neuroticism and negatively associated with cognitive reappraisal. Although these findings may not be specific to negative stimuli, they support a role for clinically relevant personality traits in successful regulation of emotion during confrontation with self-critical material.