Activation In Left Prefrontal Cortex Research Articles

Prefrontal cortex activity and functional organisation in dual-task ocular pursuit is affected by concurrent upper limb movement.

Tracking a moving object with the eyes seems like a simple task but involves areas of prefrontal cortex (PFC) associated with attention, working memory and prediction. Increasing the demand on these processes with secondary tasks can affect eye movements and/or perceptual judgments. This is particularly evident in chronic or acute neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or mild traumatic brain injury. Here, we combined near infrared spectroscopy and video-oculography to examine the effects of concurrent upper limb movement, which provides additional afference and efference that facilitates tracking of a moving object, in a novel dual-task pursuit protocol. We confirmed the expected effects on judgement accuracy in the primary and secondary tasks, as well as a reduction in eye velocity when the moving object was occluded. Although there was limited evidence of oculo-manual facilitation on behavioural measures, performing concurrent upper limb movement did result in lower activity in left medial PFC, as well as a change in PFC network organisation, which was shown by Graph analysis to be locally and globally more efficient. These findings extend upon previous work by showing how PFC is functionally organised to support eye-hand coordination when task demands more closely replicate daily activities.

Effects of different frequencies music on cortical responses and functional connectivity in patients with minimal conscious state.

The objective of this study was to investigate brain activation and functional network patterns during musical interventions in different frequency bands using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and to provide a basis for more effective music therapy strategy selection for patients in minimally conscious state (MCS). Twenty six MCS patients and 20 healthy people were given music intervention with low frequency (31-180 Hz), medium frequency (180-4k Hz), and high frequency (4k-22k Hz) audio. In MCS patients, low frequency music intervention induced activation of left prefrontal cortex and left primary sensory cortex (S1), also a left-hemisphere lateralization effect of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). And the functional connectivity of right DLPFC-right S1 was significantly improved by high frequency music intervention. The low frequency and high frequency music may contribute more than medium frequency music to the recovery of consciousness. This study also validated the effectiveness of fNIRS in studies of brain function in MCS patients.

Decreased activation in left prefrontal cortex during role-play: An fNIRS study of the psychodrama sociocognitive model

Despite widespread implementation of psychodrama, no empirical studies investigated neural mechanisms of its techniques. One gap lies in the sociocognitive model of role reversal (RR) which posits three processes: empathic role-taking, behavioural reproduction and role feedback. Related studies found deactivations in prefrontal cortex (PFC) during acting tasks, implicating inhibited self-related cognition. However, contrasting studies found PFC activations during role-taking, citing blurred boundaries between self and other that is characteristic of empathy. This study employs fNIRS to uncover neurophysiological correlates of the three processes. Three conditions (Naturalistic Conversation - NC, Role-Play - RP, Role Reversal - RR) were designed to introduce empathic role-taking and behavioural reproduction, and role feedback in transitions from NC to RP, and RP to RR respectively. 41 non-clinical adult dyads underwent all conditions. First-level General Linear Model from fNIRS signals was based on participants’ role-related utterances and compared across conditions. Anterior left PFC activity decreased as participants produced role-related utterances during RP compared to NC, implying lowered recruitment of self-referential networks during empathic role-taking and behavioural reproduction, partially supporting patterns of brain activation that can be mapped to specific sociocognitive processes in RR. Findings partially support the involvement of self-referential networks in specific sociocognitive processes in RR.

Differential Neural Correlates in the Prefrontal Cortex during a Delay Discounting Task in Healthy Adults: An fNIRS Study.

The phenomenon of future rewards being devalued as a function of delay is referred to as delay discounting (DD). It is considered a measure of impulsivity, and steep DD characterizes psychiatric problems such as addictive disorders and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This preliminarily study examined prefrontal hemodynamic activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in healthy young adults performing a DD task. Prefrontal activity during a DD task with hypothetical monetary rewards was measured in 20 participants. A discounting rate (k-value) in the DD task was determined on the basis of a hyperbolic function. To validate the k-value, a DD questionnaire and the Barratt impulsiveness scale (BIS) were administered after fNIRS. The DD task induced a significant increase in oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration bilaterally in the frontal pole and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared with a control task. Significant positive correlations were detected between left PFC activity and discounting parameters. Right frontal pole activity, however, showed significantly negative correlation with motor impulsivity as a BIS subscore. These results suggest that left and right PFCs have differential contributions when performing the DD task. The present findings suggest the idea that fNIRS measurement of prefrontal hemodynamic activity can be useful for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying DD and is applicable for assessing PFC function among psychiatric patients with impulsivity-related problems.

Noninvasive measurement of cerebral cortex hemoglobin oxygenation with Near-Infrared spectroscopy

Near-Infrared (NIR) is the region of light with wavelength from 650 nm to 1100 nm. In this region light can penetrate into higher depth compared to visible light in biological tissues. In NIR region there is a special optical window from 700 nm to 900 nm in which dominant absorber chromophores inside the brain are oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin. non-invasive Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable low-cost efficient method for monitoring hemodynamic change in cerebral cortex. Since fNIRS and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) both measure hemoglobin oxygenation, it is acceptable to compare these two methods for cortex related cognitive task studies and drug addiction studies. in cases that other diagnostic techniques like fMRI are not applicable and might be harmful for example in case of a patient with cardiac pacemaker, or when fMRI is not available or for claustrophobic patient an alternative method should be available. in many studies for specific tasks because of subject’s positioning limits inside fMRI, an inexpensive method that allows data acquisition from a sitting or standing subject fNIRS is a reliable alternative. When it’s about cerebral cortex fNIRS can be an alternative for fMRI considering that fNIRS price is much lower and for many cognitive task designs subject’s mobility and position are important factors and with fNIRS we do not have to be that concerned about these issues. In this article Principles and equations for this technology will be described and as an example we designed a cognitive task and used fNIRS device to measure cerebral activity in left prefrontal cortex of healthy male adult to show accuracy and efficiency of this device for cerebral cortex activity monitoring. Also, Value of this method in attention & cognitive disorders specially in children thanks to higher depth of light penetration in their brain compared to adults will briefly be discussed.

Physiological Effects of Visual Stimulation Using Knotty and Clear Wood Images among Young Women

Wood is a sustainable and natural material used in interior design for living environment. Knots are prominent features on wood surfaces, and they affect a user’s building preference and impression. Data on the effects of wood knots on human physiological responses are limited. Hence, further studies should be conducted. This study examined the effects of interior wall images comprising knotty or clear wood on physiological responses. Computer graphics were used to prepare wall images of knotty or clear lumber. A gray image was set as the control. In total, 28 adult Japanese female university students were included in this study. They observed two types of wood interior wall images for 90 s. The control was also set for 90 s. The oxyhemoglobin level in the prefrontal cortex measured by near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy (TRS) and the activities of parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves assessed using the heart rate variability (HRV) were utilized as physiological indexes. TRS sensors, which emit and receive near-infrared light, were attached to frontal pole (Fp) 1 and Fp2, based on the international 10–20 method. R-R interval was measured using HRV sensors attached based on the three-point guidance method, and frequency data were analyzed to assess high frequency (HF), which reflects parasympathetic nervous system activity, and the ratio of high and low frequencies (LF/HF), which reflects sympathetic nervous system activity. The knotty wood sedated the right prefrontal cortex activity compared with the control and enhanced parasympathetic nerve activity compared with before stimulation. Clear wood sedated the left prefrontal cortex activity compared with the control and suppressed sympathetic nerve activity compared with before stimulation. Subjective evaluations revealed that compared with gray wall images, both knotty and clear wood images significantly promoted comfort, relaxation, and natural feeling and improved overall mood states. In addition, clear wood image had a more positive subjective effect than knotty image. Wall images comprising knotty or clear wood, when used as a visual stimulus, have a physiological relaxation effect among adult women in their 20s.

A Cross-species Model of Dual-Task Walking in Young and Older Humans and Rats.

Introduction: Dual-task walking is common in daily life but becomes more difficult with aging. Little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms affecting competing cognitive demands. Translational studies with human and animal models are needed to address this gap. This pilot study investigated the feasibility of implementing a novel cross-species dual-task model in humans and rats and aimed to establish preliminary evidence that the model induces a dual-task cost.Methods: Young and older humans and rats performed an object discrimination task (OD), a baseline task of typical walking (baseline), an alternation turning task on a Figure 8 walking course (Alt), and a dual-task combining object discrimination with the alternation task (AltOD). Primary behavioral assessments including walking speed and correct selections for object discrimination and turning direction. In humans, left prefrontal cortex activity was measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).Results: Human subjects generally performed well on all tasks, but the older adults exhibited a trend for a slowing of walking speed immediately before the turning decision for Alt and AltOD compared to baseline. Older adults also had heightened prefrontal activity relative to young adults for the Alt and AltOD tasks. Older rodents required more training than young rodents to learn the alternation task. When tested on AltOD with and without a 15-s delay between trials, older rodents exhibited a substantial performance deficit for the delayed version on the initial day of testing. Old rats, however, did not show a significant slowing in walking speed with increasing task demand, as was evident in the young rats.Discussion: This study demonstrates the feasibility and challenges associated with implementing a cross-species dual-task model. While there was preliminary evidence of dual-task cost in both humans and rats, the magnitude of effects was small and not consistent across species. This is likely due to the relative ease of each task in humans and the walking component in rats not being sufficiently challenging. Future versions of this test should make the cognitive tasks more challenging and the motor task in rats more complex.

The prefrontal cortex conscious and unconscious response to social/emotional facial expressions involve sex, hemispheric laterality, and selective activation of the central cardiac modulation

The human prefrontal cortex (PFC) processes complex sensory information for the elaboration of social behaviors. The non-invasive neuroimaging technique near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) identifies hemodynamic changes and concentration of oxygenated (HbO2) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin in the cerebral cortex. We studied the responses detected by NIRS in the right and left PFC activation of 28 participants (n = 14 adult young females and males) while processing social/emotional facial expressions, i.e., in conscious perception of different expressions (neutral, happy, sad, angry, disgust, and fearful) and in unconscious/masked perception of negative expressions (fearful and disgust overlapped by neutral). The power spectral analysis from concomitant ECG signals revealed the sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation of cardiac responses. We found higher HbO2 values in the right PFC of females than in males during, and in the left PFC after, following the conscious perception of the happy face. In males, the left PFC increased and the right PFC decreased HbO2 while viewing the happy expression. In both sexes, HHb values were higher during the masked presentation of disgust than fearful expression, and after the masked presentation of fearful expression than during it. Higher sympathetic and lower parasympathetic activity (LF/ HF components) occurred in females when consciously and unconsciously processing negative emotions (p < 0.05 in all cases). These results demonstrate that the human PFC displays a selective activation depending on sex, hemispheric laterality, attention, time for responding to conscious and unconscious emotionally loaded stimuli with simulataneous centrally modulated cardiovascular responses.

Changes in human brain dynamics during behavioral priming and repetition suppression.

Behavioral responses to a perceptual stimulus are typically faster with repeated exposure to the stimulus (behavioral priming). This implicit learning mechanism is critical for survival but impaired in a variety of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Many studies of the neural bases for behavioral priming have encountered an interesting paradox: in spite of faster behavioral responses, repeated stimuli usually elicit weaker neural responses (repetition suppression). Several neurophysiological models have been proposed to resolve this paradox, but noninvasive techniques for human studies have had insufficient spatial-temporal precision for testing their predictions. Here, we used the unparalleled precision of electrocorticography (ECoG) to analyze the timing and magnitude of task-related changes in neural activation and propagation while patients named novel vs repeated visual objects. Stimulus repetition was associated with faster verbal responses and decreased neural activation (repetition suppression) in ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC) and left prefrontal cortex (LPFC). Interestingly, we also observed increased neural activation (repetition enhancement) in LPFC and other recording sites. Moreover, with analysis of high gamma propagation we observed increased top-down propagation from LPFC into VOTC, preceding repetition suppression. The latter results indicate that repetition suppression and behavioral priming are associated with strengthening of top-down network influences on perceptual processing, consistent with predictive coding models of repetition suppression, and they support a central role for changes in large-scale cortical dynamics in achieving more efficient and rapid behavioral responses.

Evaluation of neurocognitive function of prefrontal cortex in ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency

Hyperammonia due to ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) can cause a range of deficiencies in domains of executive function and working memory. Only a few fMRI studies have focused on neuroimaging data in a population with OTCD. Yet, there is a need for monitoring the disease progression and neurocognitive function in this population. In this study, we used a non-invasive neuroimaging technique, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), to examine the hemodynamics of prefrontal cortex (PFC) based on neural activation in an OTCD population. Using fNIRS, we measured the activation in PFC of the participants while performing the Stroop task. Behavioral assessment such as reaction time and correct response were recorded. We investigated the difference in behavioral measures as well as brain activation in left and right PFC in patients with OTCD and controls. Results revealed a distinction in left PFC activation between controls and patients with OTCD, where control subjects showed higher task related activation increase. Subjects with OTCD also exhibited bilateral increase in PFC activation. There was no significant difference in response time or correct response between the two groups. Our findings suggest the alterations in neurocognitive function of PFC in OTCD compared to the controls despite the behavioral profiles exhibiting no such differences. This is a first study using fNIRS to examine a neurocognitive function in OTCD population and can provide a novel insight into the screening of OTCD progression and examining neurocognitive changes.

Emotional Stability Interacts with Cortisol Levels Before fMRI on Brain Processing of Fearful Faces

Functional-Magnetic-Imaging (fMRI) is widely adopted to investigate neurophysiological correlates of emotion processing (EP). However, studies have reported that scanning procedures in neuroimaging protocols may increase or cause anxiety and psychological distress related with the scanning, thus inducing peripheral cortisol release. These phenomena may in turn impact on brain EP. Additionally, previous findings have indicated that inter-individual differences in stress-response intensity are mediated by levels of Emotional Stability (ES), a personality trait that has been associated with brain activity during EP, especially in amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between indices of stress related to anticipation of fMRI scanning and levels of ES on amygdala and PFC activity during EP.With this aim, 55 healthy volunteers were characterized for trait ES. Furthermore, salivary cortisol levels at baseline and soon before fMRI scanning were measured as an index of stress related to scanning anticipation. During fMRI, participants performed an explicit EP task.We found that variation in salivary cortisol (Δc) interacts with ES on left amygdala and PFC activity during EP. More in details, in the context of a higher ES, the greater the Δc, the lower the activity in left amygdala and PFC. In the context of lower ES, the opposite Δc-brain activity relationship was found.Our results suggest that the stressful potential of fMRI interacts with personality traits in modulating brain activity during EP. These findings should be taken into account when interpreting neuroimaging studies especially exploring brain physiology during EP.

Exercise Intensity Influences Prefrontal Cortex Oxygenation during Cognitive Testing.

Activation changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions have been linked to acute exercise-induced improvements in cognitive performance. The type of exercise performed may influence PFC activation, and further impact cognitive function. The present study aimed to compare PFC activation during cognitive testing after moderate-intensity, high intensity, and yoga exercises, and to determine if PFC activation is linked to cognitive performance. Eight subjects (four male and four female), aged 35 ± 5 completed a control, high intensity, moderate intensity, and yoga exercises followed by administration of a cognitive task (NIH Toolbox Fluid Cognition). Left and right PFC activation (LPFC and RPFC, respectively) were evaluated by measuring hemoglobin difference (Hbdiff) changes during post-exercise cognitive assessment using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Activation during the cognitive test was higher in the LPFC after moderate intensity exercise compared to control, high intensity, and yoga (5.30 ± 6.65 vs. 2.26 ± 2.40, 2.50 ± 1.48, 2.41 ± 2.36 μM, p < 0.05, respectively). A negative relationship was detected between LPFC and processing speed after exercise. PFC activation did not align with cognitive performance. However, acute exercise, regardless of type, appeared to alter neural processing. Specifically, less PFC activation was required for a given neural output after exercise.

Pre-frontal Cortical Activity During Walking and Turning Is Reliable and Differentiates Across Young, Older Adults and People With Parkinson's Disease

Introduction: Mobility declines with age and further with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Walking and turning ability, in particular, are vital aspects of mobility that deteriorate with age and are further impaired in PD. Such deficits have been linked with reduction in automatic control of movement and the need for compensatory cognitive cortical control via the pre-frontal cortex (PFC), however the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Establishing and using a robust methodology to examine PFC activity during continuous walking and turning via mobile functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fNIRS) may aid in the understanding of mobility deficits and help with development of appropriate therapeutics.This study aimed to: (1) examine test re-test reliability of PFC activity during continuous turning and walking via fNIRS measurement; and (2) compare PFC activity during continuous turning and walking in young, old and Parkinson's subjects.Methods: Twenty-five young (32.3 ± 7.5 years), nineteen older (65.4 ± 7.0 years), and twenty-four PD (69.3 ± 4.1 years) participants performed continuous walking and 360° turning-in-place tasks, each lasting 2 min. Young participants repeated the tasks a second time to allow fNIRS measurement reliability assessment. The primary outcome was PFC activity, assessed via measuring changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) concentrations.Results: PFC activity during continuous walking and turning was moderately reproducible (Intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.67). The PD group had higher PFC activation than young and older adults during walking and turning, with significant group differences for bilateral PFC activation (p = 0.025), left PFC activation (p = 0.012), and the early period (first 40 s) of walking (p = 0.007), with greater activation required in PD. Interestingly, older adults had similar PFC activation to young adults across conditions, however older adults required greater activation than young adults during continuous turning, specifically the early period of the turning task (Cohens d = 0.86).Conclusions: PFC activity can be measured during continuous walking and turning tasks with acceptable reliability, and can differentiate young, older and PD groups. PFC activation was significantly greater in PD compared to young and older adults during walking, particularly when beginning to walk.

Neural predictors of treatment response to brain stimulation and psychological therapy in depression: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

Standard depression treatments, including antidepressant medication and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), are ineffective for many patients. Prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as an alternative treatment, but hasshown inconsistent efficacy for depression, and its mechanisms are poorly understood. We recruited unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder (N = 71 approached; N = 39 randomised) for a mechanistic, double-blind, randomized controlled trial consisting of eight weekly sessions of prefrontal tDCS administered to the left prefrontal cortex prior to CBT. We probed (1) whether tDCS improved the efficacy of CBT relative to sham stimulation; and (2) whether neural measures predicted clinical response. We found a modest and non-significant effect of tDCS on clinical outcome over and above CBT (active: 50%; sham: 31.6%; odds ratio: 2.16, 95% CI = 0.59-7.99), but a strong relationship, predicted a priori, between baseline activationduring a working memory task in the stimulated prefrontal region and symptom improvement. Repeating our analyses of symptom outcome splitting the sample according to this biomarker revealed that tDCS was significantly superior to sham in individuals with highleft prefrontal cortex activation at baseline; we also show 86% accuracy in predicting clinical response using this measure. Exploratory analyses revealed several other regions where activation at baseline was associated with subsequent response to CBT, irrespective of tDCS. This mechanistic trial revealed variable, but predictable, clinical effects of prefrontal tDCS combined with CBT for depression. We have discovered a potential explanation for this variability: individual differences in baseline activation of the region stimulated. Such a biomarker could potentially be used to pre-select patients for trials and, eventually, in the clinic.

Eating less or more – Mindset induced changes in neural correlates of pre-meal planning

Obesity develops due to an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. Besides the decision about what to eat, daily energy intake might be even more dependent on the decision about the portion size to be consumed. For decisions between different foods, attentional focus is considered to play a key role in the choice selection. In the current study, we investigated the attentional modulation of portion size selection during pre-meal planning. We designed a functional magnetic resonance task in which healthy participants were directed to adopt different mindsets while selecting their portion size for lunch. Compared with a free choice condition, participants reduced their portion sizes when considering eating for health or pleasure, which was accompanied by increased activity in left prefrontal cortex and left orbitofrontal cortex, respectively. When planning to be full until dinner, participants selected larger portion sizes and showed a trend for increased activity in left insula. These results provide first evidence that also the cognitive process of pre-meal planning is influenced by the attentional focus at the time of choice, which could provide an opportunity for influencing the control of meal size selection by mindset manipulation.

Frontal alpha asymmetry and aerobic exercise: are changes due to cardiovascular demand or bilateral rhythmic movement?

The left and right prefrontal cortices are linked to networks that control approach and withdrawal motivation, respectively. The relationship between activity in the left and right prefrontal activity is used to assess brain states and specifically their link to motivational behaviours and tendencies. The most common measure used in this context is called the frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), which compares alpha (8–13Hz) power at each region. Interestingly, research shows that FAA is influenced by aerobic exercise by increasing relative left prefrontal cortex activity. In turn this effect may be beneficial for individuals with mood disorders that are associated with abnormal motivational tendencies. However, it is unknown whether changes in FAA after exercise are due to cardiovascular demands of activity or simply the movement required for the exercise. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of aerobic exercise and ‘no intensity’ bilateral movement cycling on FAA in young healthy adults. Results showed aerobic exercise caused a significant increase in FAA scores 22–38min after exercise. However, movement did not lead to a significant change in FAA. This suggests there is an intensity required for physical activity to evoke a change in FAA.

Prefrontal cortex activation during a dual task in patients with stroke

Dual tasks destabilize task performance as they involve competing demands for cognitive and physical resources. Several studies have reported that dual-task walking activates the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and recent studies have indicated a relationship between PFC and dual-task deterioration in healthy subjects. However, PFC activity during dual-task walking in stroke patients remains unclear. We investigated the association between PFC activity and dual-task interference on physical and cognitive performance in stroke patients. This study included 14 stroke patients and 14 healthy subjects who performed a calculation task while walking at a comfortable pace on the floor. PFC activity was assessed using wearable near-infrared spectroscopy. The calculation task and trunk linear accelerations were evaluated as measures of cognitive and physical performance. The dual-task deterioration on both physical and cognitive performance of stroke patients was significantly higher than in healthy subjects. PFC activation during dual-task walking was significantly lower in stroke patients. Although right PFC activation was negatively correlated with dual-task deterioration on physical performance in stroke patients, left PFC activation was negatively correlated with the dual-task cost on cognitive performance in healthy subjects. Thus, during dual-task walking, PFC activation might prioritize physical demands in stroke patients, but might prioritize cognitive demands in healthy subjects.

The neural correlates of biomechanical constraints in hand laterality judgment task performed from other person's perspective: A near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Previous studies, mainly using a first-person perspective (1PP), have shown that the judgments of the hand laterality judgment (HLJ) task are dependent on biomechanical constraints (BC). Specifically, differing reaction times (RT) for hand pictures rotated medially or laterally around the mid sagittal plane are attributed to the BC effect on motor imagery. In contrast, we investigated whether the HLJ task is also subject to BC when performed from a third-person perspective (3PP) as well as 1PP using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure the brain activity of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in right-handed participants assigned to 1PP or 3PP groups. The 1PP group judged whether a presented hand was their own left or right hand, and the 3PP group whether it was the other’s left or right hand. Using their HLJ task error rates, the 1PP and 3PP groups were subdivided into an Error Group (EG) and No Error Group (NEG). For the 1PP group, both EG and NEG showed a significant Hand Laterality × Orientation interaction for RT, indicating the BC effect on motor imagery. For the 3PP group, however, neither EG nor NEG showed the interaction, even though EG showed a significantly longer RT than NEG. These results suggest that the 3PP EG appropriately followed the 3PP task instruction, while the NEG might have taken 1PP. However, the 3PP EG NIRS profile of left PFC showed a significant Hand Laterality × Orientation interaction, while the 1PP EG did not. More noteworthy is that the left PFC activation of EG showed an interaction between the 1PP and 3PP groups when the left hand was presented. Furthermore, in the NEG, the PFC activation was not influenced by the BC in either the 1PP or 3PP condition. These results indicate that BC interferes with the HLJ task performed from the 1PP and 3PP.

Effects of Visual Stimulation with Bonsai Trees on Adult Male Patients with Spinal Cord Injury.

Nature therapy has been demonstrated to induce physiological relaxation. The psychophysiological effects of nature therapy (stimulation with bonsai trees) on adult male patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) were examined. Oxyhemoglobin concentration changes in the prefrontal cortex were measured using near-infrared spectroscopy, and heart rate variability was analyzed. Psychological responses were evaluated using the modified semantic differential method and Profile of Mood States (POMS) subscale scores. Visual stimulation of adult male patients with SCI elicited significantly decreased left prefrontal cortex activity, increased parasympathetic nervous activity, decreased sympathetic nervous activity, increased positive feelings, and resulted in lower negative POMS subscale scores. Nature therapy can lead to a state of physiological and psychological relaxation in patients with SCI.

Physiological Effects of Touching Coated Wood.

This study examined the physiological effects of touching wood with various coating with the palm of the hand on brain activity and autonomic nervous activity. Participants were 18 female university students (mean age, 21.7 ± 1.6 years). As an indicator of brain activity, oxyhemoglobin concentrations were measured in the left and right prefrontal cortices using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy. Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate were used as indicators of autonomic nervous activity. The high-frequency (HF) component of HRV, which reflects parasympathetic nervous activity, and the low-frequency (LF)/HF ratio, which reflects sympathetic nervous activity, were measured. Plates of uncoated, oil-finished, vitreous-finished, urethane-finished, and mirror-finished white oak wood were used as tactile stimuli. After sitting at rest with their eyes closed for 60 s, participants touched the stimuli with their palm for 90 s each. The results indicated that tactile stimulation with uncoated wood calmed prefrontal cortex activity (vs. urethane finish and mirror finish), increased parasympathetic nervous activity (vs. vitreous finish, urethane finish, and mirror finish), and decreased heart rate (vs. mirror finish), demonstrating a physiological relaxation effect. Further, tactile stimulation with oil- and vitreous-finished wood calmed left prefrontal cortex activity and decreased heart rate relative to mirror-finished wood.