A MATLAB toolbox for Granger causal connectivity analysis

Abnormal information interaction in multilayer directed network based on cross-frequency integration of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been reported to result in abnormal cross-frequency integration. However, previous studies have failed to consider specific abnormalities in receiving and outputting information among frequency bands during integration. Here, we investigated heterogeneity in receiving and outputting information during cross-frequency integration in patients. The results showed that during cross-frequency integration, information interaction first increased and then decreased, manifesting in the heterogeneous distribution of inter-frequency nodes for receiving information. A possible explanation was that due to damage to some inter-frequency hub nodes, intra-frequency nodes gradually became new inter-frequency nodes, whereas original inter-frequency nodes gradually became new inter-frequency hub nodes. Notably, damage to the brain regions that receive information between layers was often accompanied by a strengthened ability to output information and the emergence of hub nodes for outputting information. Moreover, an important compensatory mechanism assisted in the reception of information in the cingulo-opercular and auditory networks and in the outputting of information in the visual network. This study revealed specific abnormalities in information interaction and compensatory mechanism during cross-frequency integration, providing important evidence for understanding cross-frequency integration in patients with MCI and AD.

Impaired sharp-wave ripple coordination between the medial entorhinal cortex and hippocampal CA1 of knock-in model of Alzheimer’s disease

Clinical evidence suggests that the entorhinal cortex is a primary brain area triggering memory impairments in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the underlying brain circuit mechanisms remain largely unclear. In healthy brains, sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex play a critical role in memory consolidation. We tested SWRs in the MEC layers 2/3 of awake amyloid precursor protein knock-in (APP-KI) mice, recorded simultaneously with SWRs in the hippocampal CA1. We found that MEC→CA1 coordination of SWRs, found previously in healthy brains, was disrupted in APP-KI mice even at a young age before the emergence of spatial memory impairments. Intriguingly, long-duration SWRs critical for memory consolidation were mildly diminished in CA1, although SWR density and amplitude remained intact. Our results point to SWR incoordination in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit as an early network symptom that precedes memory impairment in AD.

Acoustic Stimuli Can Improve and Impair Somatosensory Perception

The integration of stimuli from different sensory modalities forms the basis for human perception. While the relevant impact of visual stimuli on the perception of other sensory modalities is recognized, much less is known about the impact of auditory stimuli on general sensory processing. This study aims to investigate the effect of acoustic stimuli on the processing of somatosensory stimuli using real noise (i.e., unpleasant everyday noise, RN) and neutral white noise (WN). To this purpose, we studied 20 healthy human subjects between 20 and 29 years of age (mean: 24, SD: ±1.9 years sex ratio 1:1). Somatosensory perception was evaluated using mechanical detection threshold (MDT) of the skin on the back of the dominant hand. To investigate the underlying mechanisms in the brain, fMRI was performed while applying acoustic stimulation (RN and WN) and tactile stimulation of the dominant hand. Here we show that acoustic stimulation with noise alters the perception of touch on the skin. We found that the effect of RN and WN differed. RN leads to an improved tactile perception, whereas WN impaired tactile perception. These changes go along with significant differences in brain activity and connectivity. WN is associated with a significant increase in brain activity in multiple brain areas such as the auditory and somatosensory cortex, parietal association cortex, and the thalamus compared to RN. With tactile stimulation of the skin, the flow of information in these brain areas is altered. While with RN the information flow from the thalamus to the somatosensory cortex is prominent, the network activity pattern changes under WN revealing an increase in interaction between multiple networks. Unpleasant noise inhibits the multisensory integration and enables a more efficient unimodal perception in the somatosensory system, improving perception. Whether this is to be interpreted as a temporary increase in phasic alertness or by a stronger filter function of the thalamus with a preference for unimodal stimuli is still open for debate.

Causal Inference in Time Series in Terms of Rényi Transfer Entropy

Uncovering causal interdependencies from observational data is one of the great challenges of a nonlinear time series analysis. In this paper, we discuss this topic with the help of an information-theoretic concept known as Rényi’s information measure. In particular, we tackle the directional information flow between bivariate time series in terms of Rényi’s transfer entropy. We show that by choosing Rényi’s parameter α, we can appropriately control information that is transferred only between selected parts of the underlying distributions. This, in turn, is a particularly potent tool for quantifying causal interdependencies in time series, where the knowledge of “black swan” events, such as spikes or sudden jumps, are of key importance. In this connection, we first prove that for Gaussian variables, Granger causality and Rényi transfer entropy are entirely equivalent. Moreover, we also partially extend these results to heavy-tailed α-Gaussian variables. These results allow establishing a connection between autoregressive and Rényi entropy-based information-theoretic approaches to data-driven causal inference. To aid our intuition, we employed the Leonenko et al. entropy estimator and analyzed Rényi’s information flow between bivariate time series generated from two unidirectionally coupled Rössler systems. Notably, we find that Rényi’s transfer entropy not only allows us to detect a threshold of synchronization but it also provides non-trivial insight into the structure of a transient regime that exists between the region of chaotic correlations and synchronization threshold. In addition, from Rényi’s transfer entropy, we could reliably infer the direction of coupling and, hence, causality, only for coupling strengths smaller than the onset value of the transient regime, i.e., when two Rössler systems are coupled but have not yet entered synchronization.

Investigation of two neural mass models for DCM-based effective connectivity inference in temporal epilepsy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Recently, spectral Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) has been used increasingly to infer effective connectivity from epileptic intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) signals. In this context, the Physiology-Based Model (PBM), a neural mass model, is used as a generative model. However, previous studies have highlighted out the inability of PBM to properly describe iEEG signals with specific power spectral densities (PSDs). More precisely, PSDs that have multiple peaks around β and γ rhythms (i.e. spectral characteristics at seizure onset) are concerned.

METHODS

To cope with this limitation, an alternative neural mass model, called the complete PBM (cPBM), is investigated. The spectral DCM and two recent variants are used to evaluate the relevance of cPBM over PBM.

RESULTS

The study is conducted on both simulated signals and real epileptic iEEG recordings. Our results confirm that, compared to PBM, cPBM shows (i) more ability to model the desired PSDs and (ii) lower numerical complexity whatever the method.

CONCLUSIONS

Thanks to its intrinsic and extrinsic connectivity parameters as well as the input coming into the fast inhibitory subpopulation, the cPBM provides a more expressive model of PSDs, leading to a better understanding of epileptic patterns and DCM-based effective connectivity inference.

The Solitary Nucleus Connectivity to Key Autonomic Regions in Humans MRI and Literature based Considerations

The nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), is a key brainstem structure relaying interoceptive peripheral information to the interrelated brain centers for eliciting rapid autonomic responses and for shaping longer-term neuroendocrine and motor patterns. Structural and functional NTS' connectivity has been extensively investigated in laboratory animals. But there is limited information about NTS' connectome in humans. Using MRI, we examined diffusion and resting state data from 20 healthy participants in the Human Connectome Project. The regions within the brainstem (n=8), subcortical (n=6), cerebellar (n=2) and cortical (n=5) parts of the brain were selected via a systematic review of the literature and their white matter NTS connections were evaluated via probabilistic tractography along with functional and directional (i.e., Granger-causality) analyses. The underlying study confirms previous results from animal models and provides novel aspects on NTS integration in humans. Two key findings can be summarized: (i) the NTS predominantly processes afferent input and (ii) a lateralization towards a predominantly left-sided NTS processing. Our results lay the foundations for future investigations into the NTS' tripartite role comprised of interoreceptors' input integration, the resultant neurochemical outflow and cognitive/affective processing. The implications of these data add to the understanding of NTS' role in specific aspects of autonomic functions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may rehabilitate abnormally functional communication pattern among the triple-network in major depressive disorder: A follow-up study

BACKGROUND

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an established treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is characterized by imbalanced communication patterns among three networks: the central executive network (CEN), the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network (SN). The effect of CBT in restoring communications among these networks in MDD is unknown.

METHODS

Thirty-three patients with MDD and 27 healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. Patients were treated with CBT. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were obtained in patients at three stages (T0: before treatment; T1: after 6 weeks CBT; T2: after 28 weeks CBT) and in HC (only T0). Both independent component analysis (ICA) and granger causality analysis (GCA) were used to explore dynamic causal communication patterns among the three networks (CEN, DMN, SN) over a course of CBT treatment.

RESULTS

In the HC group, the SN had an inhibitory causal effect on CEN; the CEN and DMN had an excitatory causal effect on the SN. The SN had an inhibitory causal effect on the CEN and the DMN; only the DMN had an excitatory causal effect on the SN in the MDD patients at the T0 stage. As the CBT treatment went on for MDD patients, the CEN restored excitatory causal effect on the SN, and the SN lost inhibitory effect on the DMN. This result mimicked the one found in the HC group. Four regions, left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (lvmPFC), posterior cingulate gyrus (PCC), right inferior parietal lobule (rIPL) and right insula, were implicated in mediating network communications.

LIMITATIONS

The findings should be considered preliminary given the small sample sizes, and assessed only one stage in HC subjects.

CONCLUSION

CBT may enhance the regulatory function of the SN, and rehabilitate the imbalanced brain network communication mode in the MDD. PCC, lvmPFC and rIPL may all be potential targets of CBT.

Hand Motor Imagery Classification Using Effective Connectivity and Hierarchical Machine Learning in EEG Signals

Background

Motor Imagery (MI) Brain Computer Interface (BCI) directly links central nervous system to a computer or a device. Most MI-BCI structures rely on features of a single channel of Electroencephalogram (EEG). However, to provide more valuable features, the relationships among EEG channels in the form of effective brain connectivity analysis must be considered.

Objective

This study aims to identify a set of robust and discriminative effective connectivity features from EEG signals and to develop a hierarchical machine learning structure for discrimination of left and right hand MI task effectively.

Material and Methods

In this analytical study, we estimated effective connectivity using Granger Causality (GC) methods namely, Generalized Partial Directed Coherence (GPDC), Directed Transfer Function (DTF) and direct Directed Transfer Function (dDTF). These measures determine the transient causal relation between different brain areas. Then a feature subset selection method based on Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to choose most significant directed causal connection between channels. Moreover, the minimal-redundancy-maximal-relevance feature selection method is applied to discard non-significance features. Finally, support vector machine method is used for classification.

Results

The maximum value of the classification accuracies using GC methods over different frequency bands in 29 subjects in 60 trial is approximately 84% in Mu (8-12 Hz) - Beta1 (12 - 15 Hz) frequency band using GPDC method.

Conclusion

This new hierarchical automated BCI system could be applied for discrimination of left and right hand MI tasks from EEG signal, effectively.

Consistent Changes in Cortico-Subthalamic Directed Connectivity Are Associated With the Induction of Parkinsonism in a Chronically Recorded Non-human Primate Model

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disease with cardinal motor signs including bradykinesia and tremor. Although beta-band hypersynchrony in the cortico-basal ganglia network is thought to contribute to disease manifestation, the resulting effects on network connectivity are unclear. We examined local field potentials from a non-human primate across the naïve, mild, and moderate disease states (model was asymmetric, left-hemispheric dominant) and probed power spectral density as well as cortico-cortical and cortico-subthalamic connectivity using both coherence and Granger causality, which measure undirected and directed effective connectivity, respectively. Our network included the left subthalamic nucleus (L-STN), bilateral primary motor cortices (L-M1, R-M1), and bilateral premotor cortices (L-PMC, R-PMC). Results showed two distinct peaks (Peak A at 5–20 Hz, Peak B at 25–45 Hz) across all analyses. Power and coherence analyses showed widespread increases in power and connectivity in both the Peak A and Peak B bands with disease progression. For Granger causality, increases in Peak B connectivity and decreases in Peak A connectivity were associated with the disease. Induction of mild disease was associated with several changes in connectivity: (1) the cortico-subthalamic connectivity in the descending direction (L-PMC to L-STN) decreased in the Peak A range while the reciprocal, ascending connectivity (L-STN to L-PMC) increased in the Peak B range; this may play a role in generating beta-band hypersynchrony in the cortex, (2) both L-M1 to L-PMC and R-M1 to R-PMC causalities increased, which may either be compensatory or a pathologic effect of disease, and (3) a decrease in connectivity occurred from the R-PMC to R-M1. The only significant change seen between mild and moderate disease was increased right cortical connectivity, which may reflect compensation for the left-hemispheric dominant moderate disease state.

L1-norm based time-varying brain neural network and its application to dynamic analysis for motor imagery

OBJECTIVE

EEG-based motor imagery (MI) brain-computer interface offers a promising way to improve the efficiency of motor rehabilitation and motor skill learning. In recent years, the power of dynamic network analysis for MI classification has been proved. In fact, its usability mainly depends on the accurate estimation of brain connection. However, traditional dynamic network estimation strategies such as adaptive directed transfer function (ADTF) are designed in the L2-norm. Usually, they estimate a series of pseudo connections caused by outliers, which results in biased features and further limits its online application. Thus, how to accurately infer dynamic causal relationship under outlier influence is urgent.

APPROACH

In this work, we proposed a novel ADTF, which solves the dynamic system in the L1-norm space (L1-ADTF), so as to restrict the outlier influence. To enhance its convergence, we designed an iteration strategy with the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), which could be used for the solution of the dynamic state-space model restricted in the L1-norm space. Furthermore, we compared L1-ADTF to traditional ADTF and its dual extension across both simulation and real EEG experiments.

MAIN RESULTS

A quantitative comparison between L1-ADTF and other ADTFs in simulation studies demonstrates that fewer bias errors and more desirable dynamic state transformation patterns can be captured by the L1-ADTF. Application to real MI EEG datasets seriously noised by ocular artifacts also reveals the efficiency of the proposed L1-ADTF approach to extract the time-varying brain neural network patterns, even when more complex noises are involved.

SIGNIFICANCE

The L1-ADTF may not only be capable of tracking time-varying brain network state drifts robustly but may also be useful in solving a wide range of dynamic systems such as trajectory tracking problems and dynamic neural networks.

Revealing Whole-Brain Causality Networks During Guided Visual Searching

In our daily lives, we use eye movements to actively sample visual information from our environment ("active vision"). However, little is known about how the underlying mechanisms are affected by goal-directed behavior. In a study of 31 participants, magnetoencephalography was combined with eye-tracking technology to investigate how interregional interactions in the brain change when engaged in two distinct forms of active vision: freely viewing natural images or performing a guided visual search. Regions of interest with significant fixation-related evoked activity (FRA) were identified with spatiotemporal cluster permutation testing. Using generalized partial directed coherence, we show that, in response to fixation onset, a bilateral cluster consisting of four regions (posterior insula, transverse temporal gyri, superior temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus) formed a highly connected network during free viewing. A comparable network also emerged in the right hemisphere during the search task, with the right supramarginal gyrus acting as a central node for information exchange. The results suggest that all four regions are vital to visual processing and guiding attention. Furthermore, the right supramarginal gyrus was the only region where activity during fixations on the search target was significantly negatively correlated with search response times. Based on our findings, we hypothesize that, following a fixation, the right supramarginal gyrus supplies the right supplementary eye field (SEF) with new information to update the priority map guiding the eye movements during the search task.

Directed Brain Connectivity Identifies Widespread Functional Network Abnormalities in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by topological abnormalities in large-scale functional brain networks, which are commonly analyzed using undirected correlations in the activation signals between brain regions. This approach assumes simultaneous activation of brain regions, despite previous evidence showing that brain activation entails causality, with signals being typically generated in one region and then propagated to other ones. To address this limitation, here, we developed a new method to assess whole-brain directed functional connectivity in participants with PD and healthy controls using antisymmetric delayed correlations, which capture better this underlying causality. Our results show that whole-brain directed connectivity, computed on functional magnetic resonance imaging data, identifies widespread differences in the functional networks of PD participants compared with controls, in contrast to undirected methods. These differences are characterized by increased global efficiency, clustering, and transitivity combined with lower modularity. Moreover, directed connectivity patterns in the precuneus, thalamus, and cerebellum were associated with motor, executive, and memory deficits in PD participants. Altogether, these findings suggest that directional brain connectivity is more sensitive to functional network differences occurring in PD compared with standard methods, opening new opportunities for brain connectivity analysis and development of new markers to track PD progression.

Alterations in Neural Networks During Working Memory Encoding Related to Cognitive Impairment in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate the alterations in the neural networks of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) during working memory (WM) encoding.

Methods: Patients with TLE (n = 52) and healthy volunteers (n = 35) completed a WM task, during which 34-channel electroencephalogram signals were recorded. The neural networks during WM encoding were calculated in TLE patients with (TLE-WM) and without (TLE-N) WM deficits.

Results: Functional connectivity strength decreased, and the theta network was altered in the TLE-WM group, although no significant differences in clinical features were observed between the TLE-N and TLE-WM groups.

Conclusions: Not all patients with TLE present with cognitive impairments and alterations in the theta network were identified in TLE patients with functional cognitive deficits.

Significance: The theta network may represent a sensitive measure of cognitive impairment and could predict cognitive outcomes among patients with TLE.

Studying hemispheric lateralization of 4-month-old infants from different language groups through near-infrared spectroscopy-based connectivity

INTRODUCTION

Early monolingual versus bilingual experience affects linguistic and cognitive processes during the first months of life, as well as functional activation patterns. The previous study explored the influence of a bilingual environment in the first months of life on resting-state functional connectivity and reported no significant difference between language groups.

METHODS

To further explore the influence of a bilingual environment on brain development function, we used the resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy public dataset of the 4-month-old infant group in the sleep state (30 Spanish; 33 Basque; 36 bilingual). Wavelet Transform Coherence, graph theory, and Granger causality methods were performed on the functional connectivity of the frontal lobes.

RESULTS

The results showed that functional connectivity strength was significantly higher in the left hemisphere than that in the right hemisphere in both monolingual and bilingual groups. The graph theoretic analysis showed that the characteristic path length was significantly higher in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere for the bilingual infant group. Contrary to the monolingual infant group, the left-to-right direction of information flow was found in the frontal regions of the bilingual infant group in the effective connectivity analysis.

DISCUSSION

The results suggested that the left hemispheric lateralization of functional connectivity in frontal regions is more pronounced in the bilingual group compared to the monolingual group. Furthermore, effective connectivity analysis may be a useful method to investigate the resting-state brain networks of infants.

Ultrasonic thalamic stimulation modulates neural activity of thalamus and motor cortex in the mouse

Objective.Previous studies have demonstrated that ultrasound thalamic stimulation (UTS) can treat disorders of consciousness. However, it is still unclear how UTS modulates neural activity in the thalamus and cortex.Approach.In this study, we performed UTS in mice and recorded the neural activities including spike and local field potential (LFP) of the thalamus and motor cortex (M1). We analyzed the firing rate of spikes and the power spectrum of LFPs and evaluated the coupling relationship between LFPs from the thalamus and M1 with Granger causality.Main results.Our results clearly indicate that UTS can directly induce neural activity in the thalamus and indirectly induce neural activity in the M1. We also found that there is a strong connection relationship of neural activity between thalamus and M1 under UTS.Significance.These results demonstrate that UTS can modulate the neural activity of the thalamus and M1 in mice. It has the potential to provide guidance for the ultrasound treatment of thalamus-related diseases.

Dorsal visual stream is preferentially engaged during externally guided action selection in Parkinson Disease

OBJECTIVE

In patients with Parkinson Disease (PD), self-imitated or internally cued (IC) actions are thought to be compromised by the disease process, as exemplified by impairments in action initiation. In contrast, externally-cued (EC) actions which are made in response to sensory prompts can restore a remarkable degree of movement capability in PD, particularly alleviating freezing-of-gait. This study investigates the electrophysiological underpinnings of movement facilitation in PD through visuospatial cuing, with particular attention to the dynamics within the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and lateral premotor cortex (LPMC) axis of the dorsal visual stream.

METHODS

Invasive cortical recordings over the PPC and LPMC were obtained during deep brain stimulation lead implantation surgery. Thirteen PD subjects performed an action selection task, which was constituted by left or right joystick movement with directional visual cuing in the EC condition and internally generated direction selection in the IC condition. Time-resolved neural activities within and between the PPC and LPMC were compared between EC and IC conditions.

RESULTS

Reaction times (RT) were significantly faster in the EC condition relative to the IC condition (paired t-test, p = 0.0015). PPC-LPMC inter-site phase synchrony within the β-band (13-35 Hz) was significantly greater in the EC relative to the IC condition. Greater PPC-LPMC β debiased phase lag index (dwPLI) prior to movement onset was correlated with faster reaction times only in the EC condition. Multivariate granger causality (GC) was greater in the EC condition relative to the IC condition, prior to and during movement.

CONCLUSION

Relative to IC actions, we report relative increase in inter-site phase synchrony and directional PPC to LPMC connectivity in the β-band during preparation and execution of EC actions. Furthermore, increased strength of connectivity is predictive of faster RT, which are pathologically slow in PD patients. Stronger engagement of the PPC-LPMC cortical network by an EC specifically through the channel of β-modulation is implicated in correcting the pathological slowing of action initiation seen in Parkinson's patients.

SIGNIFICANCE

These findings shed light on the electrophysiological mechanisms that underlie motor facilitation in PD patients through visuospatial cuing.

Coupling feature extraction method of resting state EEG Signals from amnestic mild cognitive impairment with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on weight permutation conditional mutual information

This study aimed to find a good coupling feature extraction method to effectively analyze resting state EEG signals (rsEEG) of amnestic mild cognitive impairment(aMCI) with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) and normal control (NC) with T2DM. A method of EEG signal coupling feature extraction based on weight permutation conditional mutual information (WPCMI) was proposed in this research. With the WPCMI method, coupling feature strength of two time series in Alpha1, Alpha2, Beta1, Beta2 and Gamma bands for aMCI with T2DM and NC with T2DM could be extracted respectively. Then selected three frequency bands coupling feature matrix with the help of multi-spectral image transformation method to map it as spectral image characteristics. And finally classified these characteristics through the convolution neural network method(CNN). For aMCI with T2DM and NC with T2DM, the highest classification accuracy of 96%, 95%, 95% could be achieved respectively in the combination of three frequency bands (Alpha1, Alpha2, Gamma), (Beta1, Beta2 and Gamma) and (Alpha2, Beta1, Beta2). This WPCMI method highlighted the coupling dynamic characteristics of EEG signals, and its classification performance was better than all previous methods in aMCI with T2DM diagnosis field. WPCMI method could be used as an effective biomarker to distinguish EEG signals of aMCI with T2DM and NC with T2DM. The coupling feature extraction method used in this paper provided a new perspective for the EEG analysis of aMCI with T2DM.

Causal relationship between slow waves of arterial, intracranial pressures and blood velocity in brain

PURPOSE

Slow vasogenic waves in arterial blood pressure (ABP), intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (FV) carry information on multiple brain homeostatic control mechanisms. This work presents an approach to evaluate causal relation between oscillatory modes of these signals as an alternative to time or frequency domain Granger analysis.

METHODS

Forty-five patients with simultaneous recordings of ICP, ABP and FV during CSF infusion studies were examined retrospectively. Each time series was decomposed into ten intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) via Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and, afterwards, Granger causality (GC) was computed.

RESULTS

Slow waves of ICP, ABP and FV were reconstructed from mode functions IMF_6-9 of each time series, covering a frequency range between 0.013 and 0.155 Hz. Most significant connections were from FV to ICP, being stronger during elevation of mean ICP during infusion study. No G-causality was found between any of the IMFs during the baseline phase.

CONCLUSION

Nonlinearity and nonstationarity of the cerebral and systemic signals can be addressed using EEMD decomposition There is a causal influence of slow waves of FV on slow waves on ICP during the plateau phase of the infusion study for a frequency band between 0.095 and 0.155 Hz. This relationship is magnified during mild intracranial hypertension.

Enhanced Descending Corticomuscular Coupling During Hand Grip With Static Force Compared With Enhancing Force

The interaction between cortex and muscles under hand motor with different force states has not been quantitatively investigated yet, which to some extent places the optimized movement tasks design for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications in hand motor rehabilitation under uncertainty. Converging evidence has suggested that both the descending corticospinal pathway and ascending sensory feedback pathway are involved in the generation of corticomuscular coupling. The present study aimed to explore the corticomuscular coupling during hand motor task with enhancing force and steady-state force. Twenty healthy subjects performed precision grip with enhancing and static force using the right hand with visual feedback of exerted force. Mutual information and Granger causal connectivity were assessed between electroencephalography (EEG) over primary motor cortex and electromyography (EMG) recordings, and statistically analyzed. The results showed that the mutual information value was significantly larger for static force in the beta and alpha frequency band than enhancing force state. Furthermore, compared with enhancing force, the Granger causal connectivity of descending pathways from cortex to muscle was significantly larger for static force in the beta and high alpha frequency band (10-20 Hz), indicating the connection between the primary motor cortex and muscle was strengthened for static force. In summary, the hand grip with static force resulted in an increasing corticomuscular coupling from EEG over the primary motor cortex to EMG compared with enhancing force, implying more attention was required in the static force state. These results have important implications toward motor rehabilitation therapy design for the recovery of impaired hand motor functions.

Disruption of the Cortical-Vagal Communication Network in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neuropathy characterized by motor disorders, but it has also been associated with the presence of autonomic alterations as a result of degradation of the dopaminergic system. Studying the relation between Band Power time series (BPts) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), has been proposed as a tool to explore the bidirectional communication pathways between cortex and autonomic control. This work presents a primer analysis on study brain ↔ heart interaction on a databse of PD patients under two conditions: without and after levadopa (L-dopa) intake. Additionally a healthy control population was also analyzed, and used as comparison level between both conditions. Results show PD affects pathways by reducing the number of connections, specially association of beta and power and the second faster component of HRV seems to be more sensitive to L-dopa administration.

Impaired cognitive flexibility following NMDAR-GluN2B deletion is associated with altered orbitofrontal-striatal function

A common feature across neuropsychiatric disorders is inability to discontinue an action or thought once it has become detrimental. Reversal learning, a hallmark of executive control, requires plasticity within cortical, striatal and limbic circuits and is highly sensitive to disruption of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function. In particular, selective deletion or antagonism of GluN2B containing NMDARs in cortical regions including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), promotes maladaptive perseveration. It remains unknown whether GluN2B functions to maintain local cortical activity necessary for reversal learning, or if it exerts a broader influence on the integration of neural activity across cortical and subcortical systems. To address this question, we utilized in vivo electrophysiology to record neuronal activity and local field potentials (LFP) in the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsal striatum (dS) of mice with deletion of GluN2B in neocortical and hippocampal principal cells while they performed touchscreen reversal learning. Reversal impairment produced by corticohippocampal GluN2B deletion was paralleled by an aberrant increase in functional connectivity between the OFC and dS. These alterations in coordination were associated with alterations in local OFC and dS firing activity. These data demonstrate highly dynamic patterns of cortical and striatal activity concomitant with reversal learning, and reveal GluN2B as a molecular mechanism underpinning the timing of these processes.

Stimulus evoked causality estimation in stereo-EEG

Objective.Stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) has recently gained importance in analyzing brain functions. Its high temporal resolution and spatial specificity make it a powerful tool to investigate the strength, direction, and spectral content of brain networks interactions, especially when these connections are stimulus-evoked. However, choosing the best approach to evaluate the flow of information is not trivial, due to the lack of validated methods explicitly designed for SEEG.Approach.We propose a novel non-parametric statistical test for event-related causality (ERC) assessment on SEEG recordings. Here, we refer to the ERC as the causality evoked by a particular part of the stimulus (a response window (RW)). We also present a data surrogation method to evaluate the performance of a causality estimation algorithm. We finally validated our pipeline using surrogate SEEG data derived from an experimentally collected dataset, and compared the most used and successful measures to estimate effective connectivity, belonging to the Geweke-Granger causality framework.Main results.Here we show that our workflow correctly identified all the directed connections in the RW of the surrogate data and prove the robustness of the procedure against synthetic noise with amplitude exceeding physiological-plausible values. Among the causality measures tested, partial directed coherence performed best.Significance.This is the first non-parametric statistical test for ERC estimation explicitly designed for SEEG datasets. The pipeline, in principle, can also be applied to the analysis of any type of time-varying estimator, if there exists a clearly defined RW.

Semantic Congruence Drives Long-Term Memory and Similarly Affects Neural Retrieval Dynamics in Young and Older Adults

Learning novel information can be promoted if it is congruent with already stored knowledge. This so-called semantic congruence effect has been broadly studied in healthy young adults with a focus on neural encoding mechanisms. However, the impacts on retrieval, and possible impairments during healthy aging, which is typically associated with changes in declarative long-term memory, remain unclear. To investigate these issues, we used a previously established paradigm in healthy young and older humans with a focus on the neural activity at a final retrieval stage as measured with electroencephalography (EEG). In both age groups, semantic congruence at encoding enhanced subsequent long-term recognition memory of words. Compatible with this observation, semantic congruence led to differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) at retrieval, and this effect was not modulated by age. Specifically, congruence modulated old/new ERPs at a fronto-central (Fz) and left parietal (P3) electrode in a late (400–600 ms) time window, which has previously been associated with recognition memory processes. Importantly, ERPs to old items also correlated with the positive effect of semantic congruence on long-term memory independent of age. Together, our findings suggest that semantic congruence drives subsequent recognition memory across the lifespan through changes in neural retrieval processes.

Combination of Matching Responsive Stimulations of Hippocampus and Subiculum for Effective Seizure Suppression in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Responsive neural stimulation (RNS) is considered a promising neural modulation therapy for refractory epilepsy. Combined stimulation on different targets may hold great promise for improving the efficacy of seizure control since neural activity changed dynamically within associated brain targets in the epileptic network. Three major issues need to be further explored to achieve better efficacy of combined stimulation: (1) which nodes within the epileptogenic network should be chosen as stimulation targets? (2) What stimulus frequency should be delivered to different targets? and (3) Could the efficacy of RNS for seizure control be optimized by combined different stimulation targets together? In our current study, Granger causality (GC) method was applied to analyze epileptogenic networks for finding key targets of RNS. Single target stimulation (100 μA amplitude, 300 μs pulse width, 5s duration, biphasic, charge-balanced) with high frequency (130 Hz, HFS) or low frequency (5 Hz, LFS) was firstly delivered by our lab designed RNS systems to CA3, CA1, subiculum (SUB) of hippocampi, and anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT). The efficacy of combined stimulation with different groups of frequencies was finally assessed to find out better combined key targets with optimal stimulus frequency. Our results showed that stimulation individually delivered to SUB and CA1 could shorten the average duration of seizures. Different stimulation frequencies impacted the efficacy of seizure control, as HFS delivered to CA1 and LFS delivered to SUB, respectively, were more effective for shortening the average duration of electrographic seizure in Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 3). Moreover, the synchronous stimulation of HFS in CA1 combined with LFS in SUB reduced the duration of discharge significantly in rats (n = 6). The combination of responsive stimulation at different targets may be an inspiration to optimize stimulation therapy for epilepsy.

Extensions of Granger Causality Calculations on Brain Networks for Efficient and Accurate Seizure Focus Identification via iEEGs

Current epilepsy surgery planning protocol determines the seizure onset zone (SOZ) through resource-intensive, invasive monitoring of ictal events. Recently, we have reported that Granger Causality (GC) maps produced from analysis of interictal iEEG recordings have potential in revealing SOZ. In this study, we investigate GC maps’ network connectivity patterns to determine possible clinical correlation with patients’ SOZ and resection zone (RZ). While building understanding of interictal network topography and its relationship to the RZ/SOZ, we identify algorithmic tools with potential applications in epilepsy surgery planning. These graph algorithms are retrospectively tested on data from 25 patients and compared to the neurologist-determined SOZ and surgical RZ, viewed as sources of truth. Centrality algorithms yielded statistically significant RZ rank order sums for 16 of 24 patients with RZ data, representing an improvement from prior algorithms. While SOZ results remained largely the same, this study validates the applicability of graph algorithms to RZ/SOZ detection, opening the door to further exploration of iEEG datasets. Furthermore, this study offers previously inaccessible insights into the relationship between interictal brain connectivity patterns and epileptic brain networks, utilizing the overall topology of the graphs as well as data on edge weights and quantity of edges contained in GC maps.

Sparse Granger Causality Analysis Model Based on Sensors Correlation for Emotion Recognition Classification in Electroencephalography

In recent years, affective computing based on electroencephalogram (EEG) data has attracted increased attention. As a classic EEG feature extraction model, Granger causality analysis has been widely used in emotion classification models, which construct a brain network by calculating the causal relationships between EEG sensors and select the key EEG features. Traditional EEG Granger causality analysis uses the L₂ norm to extract features from the data, and so the results are susceptible to EEG artifacts. Recently, several researchers have proposed Granger causality analysis models based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and the L_1/2 norm to solve this problem. However, the conventional sparse Granger causality analysis model assumes that the connections between each sensor have the same prior probability. This paper shows that if the correlation between the EEG data from each sensor can be added to the Granger causality network as prior knowledge, the EEG feature selection ability and emotional classification ability of the sparse Granger causality model can be enhanced. Based on this idea, we propose a new emotional computing model, named the sparse Granger causality analysis model based on sensor correlation (SC-SGA). SC-SGA integrates the correlation between sensors as prior knowledge into the Granger causality analysis based on the L_1/2 norm framework for feature extraction, and uses L₂ norm logistic regression as the emotional classification algorithm. We report the results of experiments using two real EEG emotion datasets. These results demonstrate that the emotion classification accuracy of the SC-SGA model is better than that of existing models by 2.46–21.81%.

Information transmission in mPFC-BLA network during exploratory behavior in the open field

Exploratory behavior plays a fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being of organisms. The open field test (OFT) is a classic method to investigate the exploratory behavior in rodents, also a widely adopted and pharmacologically validated procedure for evaluating anxiety and depression. Several lines of evidence have shown that medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) play crucial roles in anxiety-like or depression-like exploratory behavior. However, the dynamic characterization of the mPFC-BLA network in exploratory behavior is less well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the information transmission mechanism in the mPFC-BLA network during exploratory behavior. Local field potentials (LFPs) from mPFC and BLA were simultaneously recorded while the rats performed the OFT. Directed transfer function (DTF), which was derived from Granger causal connectivity analysis, was applied to measure the functional connectivity among LFPs. Information flow (IF) was calculated to explore the dynamics of information transmission in the mPFC-BLA network. Our results revealed that, for both mPFC and BLA, the theta-band functional connectivity in periphery was significantly higher than that in center of the open field. The IF from BLA to mPFC in the open field task was significantly higher than that from mPFC to BLA. These results suggest that the functional connectivity and IF in the mPFC-BLA network are related to the exploratory behavior, and information transmission from BLA to mPFC could be predominant for exploratory behavior.

Novel Causal Relations between Neuronal Networks due to Synchronization

In the process of information transmission, information is thought to be transmitted from the networks that are activated by the input to the networks that are silent or nonactivated. Here, via numerical simulation of a 3-network motif, we show that the silent neuronal network when interconnected with other 2 networks can exert much stronger causal influences on the other networks. Such an unexpected causal relationship results from high degree of synchronization in this network. The predominant party is consistently the network whose noise is smaller when the noise level in each network is considered. Our results can shed lights on how the internal network dynamics can affect the information flow of interconnected neuronal networks.

Super-Selective Reconstruction of Causal and Direct Connectivity With Application to in vitro iPSC Neuronal Networks

Despite advancements in the development of cell-based in-vitro neuronal network models, the lack of appropriate computational tools limits their analyses. Methods aimed at deciphering the effective connections between neurons from extracellular spike recordings would increase utility of in vitro local neural circuits, especially for studies of human neural development and disease based on induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). Current techniques allow statistical inference of functional couplings in the network but are fundamentally unable to correctly identify indirect and apparent connections between neurons, generating redundant maps with limited ability to model the causal dynamics of the network. In this paper, we describe a novel mathematically rigorous, model-free method to map effective-direct and causal-connectivity of neuronal networks from multi-electrode array data. The inference algorithm uses a combination of statistical and deterministic indicators which, first, enables identification of all existing functional links in the network and then reconstructs the directed and causal connection diagram via a super-selective rule enabling highly accurate classification of direct, indirect, and apparent links. Our method can be generally applied to the functional characterization of any in vitro neuronal networks. Here, we show that, given its accuracy, it can offer important insights into the functional development of in vitro hiPSC-derived neuronal cultures.

Quantification of the Direct Solar Impact on Some Components of the Hydro-Climatic System

This study addresses the causal links between external factors and the main hydro-climatic variables by using a chain of methods to unravel the complexity of the direct sun–climate link. There is a gap in the literature on the description of a complete chain in addressing the structures of direct causal links of solar activity on terrestrial variables. This is why the present study uses the extensive facilities of the application of information theory in view of recent advances in different fields. Additionally, by other methods (e.g., neural networks) we first tested the existent non-linear links of solar–terrestrial influences on the hydro-climate system. The results related to the solar impact on terrestrial phenomena are promising, which is discriminant in the space-time domain. The implications prove robust for determining the causal measure of climate variables under direct solar impact, which makes it easier to consider solar activity in climate models by appropriate parametrizations. This study found that hydro-climatic variables are sensitive to solar impact only for certain frequencies (periods) and have a coherence with the Solar Flux only for some lags of the Solar Flux (in advance).

Altered evoked low-frequency connectivity from SI to ACC following nerve injury in rats

Objective. Despite decades of research on central processing of pain, there are still several unanswered questions, in particular regarding the brain regions that may contribute to this alerting sensation. Since it is generally accepted that more than one cortical area is responsible for pain processing, there is an increasing focus on the interaction between areas known to be involved.Approach. In this study, we aimed to investigate the bidirectional information flow from the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in an animal model of neuropathic pain.19 rats (nine controls and ten intervention) had an intracortical electrode implanted with six pins in SI and six pins in ACC, and a cuff stimulation electrode around the sciatic nerve. The intervention rats were subjected to the spared nerve injury (SNI) after baseline recordings. Electrical stimulation at three intensities of both noxious and non-noxious stimulation was used to record electrically evoked cortical potentials. To investigate information flow, two connectivity measures were used: phase lag index (PLI) and granger prediction (GP). The rats were anesthetized during the entire study.Main results. Immediately after the intervention (<5 min after intervention), the high frequency (γandγ+) PLI was significantly decreased compared to controls. In the last recording cycle (3-4 h after intervention), the GP increased consistently in the intervention group. Peripheral nerve injury, as a model of neuropathic pain, resulted in an immediate decrease in information flow between SI and ACC, possibly due to decreased sensory input from the injured nerve. Hours after injury, the connectivity between SI and ACC increased, likely indicating hypersensitivity of this pathway.Significance. We have shown that both a directed and non-directed connectivity between SI and ACC approach can be used to show the acute changes resulting from the SNI model.

SEED-G: Simulated EEG Data Generator for Testing Connectivity Algorithms

EEG signals are widely used to estimate brain circuits associated with specific tasks and cognitive processes. The testing of connectivity estimators is still an open issue because of the lack of a ground-truth in real data. Existing solutions such as the generation of simulated data based on a manually imposed connectivity pattern or mass oscillators can model only a few real cases with limited number of signals and spectral properties that do not reflect those of real brain activity. Furthermore, the generation of time series reproducing non-ideal and non-stationary ground-truth models is still missing. In this work, we present the SEED-G toolbox for the generation of pseudo-EEG data with imposed connectivity patterns, overcoming the existing limitations and enabling control of several parameters for data simulation according to the user's needs. We first described the toolbox including guidelines for its correct use and then we tested its performances showing how, in a wide range of conditions, datasets composed by up to 60 time series were successfully generated in less than 5 s and with spectral features similar to real data. Then, SEED-G is employed for studying the effect of inter-trial variability Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) estimates, confirming its robustness.

Causal relationship of CA3 back-projection to the dentate gyrus and its role in CA1 fast ripple generation

BACKGROUND

Pathophysiological evidence from temporal lobe epilepsy models highlights the hippocampus as the most affected structure due to its high degree of neuroplasticity and control of the dynamics of limbic structures, which are necessary to encode information, conferring to it an intrinsic epileptogenicity. A loss in this control results in observable oscillatory perturbations called fast ripples, in epileptic rats those events are found in CA1, CA3, and the dentate gyrus (DG), which are the principal regions of the trisynaptic circuit of the hippocampus. The present work used Granger causality to address which relationships among these three regions of the trisynaptic circuit are needed to cause fast ripples in CA1 in an in vivo model. For these purposes, male Wistar rats (210-300 g) were injected with a single dose of pilocarpine hydrochloride (2.4 mg/2 µl) into the right lateral ventricle and video-monitored 24 h/day to detect spontaneous and recurrent seizures. Once detected, rats were implanted with microelectrodes in these regions (fixed-recording tungsten wire electrodes, 60-μm outer diameter) ipsilateral to the pilocarpine injection. A total of 336 fast ripples were recorded and probabilistically characterized, from those fast ripples we made a subset of all the fast ripple events associated with sharp-waves in CA1 region (n = 40) to analyze them with Granger Causality.

RESULTS

Our results support existing evidence in vitro in which fast ripple events in CA1 are initiated by CA3 multiunit activity and describe a general synchronization in the theta band across the three regions analyzed DG, CA3, and CA1, just before the fast ripple event in CA1 have begun.

CONCLUSION

This in vivo study highlights the causal participation of the CA3 back-projection to the DG, a connection commonly overlooked in the trisynaptic circuit, as a facilitator of a closed-loop among these regions that prolongs the excitatory activity of CA3. We speculate that the loss of inhibitory drive of DG and the mechanisms of ripple-related memory consolidation in which also the CA3 back-projection to DG has a fundamental role might be underlying processes of the fast ripples generation in CA1.

Altered functional connectivity patterns of insular subregions in major depressive disorder after electroconvulsive therapy

Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an efficient treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), however, it also brings memory impairment. The insula is a critical brain structure for coordinating affective, cognitive memory, saliency processing, and attention switching suggesting functional activity of insula maybe an important indicator to delineate the treatment and side effects of ECT. Here, Resting-state functional connectivity analyses of insular subregions were performed to reveal the changes of connectivity in 23 MDD patients before and after ECT and 25 healthy control (HC) and identified significantly increased functional connectivity of the right ventral anterior insular subregion with bilateral caudate, angular gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex after ECT. Granger causality analyses identified significantly increased effective connectivity from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to right angular gyrus in MDD patients after ECT. Furthermore, increased effective connectivity from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to right angular gyrus exhibited significantly positive correlation with changed Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores. These results showed that ECT can normalize abnormal functional connectivity and effective connectivity in MDD. Our findings also indicated that the right ventral anterior insula and effective connectivity from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to right angular gyrus are biomarkers of antidepressant effects during ECT of MDD.

Cortex-Wide Dynamics of Intrinsic Electrical Activities: Propagating Waves and Their Interactions

Cortical circuits generate patterned activities that reflect intrinsic brain dynamics that lay the foundation for any, including stimuli-evoked, cognition and behavior. However, the spatiotemporal organization properties and principles of this intrinsic activity have only been partially elucidated because of previous poor resolution of experimental data and limited analysis methods. Here we investigated continuous wave patterns in the 0.5-4 Hz (delta band) frequency range on data from high-spatiotemporal resolution optical voltage imaging of the upper cortical layers in anesthetized mice. Waves of population activities propagate in heterogeneous directions to coordinate neuronal activities between different brain regions. The complex wave patterns show characteristics of both stereotypy and variety. The location and type of wave patterns determine the dynamical evolution when different waves interact with each other. Local wave patterns of source, sink, or saddle emerge at preferred spatial locations. Specifically, "source" patterns are predominantly found in cortical regions with low multimodal hierarchy such as the primary somatosensory cortex. Our findings reveal principles that govern the spatiotemporal dynamics of spontaneous cortical activities and associate them with the structural architecture across the cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Intrinsic brain activities, as opposed to external stimulus-evoked responses, have increasingly gained attention, but it remains unclear how these intrinsic activities are spatiotemporally organized at the cortex-wide scale. By taking advantage of the high spatiotemporal resolution of optical voltage imaging, we identified five wave pattern types, and revealed the organization properties of different wave patterns and the dynamical mechanisms when they interact with each other. Moreover, we found a relationship between the emergence probability of local wave patterns and the multimodal structure hierarchy across cortical areas. Our findings reveal the principles of spatiotemporal wave dynamics of spontaneous activities and associate them with the underlying hierarchical architecture across the cortex.

Effect of force accuracy on hemodynamic response: an fNIRS study using fine visuomotor task

Objective. Despite converging neuroimaging studies investigating how neural activity is modulated by various motor related factors, such as movement velocity and force magnitude, little has been devoted to identifying the effect of force accuracy. This study thus aimed to investigate the effect of task difficulty on cortical neural responses when participants performed a visuomotor task with varying demands on force accuracy.Approach. Fourteen healthy adults performed a set of force generation operations with six levels of force accuracy. The participants held a pen-shaped tool and moved the tool along a planar ring path, meanwhile producing a constant force against the plane under visual guidance. The required force accuracy was modulated by allowable tolerance of the force during the task execution. We employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy to record signals from bilateral prefrontal, sensorimotor and occipital areas, used the hemoglobin concentration as indicators of cortical activation, then calculated the effective connectivity across these regions by Granger causality.Main results.We observed overall stronger activation (oxy-hemoglobin concentration,p= 0.015) and connectivity (p< 0.05) associated with the initial increase in force accuracy, and the diminished trend in activation and connectivity when participants were exposed to excessive demands on accurate force generation. These findings suggested that the increasing task difficulty would be only beneficial for the mental investment up to a certain point, and above that point neural responses would show patterns of lower activation and connections, revealing mental overload at excessive task demands.Significance.Our results provide the first evidence for the inverted U-shaped effect of force accuracy on hemodynamic responses during fine visuomotor tasks. The insights obtained through this study also highlight the essential role of inter-region connectivity alterations for coping with task difficulty, enhance our understanding of the underlying motor neural processes, and provide the groundwork for developing adaptive neurorehabilitation strategies.

Bidirectional intrinsic modulation of EEG band power time series and spectral components of heart rate variability

Some hypotheses relate oscillations of EEG band power with autonomic processes derived from homeostatic control modulated by structures like the Central Autonomic Network and the Autonomic Nervous System. This research project studies the causal relationships between fluctuations of an autonomic process marker like the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and the proposed EEG band power time series (BPts). To verify the existence of directional causal relationships, using Granger Causality (GC) test between HRV and BPts. Analyses were performed using two databases, of 9 and 14 subjects respectively. Experiments consisted of spontaneous breathing and a controlled breathing task (CBT). GC was tested over Intrinsinc Mode Functions of HRV derived from Empirical Mode Decomposition and BPts computed over α, β and γ bands. Positive GC tests were observed through each experimental task, channels, IMFs, EEG band, and direction. The largest number of positive GC relationships were found from BPts to HRV when testing, higher EEG band and IMF with lower spectral content. Opposite direction achieves lower total counts, but more related with IMFs of higher spectral content. Its presence also suggests that some homeostatic condition alters the BPts course given its increment under the CBT. It is important to notice that in both cases γ band achieves larger values for almost all of the studied conditions. Suggesting that such band has an important influence over HRV, but alterations on breathing condition also produce changes on BPts evolution, suggesting that the closed loop for homeostatic control alters neural dynamics at cortical level.

Dyskinesia is Closely Associated with Synchronization of Theta Oscillatory Activity Between the Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata and Motor Cortex in the Off L-dopa State in Rats

Excessive theta (θ) frequency oscillation and synchronization in the basal ganglia (BG) has been reported in elderly parkinsonian patients and animal models of levodopa (L-dopa)-induced dyskinesia (LID), particularly the θ oscillation recorded during periods when L-dopa is withdrawn (the off L-dopa state). To gain insight into processes underlying this activity, we explored the relationship between primary motor cortex (M1) oscillatory activity and BG output in LID. We recorded local field potentials in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and M1 of awake, inattentive resting rats before and after L-dopa priming in Sham control, Parkinson disease model, and LID model groups. We found that chronic L-dopa increased θ synchronization and information flow between the SNr and M1 in off L-dopa state LID rats, with a SNr-to-M1 flow directionality. Compared with the on state, θ oscillational activity (θ synchronization and information flow) during the off state were more closely associated with abnormal involuntary movements. Our findings indicate that θ oscillation in M1 may be consequent to abnormal synchronous discharges in the BG and support the notion that M1 θ oscillation may participate in the induction of dyskinesia.

Personality differences in brain network mechanisms for placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia in experimental pain: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Background

Placebo and nocebo responses have been increasingly gaining the attention of clinical and scientific researchers. Inconsistent conclusions from current studies indicate that different factors potentially affect both placebo and nocebo responses. Increasing evidence suggests that personality differences may affect the mechanisms of both two responses. In the present work, we explored the characteristics of neural signals of placebo and nocebo responses based on functional connectivity (FC) analysis and Granger causality analysis (GCA).

Methods

A total of 34 healthy participants received conditional induction training to establish placebo and nocebo responses. Every participant completed the following experimental workflow, including scanning of baseline, experimental low back pain model establishment, scanning of acute pain status, and scanning of placebo response or nocebo response. We collect visual analogue scale (VAS) data after each scanning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from different personality groups were subjected to FC analysis and multivariate GCA (mGCA).

Results

Pain scores for placebo and nocebo responses were statistically different across different personality. There are also statistically differences in the neural signals of two responses across different personality.

Conclusions

The findings of the present study indicated that extroverted and introverted participants are likely to experience placebo analgesic effects and nocebo hyperalgesia effects, respectively. Both extroverted and introverted participants showed significant changes in brain networks under placebo response. Variation in emotional control and ventromedial prefrontal cortex inactivity may constitute the bulk of the personality differences in placebo analgesia. Differences in the regulation of the sensory conduction system (SCS) and release of the emotional circuit could be important factors affecting personality differences in nocebo hyperalgesia.

Alcohol exposure in utero disrupts cortico-striatal coordination required for behavioral flexibility

Deficits in behavioral flexibility are a hallmark of multiple psychiatric, neurological, and substance use disorders. These deficits are often marked by decreased function of the prefrontal cortex (PFC); however, the genesis of such executive deficits remains understudied. Here we report how the most preventable cause of developmental disability, in utero exposure to alcohol, alters cortico-striatal circuit activity leading to impairments in behavioral flexibility in adulthood. We utilized a translational touch-screen task coupled with in vivo electrophysiology in adult mice to examine single unit and coordinated activity of the lateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral striatum (DS) during flexible behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) decreased OFC, and increased DS, single unit activity during reversal learning and altered the number of choice responsive neurons in both regions. PAE also decreased coordinated activity within the OFC and DS as measured by oscillatory field activity and altered spike-field coupling. Furthermore, PAE led to sustained connectivity between regions past what was seen in control animals. These findings suggest that PAE causes altered coordination within and between the OFC and DS, promoting maladaptive perseveration. Our model suggests that in optimally functioning mice OFC disengages the DS and updates the newly changed reward contingency, whereas in PAE animals, aberrant and persistent OFC to DS signaling drives behavioral inflexibility during early reversal sessions. Together, these findings demonstrate how developmental exposure alters circuit-level activity leading to behavioral deficits and suggest a critical role for coordination of neural timing during behaviors requiring executive function.

EEG Decoding of Dynamic Facial Expressions of Emotion: Evidence from SSVEP and Causal Cortical Network Dynamics

The neural cognitive mechanism in processing static facial expressions (FEs) has been well documented, whereas the one underlying perceiving dynamic faces remains unclear. In this study, Fourier transformation and time-frequency analysis of Electroencephalography (EEG) data were carried out to detect the brain activation underlying dynamic or static FEs while twenty-one participants were viewing dynamic or static faces flicking at 10 Hz. In particular, steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) were quantified through spectral power analysis of EEG recordings. Besides, Granger causality (GC) analysis (GCA) was also performed to capture the causal cortical network dynamics during dynamic or static FEs of emotion. It was discovered that the dynamic (from neural to happy (N2H) or vice versa (H2N)) FEs elicited larger SSVEPs than the static ones. Additionally, GCA demonstrated that the H2N case, in which happy FEs were being gradually changed into neutral ones, exhibited larger GC measure during the late processing stage than that from the early stage. Consequently, enhanced SSVEPs and effective brain connectivity for dynamic FEs illustrated that participants might need consume more attentional resources to process the dynamic faces, particularly for the change from happy to neutral faces. The new neural index might facilitate us to better understand the cognitive processing of dynamic and static FEs.

An Adaptive EEG Feature Extraction Method Based on Stacked Denoising Autoencoder for Mental Fatigue Connectivity

Mental fatigue is a common psychobiological state elected by prolonged cognitive activities. Although, the performance and the disadvantage of the mental fatigue have been well known, its connectivity among the multiareas of the brain has not been thoroughly studied yet. This is important for the clarification of the mental fatigue mechanism. However, the common method of connectivity analysis based on EEG cannot get rid of the interference from strong noise. In this paper, an adaptive feature extraction model based on stacked denoising autoencoder has been proposed. The signal to noise ratio of the extracted feature has been analyzed. Compared with principal component analysis, the proposed method can significantly improve the signal to noise ratio and suppress the noise interference. The proposed method has been applied on the analysis of mental fatigue connectivity. The causal connectivity among the frontal, motor, parietal, and visual areas under the awake, fatigue, and sleep deprivation conditions has been analyzed, and different patterns of connectivity between conditions have been revealed. The connectivity direction under awake condition and sleep deprivation condition is opposite. Moreover, there is a complex and bidirectional connectivity relationship, from the anterior areas to the posterior areas and from the posterior areas to the anterior areas, under fatigue condition. These results imply that there are different brain patterns on the three conditions. This study provides an effective method for EEG analysis. It may be favorable to disclose the underlying mechanism of mental fatigue by connectivity analysis.

Neurofunctional Components of Simple Calculation: A Magnetoencephalography Study

Our ability to calculate implies more than the sole retrieval of the correct solution. Essential processes for simple calculation are related to the spreading of activation through arithmetic memory networks. There is behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for these mechanisms. Their brain location is, however, still uncertain. Here, we measured magnetoencephalographic brain activity during the verification of simple multiplication problems. Following the operands, the solutions to verify could be preactivated correct solutions, preactivated table-related incorrect solutions, or unrelated incorrect solutions. Brain source estimation, based on these event-related fields, revealed 3 main brain networks involved in simple calculation: 1) bilateral inferior frontal areas mainly activated in response to correct, matching solutions; 2) a left-lateralized frontoparietal network activated in response to incorrect table-related solutions; and (3) a strikingly similar frontoparietal network in the opposite hemisphere activated in response to unrelated solutions. Directional functional connectivity analyses revealed a bidirectional causal loop between left parietal and frontal areas for table-related solutions, with frontal areas explaining the resolution of arithmetic competition behaviorally. Hence, this study isolated at least 3 neurofunctional networks orchestrated between hemispheres during calculation.

Graph theory in paediatric epilepsy: A systematic review

Graph theoretical studies have been designed to investigate network topologies during life. Network science and graph theory methods may contribute to a better understanding of brain function, both normal and abnormal, throughout developmental stages. The degree to which childhood epilepsies exert a significant effect on brain network organisation and cognition remains unclear. The hypothesis suggests that the formation of abnormal networks associated with epileptogenesis early in life causes a disruption in normal brain network development and cognition, reflecting abnormalities in later life. Neurological diseases with onset during critical stages of brain maturation, including childhood epilepsy, may threaten this orderly neurodevelopmental process. According to the hypothesis that the formation of abnormal networks associated with epileptogenesis in early life causes a disruption in normal brain network development, it is then mandatory to perform a proper examination of children with new-onset epilepsy early in the disease course and a deep study of their brain network organisation over time. In regards, graph theoretical analysis could add more information. In order to facilitate further development of graph theory in childhood, we performed a systematic review to describe its application in functional dynamic connectivity using electroencephalographic (EEG) analysis, focussing on paediatric epilepsy.

Altered Intrinsic and Casual Functional Connectivities of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Subregions in Chess Experts

An outstanding chess player needs to accumulate massive visual and spatial information for chess configurations. Visual motion area (MT) is considered as a brain region specialized for visual motion perception and visuospatial attention processing. However, how long-term chess training shapes the functional connectivity patterns of MT, especially its functional subregions, has rarely been investigated. In our study, using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA), we studied the changed functional couplings of MT subregions between 28 chess master players and 27 gender- and age-matched healthy novices to reveal the neural basis of long-term professional chess training. RSFC analysis identified decreased functional connections between right dorsal-anterior subregion (CI1.R) and left angular gyrus, and increased functional connections between right ventral-anterior MT subregion (CI2.R) and right superior temporal gyrus in chess experts. Moreover, GCA analyses further found increased mutual interactions of left angular gyrus and CI1.R in chess experts compared to novice players. These findings demonstrate that long-term professional chess training could enhance spatial perception and reconfiguration and semantic processing efficiency for superior performance.

Spatiotemporal functional interactivity among large-scale brain networks

The macro-scale intrinsic functional network architecture of the human brain has been well characterized. Early studies revealed robust and enduring patterns of static connectivity, while more recent work has begun to explore the temporal dynamics of these large-scale brain networks. Little work to date has investigated directed connectivity within and between these networks, or the temporal patterns of afferent (input) and efferent (output) connections between network nodes. Leveraging a novel analytic approach, prediction correlation, we investigated the causal interactions within and between large-scale networks of the brain using resting state fMRI. This technique allows us to characterize information transfer between brain regions in both the spatial (direction) and temporal (duration) scales. Using data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 200) we applied prediction correlation techniques to four resting-state fMRI scans (each scan has TRs = 1200). Three central observations emerged. First, the strongest and longest duration connections were observed within the somatomotor, visual, and dorsal attention networks. Second, the short duration connections were observed for high-degree nodes in the visual and default networks, as well as in the hippocampus. Specifically, the connectivity profile of the highest-degree nodes was dominated by efferent connections to multiple cortical areas. Moderate high-degree nodes, particularly in hippocampal regions, showed an afferent connectivity profile. Finally, multimodal association nodes in lateral prefrontal brain regions demonstrated a short duration, bidirectional connectivity profile, consistent with this region's role in integrative and modulatory processing. These results provide novel insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of human brain function.