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Qian Y, Takimoto Y, Yasumura A. Cross-cultural differences in prefrontal cortex activity in moral judgment: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study based on the CNI model. Behav Brain Res 2024; 465:114891. [PMID: 38354860 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.114891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the past, comparative cultural neurological studies of moral judgments have mainly focused on Eastern and Western groups. We initially examined Japanese and Chinese groups, both East Asian cultures. We utilized a recently proposed polynomial model known as the "consequences, norms, and generalized inaction" (CNI) model to investigate the variations in the overall prefrontal cortex activity between these two groups during moral judgment. METHODS We employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to analyze the prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity within a CNI model of moral judgment among 23 healthy Japanese and 26 healthy Chinese adults. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Our study revealed significant differences in the PFC activation between Japanese and Chinese individuals in the CNI moral judgment task context. Specifically, during the CNI task, Chinese men exhibited higher right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-DLPFC) activity than Chinese women. In contrast, Japanese women showed greater left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) activity than Japanese men. In an international comparison, R-DLPFC activity was higher in Chinese men than in Japanese men. Conversely, the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activity was higher in Japanese men compared to Chinese men. Additionally, among women, the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity was higher in Japanese women than in Chinese women. In conclusion, our findings support the perspective of cultural psychology and identify cultural and sex differences in PFC activity between Japanese and Chinese individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yachun Qian
- Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, Kumamoto University, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Takimoto
- Department of Biomedical Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan
| | - Akira Yasumura
- Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kumamoto University, Japan.
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2
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Qiao X, Lu K, Yun Q, Hao N. Similarities and Distinctions between Cortical Neural Substrates That Underlie Generation of Malevolent Creative Ideas. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0127-23.2023. [PMID: 37696664 PMCID: PMC10512885 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0127-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Creativity can be driven by negative intentions, and this is called malevolent creativity (MC). It is a type of creativity that serves antisocial purposes and deliberately leads to harmful or immoral results. A possible classification indicates that there are three kinds of MC in daily life: hurting people, lying, and playing tricks. This study aimed to explore similar and distinct neural substrates underlying these different kinds of MC idea generation. The participants were asked to perform different MC tasks, and their neural responses were recorded using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy device. The findings revealed that most regions within the prefrontal and temporal lobes [e.g., the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC), and right angular gyrus] were involved in the three MC tasks. However, the right frontopolar cortex (rFPC) was more activated and less coupled with the rDLPFC and right precuneus during the lying task than during the other tasks. Thus, rFPC may play an important role in constructing novel lies. In the lying task, individuals were more selfish and less compassionate. In the playing tricks and hurting people tasks, there was less neural coupling between the rDLPFC and the left inferior frontal gyrus/right inferior parietal lobule than that in the lying task. This may imply that selfish motivation is released when individuals try to ignore victims' distress or generate aggressive tricks in hurting people or playing tricks tasks. These findings indicate that the three kinds of MC idea generation involve common cortical regions related to creative idea generation and moral judgment, whereas differences in cortical responses exist because of their unique features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinuo Qiao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, People's Republic of China
| | - Kelong Lu
- School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou Zhejiang, 325035, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiang Yun
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, People's Republic of China
| | - Ning Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, People's Republic of China
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3
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Xu K, Ou Q, Luo D, Shi X, Li K, Xue H, Huang Y, Turel O, Zhang S, He Q. Moral decision-making in pettism: The influence of animal type, pet ownership status, and social distance. Psych J 2023; 12:54-72. [PMID: 36123756 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Speciesism prioritizes humans over animals and pets. Nevertheless, pet owners have a strong attachment bond with their pets, which makes their hierarchical view of pets less clear. Aiming to examine this issue, we present a dilemma involving animals and humans that allowed us to investigate whether animal type, social distance, and pet ownership status can affect moral decision-making related to pets. Save-willingness results showed that in the moral dilemmas of pets versus livestock versus wild animals (Studies 1a and 2a) and their own pets versus strangers (Studies 1b and 2b), pet owners prioritize pets whereas non-owners prioritize pets (Studies 1a and 2a) and strangers (Studies 1b and 2b). Pet owners prefer to save pets more than do non-owners (Study 1a), and this effect was only observed in females (Study 2a). Save-decision results showed that in the moral dilemmas of pets versus livestock versus wild animals (Study 2a), pet owners prioritize pets whereas in the dilemmas of pets versus strangers (Study 2b), pet owners prioritize strangers. The same result was found in non-owners. Pet owners prefer more than do non-owners to save pets (Study 2). Overall, the separation of save-willingness and save-decision results revealed that pet owners show special speciesism (i.e., pettism).
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Affiliation(s)
- Kepeng Xu
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi University and College Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Psychology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi Ethnic Education Development Research Center, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Guangxi Universities, Guilin, China
| | - Qianqian Ou
- Teaching Department, Dongguan Hanlin High School, Dongguan, China
| | - Dongli Luo
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
| | - Xiaoting Shi
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
| | - Kang Li
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
| | - Hong Xue
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi University and College Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Psychology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi Ethnic Education Development Research Center, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Guangxi Universities, Guilin, China
| | - Yinghua Huang
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
| | - Ofir Turel
- School of Computing and Information System, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Shuyue Zhang
- Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi University and College Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Psychology, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.,Guangxi Ethnic Education Development Research Center, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Guangxi Universities, Guilin, China
| | - Qinghua He
- Faculty of Psychology, MOE Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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4
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Relationship between Moral Values for Driving Behavior and Brain Activity: An NIRS Study. Healthcare (Basel) 2022; 10:healthcare10112221. [DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10112221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 10/27/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Although there are clear moral components to traffic violations and risky and aggressive driving behavior, few studies have examined the relationship between moral values and risky driving. This study aimed to examine the relationship between moral views of driving behavior and brain activity. Twenty healthy drivers participated in this study. A questionnaire regarding their moral values concerning driving behavior was administered to the participants. Brain activity was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy while eliciting moral emotions. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the participants were divided into two groups: one with high moral values and the other with low moral values. Brain activity was statistically compared between the two groups. Both groups had significantly lower activity in the prefrontal cortex during the self-risky driving task. The low moral group had significantly lower activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex than the high moral group, while it had lower activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the self-risky driving task than in the safe driving task. Regardless of their moral values, the participants were less susceptible to moral emotions during risky driving. Furthermore, our findings suggest that drivers with lower moral values may be even less susceptible to moral emotions.
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5
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Dashtestani H, Miguel HO, Condy EE, Zeytinoglu S, Millerhagen JB, Debnath R, Smith E, Adali T, Fox NA, Gandjbakhche AH. Structured sparse multiset canonical correlation analysis of simultaneous fNIRS and EEG provides new insights into the human action-observation network. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6878. [PMID: 35477980 PMCID: PMC9046278 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10942-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The action observation network (AON) is a network of brain regions involved in the execution and observation of a given action. The AON has been investigated in humans using mostly electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but shared neural correlates of action observation and action execution are still unclear due to lack of ecologically valid neuroimaging measures. In this study, we used concurrent EEG and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the AON during a live-action observation and execution paradigm. We developed structured sparse multiset canonical correlation analysis (ssmCCA) to perform EEG-fNIRS data fusion. MCCA is a generalization of CCA to more than two sets of variables and is commonly used in medical multimodal data fusion. However, mCCA suffers from multi-collinearity, high dimensionality, unimodal feature selection, and loss of spatial information in interpreting the results. A limited number of participants (small sample size) is another problem in mCCA, which leads to overfitted models. Here, we adopted graph-guided (structured) fused least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalty to mCCA to conduct feature selection, incorporating structural information amongst the variables (i.e., brain regions). Benefitting from concurrent recordings of brain hemodynamic and electrophysiological responses, the proposed ssmCCA finds linear transforms of each modality such that the correlation between their projections is maximized. Our analysis of 21 right-handed participants indicated that the left inferior parietal region was active during both action execution and action observation. Our findings provide new insights into the neural correlates of AON which are more fine-tuned than the results from each individual EEG or fNIRS analysis and validate the use of ssmCCA to fuse EEG and fNIRS datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hadis Dashtestani
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Helga O Miguel
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Emma E Condy
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Selin Zeytinoglu
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - John B Millerhagen
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Elizabeth Smith
- Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology Department, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Tulay Adali
- Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Amir H Gandjbakhche
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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6
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Ouerchefani R, Ouerchefani N, Ben Rejeb MR, Le Gall D. Impaired Perception of Unintentional Transgression of Social Norms after Prefrontal Cortex Damage: Relationship to Decision Making, Emotion Recognition, and Executive Functions. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2021; 37:249-273. [PMID: 34619764 DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acab078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Patients with prefrontal cortex damage often transgress social rules and show lower accuracy in identifying and explaining inappropriate social behavior. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the ability to perceive other unintentional transgressions of social norms and both decision making and emotion recognition as these abilities are critical for appropriate social behavior. METHOD We examined a group of patients with focal prefrontal cortex damage (N = 28) and a group of matched control participants (N = 28) for their abilities to detect unintentional transgression of social norms using the "Faux-Pas" task of theory of mind, to make advantageous decisions on the Iowa gambling task, and to recognize basic emotions on the Ekman facial affect test. RESULTS The group of patients with frontal lobe damage was impaired in all of these tasks compared with control participants. Moreover, all the "Faux-Pas", Iowa gambling, and emotion recognition tasks were significantly associated and predicted by executive measures of inhibition, flexibility, or planning. However, only measures from the Iowa gambling task were associated and predicted performance on the "Faux-Pas" task. These tasks were not associated with performance in recognition of basic emotions. These findings suggest that theory of mind, executive functions, and decision-making abilities act in an interdependent way for appropriate social behavior. However, theory of mind and emotion recognition seem to have distinct but additive effects upon social behavior. Results from VLSM analysis also corroborate these data by showing a partially overlapped prefrontal circuitry underlying these cognitive domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riadh Ouerchefani
- University of Tunis El Manar, High Institute of Human sciences, Department of Psychology, 26 Boulevard Darghouth Pacha, Tunis, Tunisia.,Univ Angers, Université de Nantes, LPPL, SFR Confluences, Angers, France
| | | | - Mohamed Riadh Ben Rejeb
- University of Tunis I, Faculty of Human and Social Science of Tunisia, Department of Psychology, Boulvard 9 Avril, C.P. 1007, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Didier Le Gall
- Univ Angers, Université de Nantes, LPPL, SFR Confluences, Angers, France
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7
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Balconi M, Fronda G. Morality and management: an oxymoron? fNIRS and neuromanagement perspective explain us why things are not like this. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 20:1336-1348. [PMID: 33123863 PMCID: PMC7716886 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-020-00841-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The neuroscience interest for moral decision-making has recently increased. To investigate the processes underlying moral behavior, this research aimed to investigate neurophysiological and behavioral correlates of decision-making in moral contexts. Specifically, functional Near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) allowed to record oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) cerebral hemoglobin concentrations during different moral conditions (professional fit, company fit, social fit) and offers types (fair, unfair, neutral). Moreover, individuals' responses to offers types and reaction time (RTs) were considered. Specifically, from hemodynamic results emerged a difference in O2Hb and HHb activity according to moral conditions and offers types in different brain regions. In particular, O2Hb increase and a HHb decrease were observed in ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (VMPFC, DLPFC) for fair offers in professional fit condition and in superior temporal sulcus (STS) for unfair offers in social fit condition. Moreover, an increase of left O2Hb activity in professional fit condition and in right VMPFC for unfair offers in company fit condition was observed. In addition, from behavioral results, an RTs increase in company and social fit condition for fair and unfair offers emerged. This study, therefore, shows the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of moral decision-making that guide moral behavior in different context, such as company one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Balconi
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
- Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
| | - Giulia Fronda
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy.
- Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy.
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8
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Sherafati A, Snyder AZ, Eggebrecht AT, Bergonzi KM, Burns-Yocum TM, Lugar HM, Ferradal SL, Robichaux-Viehoever A, Smyser CD, Palanca BJ, Hershey T, Culver JP. Global motion detection and censoring in high-density diffuse optical tomography. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:4093-4112. [PMID: 32648643 PMCID: PMC8022277 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2020] [Revised: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 06/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Motion‐induced artifacts can significantly corrupt optical neuroimaging, as in most neuroimaging modalities. For high‐density diffuse optical tomography (HD‐DOT) with hundreds to thousands of source‐detector pair measurements, motion detection methods are underdeveloped relative to both functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and standard functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). This limitation restricts the application of HD‐DOT in many challenging imaging situations and subject populations (e.g., bedside monitoring and children). Here, we evaluated a new motion detection method for multi‐channel optical imaging systems that leverages spatial patterns across measurement channels. Specifically, we introduced a global variance of temporal derivatives (GVTD) metric as a motion detection index. We showed that GVTD strongly correlates with external measures of motion and has high sensitivity and specificity to instructed motion—with an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.88, calculated based on five different types of instructed motion. Additionally, we showed that applying GVTD‐based motion censoring on both hearing words task and resting state HD‐DOT data with natural head motion results in an improved spatial similarity to fMRI mapping. We then compared the GVTD similarity scores with several commonly used motion correction methods described in the fNIRS literature, including correlation‐based signal improvement (CBSI), temporal derivative distribution repair (TDDR), wavelet filtering, and targeted principal component analysis (tPCA). We find that GVTD motion censoring on HD‐DOT data outperforms other methods and results in spatial maps more similar to those of matched fMRI data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arefeh Sherafati
- Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Abraham Z Snyder
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Adam T Eggebrecht
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | | | - Tracy M Burns-Yocum
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Heather M Lugar
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Silvina L Ferradal
- Department Of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | | | - Christopher D Smyser
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Ben J Palanca
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Tamara Hershey
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Joseph P Culver
- Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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9
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Anderson A, Gropman A, Le Mons C, Stratakis C, Gandjbakhche A. Evaluation of neurocognitive function of prefrontal cortex in ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. Mol Genet Metab 2020; 129:207-212. [PMID: 31952925 PMCID: PMC7416502 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2019.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Revised: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/30/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Afrouz Anderson
- NIH, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
| | - Andrea Gropman
- Children's National Medical Center, Division of Neurogenetics and Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics, Washington, DC 20010, United States of America
| | - Cynthia Le Mons
- National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation, Pasadena, California 91105
| | - Constantine Stratakis
- NIH, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
| | - Amir Gandjbakhche
- NIH, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America.
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10
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Effects of Performance and Task Duration on Mental Workload during Working Memory Task. PHOTONICS 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/photonics6030094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
N-back is a working memory (WM) task to study mental workload on the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We assume that the subject’s performance and changes in mental workload over time depends on the length of the experiment. The performance of the participant can change positively due to the participant’s learning process or negatively because of objective mental fatigue and/or sleepiness. In this pilot study, we examined the PFC activation of 23 healthy subjects while they performed an N-back task with two different levels of task difficulty (2-, and 3-back). The hemodynamic responses were analyzed along with the behavioral data (correct answers). A comparison was done between the hemodynamic activation and behavioral data between the two different task levels and between the beginning and end of the 3-back task. Our results show that there is a significant difference between the two task levels, which is due to the difference in task complication. In addition, a significant difference was seen between the beginning and end of the 3-back task in both behavioral data and hemodynamics due to the subject’s learning process throughout the experiment.
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11
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Dashtestani H, Zaragoza R, Pirsiavash H, Knutson KM, Kermanian R, Cui J, Harrison JD, Halem M, Gandjbakhche A. Canonical correlation analysis of brain prefrontal activity measured by functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fNIRS) during a moral judgment task. Behav Brain Res 2019; 359:73-80. [PMID: 30343055 PMCID: PMC6482827 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.10.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2018] [Revised: 10/04/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Individuals differ in the extent to which they make decisions in different moral dilemmas. In this study, we investigated the relationship between functional brain activities during moral decision making and psychopathic personality traits in a healthy population. We measured the hemodynamic activities of the brain by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). FNIRS is an evolving non-invasive neuroimaging modality which is relatively inexpensive, patient friendly and robust to subject movement. Psychopathic traits were evaluated through a self-report questionnaire called the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Revised (PPI-R). We recorded functional brain activities of 30 healthy subjects while they performed a moral judgment (MJ) task. Regularized canonical correlation analysis (R-CCA) was applied to find the relationships between activation in different regions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the core psychopathic traits. Our results showed a significant canonical correlation between PFC activation and PPI-R content scale (PPI-R-CS). Specifically, coldheartedness and carefree non-planfulness were the only PPI-R-CS factors that were highly correlated with PFC activation during personal (emotionally salient) MJ, while Machiavellian egocentricity, rebellious nonconformity, coldheartedness, and carefree non-planfulness were the core traits that exhibited the same dynamics as PFC activation during impersonal (more logical) MJ. Furthermore, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and left lateral PFC were the most positively correlated regions with PPI-R-CS traits during personal MJ, and the right vmPFC and right lateral PFC in impersonal MJ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hadis Dashtestani
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Rachel Zaragoza
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Hamed Pirsiavash
- Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kristine M Knutson
- Brain Neurology Unit, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Riley Kermanian
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Joy Cui
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - J Douglas Harrison
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Milton Halem
- Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Amir Gandjbakhche
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Dashtestani H, Zaragoza R, Kermanian R, Knutson KM, Halem M, Casey A, Shahni Karamzadeh N, Anderson AA, Boccara AC, Gandjbakhche A. The role of prefrontal cortex in a moral judgment task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Brain Behav 2018; 8:e01116. [PMID: 30253084 PMCID: PMC6236239 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.1116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2018] [Revised: 08/09/2018] [Accepted: 08/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding the neural basis of moral judgment (MJ) and human decision-making has been the subject of numerous studies because of their impact on daily life activities and social norms. Here, we aimed to investigate the neural process of MJ using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a noninvasive, portable, and affordable neuroimaging modality. METHODS We examined prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation in 33 healthy participants engaging in MJ exercises. We hypothesized that participants presented with personal (emotionally salient) and impersonal (less emotional) dilemmas would exhibit different brain activation observable through fNIRS. We also investigated the effects of utilitarian and nonutilitarian responses to MJ scenarios on PFC activation. Utilitarian responses are those that favor the greatest good while nonutilitarian responses favor moral actions. Mixed effect models were applied to model the cerebral hemodynamic changes that occurred during MJ dilemmas. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Our analysis found significant differences in PFC activation during personal versus impersonal dilemmas. Specifically, the left dorsolateral PFC was highly activated during impersonal MJ when a nonutilitarian decision was made. This is consistent with the majority of relevant fMRI studies, and demonstrates the feasibility of using fNIRS, with its portable and motion tolerant capacities, to investigate the neural basis of MJ dilemmas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hadis Dashtestani
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Rachel Zaragoza
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Riley Kermanian
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Kristine M Knutson
- Brain Neurology Unit, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Milton Halem
- Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Aisling Casey
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Nader Shahni Karamzadeh
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Afrouz A Anderson
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | | | - Amir Gandjbakhche
- Section on Analytical and Functional Biophotonics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
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