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Nippert KE, Rowland CP, Vazey EM, Moorman DE. Alcohol, flexible behavior, and the prefrontal cortex: Functional changes underlying impaired cognitive flexibility. Neuropharmacology 2024; 260:110114. [PMID: 39134298 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.110114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Revised: 08/08/2024] [Accepted: 08/09/2024] [Indexed: 08/22/2024]
Abstract
Cognitive flexibility enables individuals to alter their behavior in response to changing environmental demands, facilitating optimal behavior in a dynamic world. The inability to do this, called behavioral inflexibility, is a pervasive behavioral phenotype in alcohol use disorder (AUD), driven by disruptions in cognitive flexibility. Research has repeatedly shown that behavioral inflexibility not only results from alcohol exposure across species but can itself be predictive of future drinking. Like many high-level executive functions, flexible behavior requires healthy functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The scope of this review addresses two primary themes: first, we outline tasks that have been used to investigate flexibility in the context of AUD or AUD models. We characterize these based on the task features and underlying cognitive processes that differentiate them from one another. We highlight the neural basis of flexibility measures, focusing on the PFC, and how acute or chronic alcohol in humans and non-human animal models impacts flexibility. Second, we consolidate findings on the molecular, physiological and functional changes in the PFC elicited by alcohol, that may contribute to cognitive flexibility deficits seen in AUD. Collectively, this approach identifies several key avenues for future research that will facilitate effective treatments to promote flexible behavior in the context of AUD, to reduce the risk of alcohol related harm, and to improve outcomes following AUD. This article is part of the Special Issue on "PFC circuit function in psychiatric disease and relevant models".
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn E Nippert
- Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA
| | - Courtney P Rowland
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA
| | - Elena M Vazey
- Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA; Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
| | - David E Moorman
- Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
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2
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Torres AS, Robison MK, McClure SM, Brewer GA. The influence of transcranial direct current stimulation to the trigeminal nerve on attention and arousal. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:860-880. [PMID: 39107465 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01205-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 09/13/2024]
Abstract
One mechanism by which transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed to improve attention is by transcutaneous stimulation of cranial nerves, thereby activating the locus coeruleus (LC). Specifically, placement of the electrodes over the frontal bone and mastoid is thought to facilitate current flow across the face as a path of least resistance. The face is innervated by the trigeminal nerve, and the trigeminal nerve is interconnected with the LC. In this study, we tested whether stimulating the trigeminal nerve impacts indices of LC activity and performance on a sustained attention task. We replicated previous research that shows deterioration in task performance, increases in the rate of task-unrelated thoughts, and reduced pupil responses due to time on task irrespective of tDCS condition (sham, anodal, and cathodal stimulation). Importantly, tDCS did not influence pupil dynamics (pretrial or stimulus-evoked), self-reported attention state, nor task performance in active versus sham stimulation conditions. The findings reported here are consistent with theories about arousal centered on a hypothesized link between LC activity indexed by pupil size, task performance, and self-reported attention state but fail to support hypotheses that tDCS over the trigeminal nerve influences indices of LC function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis S Torres
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Matthew K Robison
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA
| | - Samuel M McClure
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Gene A Brewer
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
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3
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Zhou J, Lin M, Xu W. Individual differences in baseline eye movement indices: Examining the relationships between baseline pupil size, inhibitory control, and fixation stability. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024:10.3758/s13415-024-01213-9. [PMID: 39198300 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01213-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/31/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024]
Abstract
The relationship among baseline pupil size, fixation stability, and inhibitory control were examined in this study. Participants performed a baseline eye measure in which they were instructed to stare at a fixation dot on screen for 2 min. Following the baseline eye measure, participants completed an antisaccade task to measure inhibitory control ability. We found a correlation between baseline pupil size variability and inhibitory control, as well as between fixation stability and inhibitory control. We showed that participants with better inhibitory control exhibited larger variability in pupil size, and those with better fixation stability showed superior inhibitory control ability. Overall, our results indicate that there are significant correlations between inhibitory control and baseline pupil size, as well as between inhibitory control and fixation stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junyi Zhou
- School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Fujian Normal University, 1 Keji Rd., Minhou District, Fuzhou, 350117, Fujian, China
| | - Min Lin
- School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Fujian Normal University, 1 Keji Rd., Minhou District, Fuzhou, 350117, Fujian, China
- Nanxing Middle School, 18 Binxi Rd., Shuitou Town, Nan'an City, Quanzhou, 362342, Fujian, China
| | - Wenxin Xu
- School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Fujian Normal University, 1 Keji Rd., Minhou District, Fuzhou, 350117, Fujian, China.
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Demiral ŞB, Volkow ND. Blink-induced changes in pupil dynamics are consistent and heritable. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-4718613. [PMID: 39149500 PMCID: PMC11326410 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4718613/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
Pupil size and blink rates are heritable but the extent to which they interact with one another has not been properly investigated. Though changes in pupil size due to eye blinks have been reported, they are considered a pupillary artifact. In this study we used the HCP 7T fMRI dataset with resting state eye-tracking data obtained in monozygous and dizygous twins to assess their heritability and their interactions. For this purpose, we characterized the pupil dilation (positive peak) and constriction (negative peak) that followed blink events, which we describe as blink-induced pupillary response (BIPR). We show that the BIPR is highly consistent with a positive dilatory peak (D-peak) around 500ms and a negative constricting peak (C-peak) around 1s. These patterns were reproducible within- and between- subjects across two time points and differed by vigilance state (vigilant versus drowsy). By comparing BIPR between monozygous and dizygous twins we show that BIPR have a heritable component with significant additive genetic (A) and environmental (E) factors dominating the structural equation models, particularly in the time-domain for both D- and C-peaks and amplitude domain for the C-peak. (a2 between 42-49%). Blink duration, pupil size and blink rate were also found to be highly heritable (a2 up to 62% for pupil size). Our study documents an association between BIPR and wakefulness and indicates that BIPR should not be treated as a coincidental artefact, but part of a larger oculomotor system that we label here as Oculomotor Adaptive System, OAS, that is genetically determined.
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Wietek J, Nozownik A, Pulin M, Saraf-Sinik I, Matosevich N, Gowrishankar R, Gat A, Malan D, Brown BJ, Dine J, Imambocus BN, Levy R, Sauter K, Litvin A, Regev N, Subramaniam S, Abrera K, Summarli D, Goren EM, Mizrachi G, Bitton E, Benjamin A, Copits BA, Sasse P, Rost BR, Schmitz D, Bruchas MR, Soba P, Oren-Suissa M, Nir Y, Wiegert JS, Yizhar O. A bistable inhibitory optoGPCR for multiplexed optogenetic control of neural circuits. Nat Methods 2024; 21:1275-1287. [PMID: 38811857 PMCID: PMC11239505 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-024-02285-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Information is transmitted between brain regions through the release of neurotransmitters from long-range projecting axons. Understanding how the activity of such long-range connections contributes to behavior requires efficient methods for reversibly manipulating their function. Chemogenetic and optogenetic tools, acting through endogenous G-protein-coupled receptor pathways, can be used to modulate synaptic transmission, but existing tools are limited in sensitivity, spatiotemporal precision or spectral multiplexing capabilities. Here we systematically evaluated multiple bistable opsins for optogenetic applications and found that the Platynereis dumerilii ciliary opsin (PdCO) is an efficient, versatile, light-activated bistable G-protein-coupled receptor that can suppress synaptic transmission in mammalian neurons with high temporal precision in vivo. PdCO has useful biophysical properties that enable spectral multiplexing with other optogenetic actuators and reporters. We demonstrate that PdCO can be used to conduct reversible loss-of-function experiments in long-range projections of behaving animals, thereby enabling detailed synapse-specific functional circuit mapping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Wietek
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Adrianna Nozownik
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- Paris Brain Institute, Institut du Cerveau (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U1127, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Mauro Pulin
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Inbar Saraf-Sinik
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noa Matosevich
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Raajaram Gowrishankar
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Center for Excellence in the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Asaf Gat
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Daniela Malan
- Institut für Physiologie I, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Bobbie J Brown
- Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Julien Dine
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG; CNS Diseases, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | | | - Rivka Levy
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | | | - Anna Litvin
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noa Regev
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Suraj Subramaniam
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Khalid Abrera
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Dustin Summarli
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Eva Madeline Goren
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Gili Mizrachi
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Eyal Bitton
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Asaf Benjamin
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Bryan A Copits
- Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Philipp Sasse
- Institut für Physiologie I, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Benjamin R Rost
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dietmar Schmitz
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences, Berlin, Germany
- Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael R Bruchas
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Center for Excellence in the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain and Emotion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Peter Soba
- LIMES-Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Meital Oren-Suissa
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Yuval Nir
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - J Simon Wiegert
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- MCTN, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Ofer Yizhar
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
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Contier F, Wartenburger I, Weymar M, Rabovsky M. Are the P600 and P3 ERP components linked to the task-evoked pupillary response as a correlate of norepinephrine activity? Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14565. [PMID: 38469647 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
During language comprehension, anomalies and ambiguities in the input typically elicit the P600 event-related potential component. Although traditionally interpreted as a specific signal of combinatorial operations in sentence processing, the component has alternatively been proposed to be a variant of the oddball-sensitive, domain-general P3 component. In particular, both components might reflect phasic norepinephrine release from the locus coeruleus (LC/NE) to motivationally significant stimuli. In this preregistered study, we tested this hypothesis by relating both components to the task-evoked pupillary response, a putative biomarker of LC/NE activity. 36 participants completed a sentence comprehension task (containing 25% morphosyntactic violations) and a non-linguistic oddball task (containing 20% oddballs), while the EEG and pupil size were co-registered. Our results showed that the task-evoked pupillary response and the ERP amplitudes of both components were similarly affected by both experimental tasks. In the oddball task, there was also a temporally specific relationship between the P3 and the pupillary response beyond the shared oddball effect, thereby further linking the P3 to NE. Because this link was less reliable in the linguistic context, we did not find conclusive evidence for or against a relationship between the P600 and the pupillary response. Still, our findings further stimulate the debate on whether language-related ERPs are indeed specific to linguistic processes or shared across cognitive domains. However, further research is required to verify a potential link between the two ERP positivities and the LC/NE system as the common neural generator.
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Affiliation(s)
- Friederike Contier
- Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Isabell Wartenburger
- Cognitive Sciences, Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Mathias Weymar
- Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Milena Rabovsky
- Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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7
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Grujic N, Polania R, Burdakov D. Neurobehavioral meaning of pupil size. Neuron 2024:S0896-6273(24)00406-9. [PMID: 38925124 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.05.029] [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: 11/24/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Pupil size is a widely used metric of brain state. It is one of the few signals originating from the brain that can be readily monitored with low-cost devices in basic science, clinical, and home settings. It is, therefore, important to investigate and generate well-defined theories related to specific interpretations of this metric. What exactly does it tell us about the brain? Pupils constrict in response to light and dilate during darkness, but the brain also controls pupil size irrespective of luminosity. Pupil size fluctuations resulting from ongoing "brain states" are used as a metric of arousal, but what is pupil-linked arousal and how should it be interpreted in neural, cognitive, and computational terms? Here, we discuss some recent findings related to these issues. We identify open questions and propose how to answer them through a combination of well-defined tasks, neurocomputational models, and neurophysiological probing of the interconnected loops of causes and consequences of pupil size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikola Grujic
- Neurobehavioural Dynamics Lab, ETH Zürich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Schorenstrasse 16, 8603 Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.
| | - Rafael Polania
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, ETH Zürich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Winterthurstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Denis Burdakov
- Neurobehavioural Dynamics Lab, ETH Zürich, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Schorenstrasse 16, 8603 Schwerzenbach, Switzerland.
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8
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Baldock J, Kapadia S, van Steenbrugge W, McCarley J. The Effects of Light Level and Signal-to-Noise Ratio on the Task-Evoked Pupil Response in a Speech-in-Noise Task. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:1964-1975. [PMID: 38690971 DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-23-00627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE There is increasing interest in the measurement of cognitive effort during listening tasks, for both research and clinical purposes. Quantification of task-evoked pupil responses (TEPRs) is a psychophysiological method that can be used to study cognitive effort. However, light level during cognitively demanding listening tasks may affect TEPRs, complicating interpretation of listening-related changes. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of light level on TEPRs during effortful listening across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). METHOD Thirty-six adults without hearing loss were asked to repeat target sentences presented in background babble noise while their pupil diameter was recorded. Light level and SNRs were manipulated in a 4 × 4 repeated-measures design. Repeated-measures analyses of variance were used to measure the effects. RESULTS Peak and mean dilation were typically larger in more adverse SNR conditions (except for SNR -6 dB) and smaller in higher light levels. Differences in mean and peak dilation between SNR conditions were larger in dim light than in brighter light. CONCLUSIONS Brighter light conditions make TEPRs less sensitive to variations in listening effort across levels of SNR. Therefore, light level must be considered and reported in detail to ensure sensitivity of TEPRs and for comparisons of findings across different studies. It is recommended that TEPR testing be conducted in relatively low light conditions, considering both background illumination and screen luminance. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25676538.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarosh Kapadia
- Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | | | - Jason McCarley
- Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Oregon State University, Corvallis
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Drummond PD. Anticipating noxious stimulation rather than afferent nociceptive input may evoke pupil asymmetry. Auton Neurosci 2024; 253:103179. [PMID: 38677128 DOI: 10.1016/j.autneu.2024.103179] [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: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024]
Abstract
Unilateral nociceptive stimulation is associated with subtle signs of pupil asymmetry that may reflect lateralized activity in the locus coeruleus. To explore drivers of this pupil asymmetry, electrical stimuli, delivered alone or 200 ms before or after an acoustic startle stimulus, were administered to one ankle under four experimental conditions: with or without a 1.6 s anticipatory period, or while the forearm ipsilateral or contralateral to the electrical stimulus was heated tonically to induce moderate pain (15 healthy participants in each condition). Pupil diameter was measured at the start of each trial, at stimulus delivery, and each second for 5 s after stimulus delivery. At the start of the first trial, the pupil ipsilateral to the side on which electric shocks were later delivered was larger than the contralateral pupil. Both pupils dilated robustly during the anticipatory period and dilated further during single- and dual-stimulus trials. However, pupil asymmetry persisted throughout the experiment. Tonically-applied forearm heat-pain modulated the pupillary response to phasic electrical stimuli, with a slight trend for dilatation to be greater contralateral to the forearm being heated. Together, these findings suggest that focusing anxiously on the expected site of noxious stimulation was associated with dilatation of the ipsilateral pupil whereas phasic nociceptive stimuli and psychological arousal triggered bilateral pupillary dilatation. It was concluded that preparatory cognitive activity rather than phasic afferent nociceptive input is associated with pupillary signs of lateralized activity in the locus coeruleus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter D Drummond
- School of Psychology and Centre for Healthy Ageing, College of Health and Education, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch WA 6150, Australia.
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Anumba N, Kelberman MA, Pan W, Marriott A, Zhang X, Xu N, Weinshenker D, Keilholz S. The Effects of Locus Coeruleus Optogenetic Stimulation on Global Spatiotemporal Patterns in Rats. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.23.595327. [PMID: 38826205 PMCID: PMC11142206 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.23.595327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Whole-brain intrinsic activity as detected by resting-state fMRI can be summarized by three primary spatiotemporal patterns. These patterns have been shown to change with different brain states, especially arousal. The noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) is a key node in arousal circuits and has extensive projections throughout the brain, giving it neuromodulatory influence over the coordinated activity of structurally separated regions. In this study, we used optogenetic-fMRI in rats to investigate the impact of LC stimulation on the global signal and three primary spatiotemporal patterns. We report small, spatially specific changes in global signal distribution as a result of tonic LC stimulation, as well as regional changes in spatiotemporal patterns of activity at 5 Hz tonic and 15 Hz phasic stimulation. We also found that LC stimulation had little to no effect on the spatiotemporal patterns detected by complex principal component analysis. These results show that the effects of LC activity on the BOLD signal in rats may be small and regionally concentrated, as opposed to widespread and globally acting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nmachi Anumba
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Michael A Kelberman
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
| | - Wenju Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Alexia Marriott
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Xiaodi Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Nan Xu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - David Weinshenker
- Department of Human Genetics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Shella Keilholz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
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11
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Liu Y(A, Nong Y, Feng J, Li G, Sajda P, Li Y, Wang Q. Phase synchrony between prefrontal noradrenergic and cholinergic signals indexes inhibitory control. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.17.594562. [PMID: 38798371 PMCID: PMC11118516 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.17.594562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Inhibitory control is a critical executive function that allows animals to suppress their impulsive behavior in order to achieve certain goals or avoid punishment. We investigated norepinephrine (NE) and acetylcholine (ACh) dynamics and population neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex during inhibitory control. Using fluorescent sensors to measure extracellular levels of NE and ACh, we simultaneously recorded the dynamics of prefrontal NE and ACh in mice performing an inhibitory control task. The prefrontal NE and ACh signals exhibited strong coherence at 0.4-0.8 Hz. Chemogenetic inhibition of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons that project to the basal forebrain region reduced inhibitory control performance to chance levels. However, this manipulation did not diminish the difference in NE/ACh signals between successful and failed trials; instead, it abolished the difference in NE-ACh phase synchrony between the successful and failed trials, indicating that NE-ACh phase synchrony is a task-relevant neuromodulatory feature. Chemogenetic inhibition of cholinergic neurons that project to the LC region did not impair the inhibitory control performance, nor did it abolish the difference in NE-ACh phase synchrony between successful or failed trials, further confirming the relevance of NE-ACh phase synchrony to inhibitory control. To understand the possible effect of NE-ACh synchrony on prefrontal population activity, we employed Neuropixels to record from the prefrontal cortex with and without inhibiting LC neurons that project to the basal forebrain during inhibitory control. The LC inhibition reduced the number of prefrontal neurons encoding inhibitory control. Demixed principal component analysis (dPCA) further revealed that population firing patterns representing inhibitory control were impaired by the LC inhibition. Disparities in NE-ACh phase synchrony relevant to inhibitory control occurred only in the prefrontal cortex, but not in the parietal cortex, somatosensory cortex, and the somatosensory thalamus. Taken together, these findings suggest that the LC modulates inhibitory control through its collective effect with cholinergic systems on population activity in the prefrontal cortex. Our results further revealed that NE-ACh phase synchrony is a critical neuromodulatory feature with important implications for cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxiang (Andy) Liu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering Columbia University ET 351, 500 W. 120 Street, New York, NY 10027
| | - Yuhan Nong
- Department of Biomedical Engineering Columbia University ET 351, 500 W. 120 Street, New York, NY 10027
| | - Jiesi Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences Peking University
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, PR China
| | - Guochuan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences Peking University
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, PR China
| | - Paul Sajda
- Department of Biomedical Engineering Columbia University ET 351, 500 W. 120 Street, New York, NY 10027
| | - Yulong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences Peking University
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, PR China
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering Columbia University ET 351, 500 W. 120 Street, New York, NY 10027
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12
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Kim AJ, Nguyen K, Mather M. Eye movements reveal age differences in how arousal modulates saliency priority but not attention processing speed. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.06.592619. [PMID: 38766110 PMCID: PMC11100628 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.06.592619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
The arousal-biased competition theory posits that inducing arousal increases attentional priority of salient stimuli while reducing priority of non-pertinent stimuli. However, unlike in young adults, older adults rarely exhibit shifts in priority under increased arousal, and prior studies have proposed different neural mechanisms to explain how arousal differentially modulates selective attention in older adults. Therefore, we investigated how the threat of unpredictable shock differentially modulates attentional control mechanisms in young and older adults by observing eye movements. Participants completed two oculomotor search tasks in which the salient distractor was typically captured by attention (singleton search) or proactively suppressed (feature search). We found that arousal did not modulate attentional priority for any stimulus among older adults nor affect the speed of attention processing in either age group. Furthermore, we observed that arousal modulated pupil sizes and found a correlation between evoked pupil responses and oculomotor function. Our findings suggest age differences in how the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline system interacts with neural networks of attention and oculomotor function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy Jeesu Kim
- University of Southern California, School of Gerontology
| | | | - Mara Mather
- University of Southern California, School of Gerontology
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13
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Vilotijević A, Mathôt S. Functional benefits of cognitively driven pupil-size changes. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2024; 15:e1672. [PMID: 38149763 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023]
Abstract
Pupil-size changes are typically associated with the pupil light response (PLR), where they are driven by the physical entry of light into the eye. However, pupil-size changes are also influenced by various cognitive processes, where they are driven by higher-level cognition. For example, the strength of the PLR is not solely affected by physical properties of the light but also by cognitive factors, such as whether the source of light is attended or not, which results in an increase or decrease in the strength of the PLR. Surprisingly, although cognitively driven pupil-size changes have been the focus of extensive research, their possible functions are rarely discussed. Here we consider the relative (dis)advantages of small versus large pupils in different situations from a theoretical point of view, and compare these to empirical results showing how pupil size actually changes in these situations. Based on this, we suggest that cognitively driven pupil-size changes optimize vision either through preparation, embodied representations, or a differential emphasis on central or peripheral vision. More generally, we argue that cognitively driven pupil-size changes are a form of sensory tuning: a subtle adjustment of the eyes to optimize vision for the current situation and the immediate future. This article is categorized under: Neuroscience > Cognition Neuroscience > Physiology Neuroscience > Behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Vilotijević
- Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
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14
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Megemont M, Tortorelli LS, McBurney-Lin J, Cohen JY, O'Connor DH, Yang H. Simultaneous recordings of pupil size variation and locus coeruleus activity in mice. STAR Protoc 2024; 5:102785. [PMID: 38127625 PMCID: PMC10772391 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
An extensive literature describes how pupil size reflects neuromodulatory activity, including the noradrenergic system. Here, we present a protocol for the simultaneous recording of optogenetically identified locus coeruleus (LC) units and pupil diameter in mice under different conditions. We describe steps for building an optrode, performing surgery to implant the optrode and headpost, searching for opto-tagged LC units, and performing dual LC-pupil recording. We then detail procedures for data processing and analysis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Megemont et al.1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marine Megemont
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| | - Lucas S Tortorelli
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Jim McBurney-Lin
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Jeremiah Y Cohen
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience & Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Daniel H O'Connor
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience & Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Hongdian Yang
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
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15
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Cody P, Kumar M, Tzounopoulos T. Cortical Zinc Signaling Is Necessary for Changes in Mouse Pupil Diameter That Are Evoked by Background Sounds with Different Contrasts. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0939232024. [PMID: 38242698 PMCID: PMC10941062 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0939-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/14/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Luminance-independent changes in pupil diameter (PD) during wakefulness influence and are influenced by neuromodulatory, neuronal, and behavioral responses. However, it is unclear whether changes in neuromodulatory activity in a specific brain area are necessary for the associated changes in PD or whether some different mechanisms cause parallel fluctuations in both PD and neuromodulation. To answer this question, we simultaneously recorded PD and cortical neuronal activity in male and female mice. Namely, we measured PD and neuronal activity during adaptation to sound contrast, which is a well-described adaptation conserved in many species and brain areas. In the primary auditory cortex (A1), increases in the variability of sound level (contrast) induce a decrease in the slope of the neuronal input-output relationship, neuronal gain, which depends on cortical neuromodulatory zinc signaling. We found a previously unknown modulation of PD by changes in background sensory context: high stimulus contrast sounds evoke larger increases in evoked PD compared with low-contrast sounds. To explore whether these changes in evoked PD are controlled by cortical neuromodulatory zinc signaling, we imaged single-cell neural activity in A1, manipulated zinc signaling in the cortex, and assessed PD in the same awake mouse. We found that cortical synaptic zinc signaling is necessary for increases in PD during high-contrast background sounds compared with low-contrast sounds. This finding advances our knowledge about how cortical neuromodulatory activity affects PD changes and thus advances our understanding of the brain states, circuits, and neuromodulatory mechanisms that can be inferred from pupil size fluctuations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Cody
- Department of Otolaryngology, Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
| | - Manoj Kumar
- Department of Otolaryngology, Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
| | - Thanos Tzounopoulos
- Department of Otolaryngology, Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
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16
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Rojas C, Vega-Rodríguez YE, Lagos G, Cabrera-Miguieles MG, Sandoval Y, Crisosto-Alarcón J. Applicability and usefulness of pupillometry in the study of lexical access. A scoping review of primary research. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1372912. [PMID: 38529093 PMCID: PMC10961345 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1372912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Pupil dilation has been associated with the effort required to perform various cognitive tasks. At the lexical level, some studies suggest that this neurophysiological measure would provide objective, real-time information during word processing and lexical access. However, due to the scarcity and incipient advancement of this line of research, its applicability, use, and sensitivity are not entirely clear. This scoping review aims to determine the applicability and usefulness of pupillometry in the study of lexical access by providing an up-to-date overview of research in this area. Following the PRISMA protocol, 16 articles were included in this review. The results show that pupillometry is a highly applicable, useful, and sensitive method for assessing lexical skills of word recognition, word retrieval, and semantic activation. Moreover, it easily fits into traditional research paradigms and methods in the field. Because it is a non-invasive, objective, and automated procedure, it can be applied to any population or age group. However, the emerging development of this specific area of research and the methodological diversity observed in the included studies do not yet allow for definitive conclusions in this area, which in turn does not allow for meta-analyses or fully conclusive statements about what the pupil response actually reflects when processing words. Standardized pupillary recording and analysis methods need to be defined to generate more accurate, replicable research designs with more reliable results to strengthen this line of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Rojas
- Department of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
| | | | - Gabriel Lagos
- Department of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
| | - María Gabriela Cabrera-Miguieles
- Department of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
- Department of Spanish, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile
| | - Yasna Sandoval
- Department of Health Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Bío-Bío, Chillán, Chile
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17
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Bódizs R, Schneider B, Ujma PP, Horváth CG, Dresler M, Rosenblum Y. Fundamentals of sleep regulation: Model and benchmark values for fractal and oscillatory neurodynamics. Prog Neurobiol 2024; 234:102589. [PMID: 38458483 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102589] [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: 08/19/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024]
Abstract
Homeostatic, circadian and ultradian mechanisms play crucial roles in the regulation of sleep. Evidence suggests that ratios of low-to-high frequency power in the electroencephalogram (EEG) spectrum indicate the instantaneous level of sleep pressure, influenced by factors such as individual sleep-wake history, current sleep stage, age-related differences and brain topography characteristics. These effects are well captured and reflected in the spectral exponent, a composite measure of the constant low-to-high frequency ratio in the periodogram, which is scale-free and exhibits lower interindividual variability compared to slow wave activity, potentially serving as a suitable standardization and reference measure. Here we propose an index of sleep homeostasis based on the spectral exponent, reflecting the level of membrane hyperpolarization and/or network bistability in the central nervous system in humans. In addition, we advance the idea that the U-shaped overnight deceleration of oscillatory slow and fast sleep spindle frequencies marks the biological night, providing somnologists with an EEG-index of circadian sleep regulation. Evidence supporting this assertion comes from studies based on sleep replacement, forced desynchrony protocols and high-resolution analyses of sleep spindles. Finally, ultradian sleep regulatory mechanisms are indicated by the recurrent, abrupt shifts in dominant oscillatory frequencies, with spindle ranges signifying non-rapid eye movement and non-spindle oscillations - rapid eye movement phases of the sleep cycles. Reconsidering the indicators of fundamental sleep regulatory processes in the framework of the new Fractal and Oscillatory Adjustment Model (FOAM) offers an appealing opportunity to bridge the gap between the two-process model of sleep regulation and clinical somnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Róbert Bódizs
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Bence Schneider
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter P Ujma
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Csenge G Horváth
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Martin Dresler
- Radboud University Medical Centre, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Yevgenia Rosenblum
- Radboud University Medical Centre, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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18
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Giuliani NP, Venkitakrishnan S, Wu YH. Input-related demands: vocoded sentences evoke different pupillometrics and subjective listening effort than sentences in speech-shaped noise. Int J Audiol 2024; 63:199-206. [PMID: 36519812 PMCID: PMC10947987 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2022.2150901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Revised: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The Framework for Effortful Listening (FUEL) suggests five input-related demands can alter listening effort: source, transmission, listener, message and context factors. We hypothesised that vocoded sentences represented a source factor degradation and sentences in speech-shaped noise represented a transmission factor degradation. We used pupillometry and a subjective scale to examine our hypothesis. DESIGN Participants listened to vocoded sentences and sentences in speech-shaped noise at several difficulty levels designed to produce similar word recognition abilities; they also listened to unprocessed sentences. Within-participant pupillometrics and subjective listening effort were analysed. Post-hoc analyses were performed to examine if word recognition accuracy differentially influenced pupil responses. STUDY SAMPLES Twenty young adults with normal hearing. RESULTS Baseline pupil diameter was significantly smaller, peak pupil dilation was significantly larger, peak pupil dilation latency was significantly shorter, and subjective listening effort was significantly greater for the vocoded sentences than the sentences-in-noise. Word recognition ability also affected pupillometrics, but only for the vocoded sentences. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that source factor degradations result in greater listening effort than transmission factor degradations. Future research should address how clinical interventions tailored towards different input-related demands may lead to reduced listening effort and improve patient outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas P. Giuliani
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Soumya Venkitakrishnan
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Yu-Hsiang Wu
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
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19
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Skora L, Marzecová A, Jocham G. Tonic and phasic transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) both evoke rapid and transient pupil dilation. Brain Stimul 2024; 17:233-244. [PMID: 38423207 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.02.013] [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: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS or taVNS) is a non-invasive method of electrical stimulation of the afferent pathway of the vagus nerve, suggested to drive changes in putative physiological markers of noradrenergic activity, including pupil dilation. OBJECTIVE However, it is unknown whether different taVNS modes can map onto the phasic and tonic modes of noradrenergic activity. The effects of taVNS on pupil dilation in humans are inconsistent, largely due to differences in stimulation protocols. Here, we attempted to address these issues. METHODS We investigated pupil dilation under phasic (1 s) and tonic (30 s) taVNS, in a pre-registered, single-blind, sham-controlled, within-subject cross-over design, in the absence of a behavioural task. RESULTS Phasic taVNS induced a rapid increase in pupil size over baseline, significantly greater than under sham stimulation, which rapidly declined after stimulation offset. Tonic taVNS induced a similarly rapid (and larger than sham) increase in pupil size over baseline, returning to baseline within 5 s, despite the ongoing stimulation. Thus, both active and sham tonic modes closely resembled the phasic effect. There were no differences in tonic baseline pupil size, and no sustained effects of stimulation on tonic baseline pupil size. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that both phasic- and tonic-like taVNS under the standard stimulation parameters may modulate primarily the phasic mode of noradrenergic activity, as indexed by evoked pupil dilation, over and above somatosensory effects. This result sheds light on the temporal profile of phasic and tonic stimulation, with implications for their applicability in further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lina Skora
- Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany; University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
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20
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Jigo M, Carmel JB, Wang Q, Rodenkirch C. Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans: a randomized controlled crossover pilot study. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3975. [PMID: 38368486 PMCID: PMC10874458 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54026-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Accurate senses depend on high-fidelity encoding by sensory receptors and error-free processing in the brain. Progress has been made towards restoring damaged sensory receptors. However, methods for on-demand treatment of impaired central sensory processing are scarce. Prior invasive studies demonstrated that continuous vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in rodents can activate the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system to rapidly improve central sensory processing. Here, we investigated whether transcutaneous VNS improves sensory performance in humans. We conducted three sham-controlled experiments, each with 12 neurotypical adults, that measured the effects of transcutaneous VNS on metrics of auditory and visual performance, and heart rate variability (HRV). Continuous stimulation was delivered to cervical (tcVNS) or auricular (taVNS) branches of the vagus nerve while participants performed psychophysics tasks or passively viewed a display. Relative to sham stimulation, tcVNS improved auditory performance by 37% (p = 0.00052) and visual performance by 23% (p = 0.038). Participants with lower performance during sham conditions experienced larger tcVNS-evoked improvements (p = 0.0040). Lastly, tcVNS increased HRV during passive viewing, corroborating vagal engagement. No evidence for an effect of taVNS was observed. These findings validate the effectiveness of tcVNS in humans and position it as a method for on-demand interventions of impairments associated with central sensory processing dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason B Carmel
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neurology and Orthopedics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Qi Wang
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Charles Rodenkirch
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
- The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, New York, NY, USA.
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21
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Rodenkirch C, Wang Q. Optimization of Temporal Coding of Tactile Information in Rat Thalamus by Locus Coeruleus Activation. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:79. [PMID: 38392298 PMCID: PMC10886390 DOI: 10.3390/biology13020079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
The brainstem noradrenergic nucleus, the locus coeruleus (LC), exerts heavy influences on sensory processing, perception, and cognition through its diffuse projections throughout the brain. Previous studies have demonstrated that LC activation modulates the response and feature selectivity of thalamic relay neurons. However, the extent to which LC modulates the temporal coding of sensory information in the thalamus remains mostly unknown. Here, we found that LC stimulation significantly altered the temporal structure of the responses of the thalamic relay neurons to repeated whisker stimulation. A substantial portion of events (i.e., time points where the stimulus reliably evoked spikes as evidenced by dramatic elevations in the firing rate of the spike density function) were removed during LC stimulation, but many new events emerged. Interestingly, spikes within the emerged events have a higher feature selectivity, and therefore transmit more information about a tactile stimulus, than spikes within the removed events. This suggests that LC stimulation optimized the temporal coding of tactile information to improve information transmission. We further reconstructed the original whisker stimulus from a population of thalamic relay neurons' responses and corresponding feature selectivity. As expected, we found that reconstruction from thalamic responses was more accurate using spike trains of thalamic neurons recorded during LC stimulation than without LC stimulation, functionally confirming LC optimization of the thalamic temporal code. Together, our results demonstrated that activation of the LC-NE system optimizes temporal coding of sensory stimulus in the thalamus, presumably allowing for more accurate decoding of the stimulus in the downstream brain structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Rodenkirch
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, ET 351, 500 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, ET 351, 500 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
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22
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Jigo M, Carmel JB, Wang Q, Rodenkirch C. Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.08.08.552508. [PMID: 37609169 PMCID: PMC10441305 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.08.552508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/24/2023]
Abstract
Accurate senses depend on high-fidelity encoding by sensory receptors and error-free processing in the brain. Progress has been made towards restoring damaged sensory receptors. However, methods for on-demand treatment of impaired central sensory processing are scarce. Prior invasive studies demonstrated that continuous vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in rodents can activate the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system to rapidly improve central sensory processing. Here, we investigated whether transcutaneous VNS improves sensory performance in humans. We conducted three sham-controlled experiments, each with 12 neurotypical adults, that measured the effects of transcutaneous VNS on metrics of auditory and visual performance, and heart rate variability (HRV). Continuous stimulation was delivered to cervical (tcVNS) or auricular (taVNS) branches of the vagus nerve while participants performed psychophysics tasks or passively viewed a display. Relative to sham stimulation, tcVNS improved auditory performance by 37% (p=0.00052) and visual performance by 23% (p=0.038). Participants with lower performance during sham conditions experienced larger tcVNS-evoked improvements (p=0.0040). Lastly, tcVNS increased HRV during passive viewing, corroborating vagal engagement. No evidence for an effect of taVNS was observed. These findings validate the effectiveness of tcVNS in humans and position it as a method for on-demand interventions of impairments associated with central sensory processing dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason B. Carmel
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY
- Department of Neurology and Orthopedics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
| | - Qi Wang
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Charles Rodenkirch
- Sharper Sense, Inc., New York, NY
- The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, New York, NY
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23
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Privitera CM, Noah S, Carney T, Klein SA, Lenartowicz A, Hinshaw SP, McCracken JT, Nigg JT, Karalunas SL, Reid RC, Oliva MT, Betts SS, Simpson GV. Pupillary dilations in a Target/Distractor visual task paradigm and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Neurosci Lett 2024; 818:137556. [PMID: 37951300 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 09/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023]
Abstract
ADHD is a neurocognitive disorder characterized by attention difficulties, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, often persisting into adulthood with substantial personal and societal consequences. Despite the importance of neurophysiological assessment and treatment monitoring tests, their availability outside of research settings remains limited. Cognitive neuroscience investigations have identified distinct components associated with ADHD, including deficits in sustained attention, inefficient enhancement of attended Targets, and altered suppression of ignored Distractors. In this study, we examined pupil activity in control and ADHD subjects during a sustained visual attention task specifically designed to evaluate the mechanisms underlying Target enhancement and Distractor suppression. Our findings revealed some distinguishing factors between the two groups which we discuss in light of their neurobiological implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio M Privitera
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, United States.
| | - Sean Noah
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, United States; Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, United States
| | - Thom Carney
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, United States
| | - Stanley A Klein
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, United States
| | - Agatha Lenartowicz
- Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Stephen P Hinshaw
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, United States
| | - James T McCracken
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute and David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Joel T Nigg
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, United States
| | - Sarah L Karalunas
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
| | - Rory C Reid
- Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Mercedes T Oliva
- Division of Social Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, United States
| | - Samantha S Betts
- Graduate Program in Neurosciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States
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24
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Siefert EM, He M, Festa EK, Heindel WC. Pupil size tracks cue-trace interactions during episodic memory retrieval. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14409. [PMID: 37571917 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Abstract
Our ability to remember past events requires not only storing enduring engrams or memory traces of these events, but also successfully reactivating these latent traces in response to appropriate cues at the time of retrieval-a process that has been termed ecphory. However, relatively little is known about the processes that facilitate the dynamic interactions between retrieval cues and stored memory traces that are critical for successful recognition and recollection. Recently, an intriguing link between pupil dilation and recognition memory has been identified, with studied items eliciting greater pupil dilation than unstudied items during retrieval. However, the processes contributing to this "pupillary old/new effect" remain unresolved, with current explanations suggesting that it reflects the strength of the underlying memory trace. Here, we explore the novel hypothesis that the pupillary old/new effect does not index memory strength alone, but rather reflects the facilitation of cue-trace interactions during episodic memory retrieval that may be supported by activity within the pupil-linked locus coeruleus-noradrenergic (LC-NA) arousal system. First, we show that the magnitude of pupil dilation is influenced by the degree of overlap between cue and trace information. Second, we find that the magnitude of pupil dilation reflects the amount of study contextual information reinstated during retrieval. These findings provide a novel framework for understanding the pupillary old/new effect, and identify a potential role for the LC-NA system in recognition memory retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M Siefert
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
- Neurosurgery, Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Mingjian He
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
- Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Elena K Festa
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
| | - William C Heindel
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
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25
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Beckers E, Riphagen JM, Van Egroo M, Bennett DA, Jacobs HIL. Sparse Asymmetry in Locus Coeruleus Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2024; 99:105-111. [PMID: 38607758 DOI: 10.3233/jad-231328] [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] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
Tau accumulation in and neurodegeneration of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons is observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether tangle and neuronal density in the rostral and caudal LC is characterized by an asymmetric pattern in 77 autopsy cases of the Rush Memory and Aging Project. We found left-right equivalence for tangle density across individuals with and without AD pathology. However, neuronal density, particularly in the caudal-rostral axis of the LC, is asymmetric among individuals with AD pathology. Asymmetry in LC neuronal density may signal advanced disease progression and should be considered in AD neuroimaging studies of LC neurodegeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elise Beckers
- Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre Limburg, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- GIGA-Cyclotron Research Centre-In Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Joost M Riphagen
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Maxime Van Egroo
- Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre Limburg, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - David A Bennett
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Heidi I L Jacobs
- Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre Limburg, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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26
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Narasimhan S, Schriver BJ, Wang Q. Adaptive decision-making depends on pupil-linked arousal in rats performing tactile discrimination tasks. J Neurophysiol 2023; 130:1541-1551. [PMID: 37964751 PMCID: PMC11068411 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00309.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Perceptual decision-making is a dynamic cognitive process and is shaped by many factors, including behavioral state, reward contingency, and sensory environment. To understand the extent to which adaptive behavior in decision-making is dependent on pupil-linked arousal, we trained head-fixed rats to perform perceptual decision-making tasks and systematically manipulated the probability of Go and No-go stimuli while simultaneously measuring their pupil size in the tasks. Our data demonstrated that the animals adaptively modified their behavior in response to the changes in the sensory environment. The response probability to both Go and No-go stimuli decreased as the probability of the Go stimulus being presented decreased. Analyses within the signal detection theory framework showed that while the animals' perceptual sensitivity was invariant, their decision criterion increased as the probability of the Go stimulus decreased. Simulation results indicated that the adaptive increase in the decision criterion will increase possible water rewards during the task. Moreover, the adaptive decision-making is dependent on pupil-linked arousal as the increase in the decision criterion was the largest during low pupil-linked arousal periods. Taken together, our results demonstrated that the rats were able to adjust their decision-making to maximize rewards in the tasks, and that adaptive behavior in perceptual decision-making is dependent on pupil-linked arousal.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Perceptual decision-making is a dynamic cognitive process and is shaped by many factors. However, the extent to which changes in sensory environment result in adaptive decision-making remains poorly understood. Our data provided new experimental evidence demonstrating that the rats were able to adaptively modify their decision criterion to maximize water reward in response to changes in the statistics of the sensory environment. Furthermore, the adaptive decision-making is dependent on pupil-linked arousal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shreya Narasimhan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States
| | - Brian J Schriver
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States
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27
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Takahashi K, Sobczak F, Pais-Roldán P, Yu X. Characterizing brain stage-dependent pupil dynamics based on lateral hypothalamic activity. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10736-10749. [PMID: 37709360 PMCID: PMC10629899 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Pupil dynamics presents varied correlation features with brain activity under different vigilant levels. The modulation of brain dynamic stages can arise from the lateral hypothalamus (LH), where diverse neuronal cell types contribute to arousal regulation in opposite directions via the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, the relationship of the LH and pupil dynamics has seldom been investigated. Here, we performed local field potential (LFP) recordings at the LH and ACC, and whole-brain fMRI with simultaneous fiber photometry Ca2+ recording in the ACC, to evaluate their correlation with brain state-dependent pupil dynamics. Both LFP and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data showed various correlations to pupil dynamics across trials that span negative, null, and positive correlation values, demonstrating brain state-dependent coupling features. Our results indicate that the correlation of pupil dynamics with ACC LFP and whole-brain fMRI signals depends on LH activity, suggesting a role of the latter in brain dynamic stage regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kengo Takahashi
- High-Field Magnetic Resonance Department, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS), University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
- Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Group, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, 1098XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Filip Sobczak
- High-Field Magnetic Resonance Department, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Patricia Pais-Roldán
- Medical Imaging Physics, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Xin Yu
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States
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28
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McHaney JR, Schuerman WL, Leonard MK, Chandrasekaran B. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Modulates Performance but Not Pupil Size During Nonnative Speech Category Learning. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:3825-3843. [PMID: 37652065 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Subthreshold transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) synchronized with behavioral training can selectively enhance nonnative speech category learning in adults. Prior work has demonstrated that behavioral performance increases when taVNS is paired with easier-to-learn Mandarin tone categories in native English listeners, relative to when taVNS is paired with harder-to-learn Mandarin tone categories or without taVNS. Mechanistically, this temporally precise plasticity has been attributed to noradrenergic modulation. However, prior work did not specifically utilize methodologies that indexed noradrenergic modulation and, therefore, was unable to explicitly test this hypothesis. Our goal for this study was to use pupillometry to gain mechanistic insights into taVNS behavioral effects. METHOD Thirty-eight participants learned to categorize Mandarin tones while pupillometry was recorded. In a double-blinded design, participants were divided into two taVNS groups that, as in the prior study, differed according to whether taVNS was paired with easier-to-learn tones or harder-to-learn tones. Learning performance and pupillary responses were measured using linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS We found that taVNS did not have any tone-specific or group behavioral or pupillary effects. However, in an exploratory analysis, we observed that taVNS did lead to faster rates of learning on trials paired with stimulation, particularly for those who were stimulated at lower amplitudes. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that pupillary responses may not be a reliable marker of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system activity in humans. However, future research should systematically examine the effects of stimulation amplitude on both behavior and pupillary responses. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24036666.
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Kim JH, Yin C, Merriam EP, Roth ZN. Pupil Size Is Sensitive to Low-Level Stimulus Features, Independent of Arousal-Related Modulation. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0005-23.2023. [PMID: 37699706 PMCID: PMC10585606 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0005-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Similar to a camera aperture, pupil size adjusts to the surrounding luminance. Unlike a camera, pupil size is additionally modulated both by stimulus properties and by cognitive processes, including attention and arousal, though the interdependence of these factors is unclear. We hypothesized that different stimulus properties interact to jointly modulate pupil size while remaining independent from the impact of arousal. We measured pupil responses from human observers to equiluminant stimuli during a demanding rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task at fixation and tested how response amplitude depends on contrast, spatial frequency, and reward level. We found that under constant luminance, unattended stimuli evoke responses that are separable from changes caused by general arousal or attention. We further uncovered a double-dissociation between task-related responses and stimulus-evoked responses, suggesting that different sources of pupil size modulation are independent of one another. Our results shed light on neural pathways underlying pupillary response.
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Affiliation(s)
- June Hee Kim
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892
| | - Christine Yin
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892
| | - Elisha P Merriam
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892
| | - Zvi N Roth
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892
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30
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Fortin SM, Chen JC, Petticord MC, Ragozzino FJ, Peters JH, Hayes MR. The locus coeruleus contributes to the anorectic, nausea, and autonomic physiological effects of glucagon-like peptide-1. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadh0980. [PMID: 37729419 PMCID: PMC10511187 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Increasing the therapeutic potential and reducing the side effects of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists used to treat obesity require complete characterization of the central mechanisms that mediate both the food intake-suppressive and illness-like effects of GLP-1R signaling. Our studies, in the rat, demonstrate that GLP-1Rs in the locus coeruleus (LC) are pharmacologically and physiologically relevant for food intake control. Furthermore, agonism of LC GLP-1Rs induces illness-like behaviors, and antagonism of LC GLP-1Rs can attenuate GLP-1R-mediated nausea. Electrophysiological and behavioral pharmacology data support a role for LC GLP-1Rs expressed on presynaptic glutamatergic terminals in the control of feeding and malaise. Collectively, our work establishes the LC as a site of action for GLP-1 signaling and extends our understanding of the GLP-1 signaling mechanism necessary for the development of improved obesity pharmacotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha M. Fortin
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Jack C. Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Marisa C. Petticord
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Forrest J. Ragozzino
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
| | - James H. Peters
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
| | - Matthew R. Hayes
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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31
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Wienke C, Grueschow M, Haghikia A, Zaehle T. Phasic, Event-Related Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Modifies Behavioral, Pupillary, and Low-Frequency Oscillatory Power Responses. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6306-6319. [PMID: 37591736 PMCID: PMC10490471 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0452-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/23/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been proposed to activate the locus ceruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system. However, previous studies failed to find consistent modulatory effects of taVNS on LC-NA biomarkers. Previous studies suggest that phasic taVNS may be capable of modulating LC-NA biomarkers such as pupil dilation and alpha oscillations. However, it is unclear whether these effects extend beyond pure sensory vagal nerve responses. Critically, the potential of the pupillary light reflex as an additional taVNS biomarker has not been explored so far. Here, we applied phasic active and sham taVNS in 29 subjects (16 female, 13 male) while they performed an emotional Stroop task (EST) and a passive pupil light reflex task (PLRT). We recorded pupil size and brain activity dynamics using a combined Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and pupillometry design. Our results show that phasic taVNS significantly increased pupil dilation and performance during the EST. During the PLRT, active taVNS reduced and delayed pupil constriction. In the MEG, taVNS increased frontal-midline theta and alpha power during the EST, whereas occipital alpha power was reduced during both the EST and PLRT. Our findings provide evidence that phasic taVNS systematically modulates behavioral, pupillary, and electrophysiological parameters of LC-NA activity during cognitive processing. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that the pupillary light reflex can be used as a simple and effective proxy of taVNS efficacy. These findings have important implications for the development of noninvasive neuromodulation interventions for various cognitive and clinical applications.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT taVNS has gained increasing attention as a noninvasive neuromodulation technique and is widely used in clinical and nonclinical research. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of action of taVNS is not yet fully understood. By assessing physiology and behavior in a response conflict task in healthy humans, we demonstrate the first successful application of a phasic, noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation to improve cognitive control and to systematically modulate pupillary and electrophysiological markers of the noradrenergic system. Understanding the mechanisms of action of taVNS could optimize future clinical applications and lead to better treatments for mental disorders associated with noradrenergic dysfunction. In addition, we present a new taVNS-sensitive pupillary measure representing an easy-to-use biomarker for future taVNS studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcus Grueschow
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Departement of Economics, University of Zurich, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Aiden Haghikia
- Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
- Deusches Zentrum für Neurodegenrative Erkrankungen, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
- Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
| | - Tino Zaehle
- Otto-von-Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
- Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, 39120, Germany
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32
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Abivardi A, Korn CW, Rojkov I, Gerster S, Hurlemann R, Bach DR. Acceleration of inferred neural responses to oddball targets in an individual with bilateral amygdala lesion compared to healthy controls. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14550. [PMID: 37667022 PMCID: PMC10477323 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41357-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Detecting unusual auditory stimuli is crucial for discovering potential threat. Locus coeruleus (LC), which coordinates attention, and amygdala, which is implicated in resource prioritization, both respond to deviant sounds. Evidence concerning their interaction, however, is sparse. Seeking to elucidate if human amygdala affects estimated LC activity during this process, we recorded pupillary responses during an auditory oddball and an illuminance change task, in a female with bilateral amygdala lesions (BG) and in n = 23 matched controls. Neural input in response to oddballs was estimated via pupil dilation, a reported proxy of LC activity, harnessing a linear-time invariant system and individual pupillary dilation response function (IRF) inferred from illuminance responses. While oddball recognition remained intact, estimated LC input for BG was compacted to an impulse rather than the prolonged waveform seen in healthy controls. This impulse had the earliest response mean and highest kurtosis in the sample. As a secondary finding, BG showed enhanced early pupillary constriction to darkness. These findings suggest that LC-amygdala communication is required to sustain LC activity in response to anomalous sounds. Our results provide further evidence for amygdala involvement in processing deviant sound targets, although it is not required for their behavioral recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aslan Abivardi
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
| | - Christoph W Korn
- Section Social Neuroscience, Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Ivan Rojkov
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
- Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Samuel Gerster
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rene Hurlemann
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 26160, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany
| | - Dominik R Bach
- Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Hertz Chair for Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, 53012, Bonn, Germany.
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Pielage H, Plain BJ, Saunders GH, Versfeld NJ, Lunner T, Kramer SE, Zekveld AA. Copresence Was Found to Be Related to Some Pupil Measures in Persons With Hearing Loss While They Performed a Speech-in-Noise Task. Ear Hear 2023; 44:1190-1201. [PMID: 37012623 PMCID: PMC10426789 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To assess if a manipulation of copresence was related to speech-in-noise task performance, arousal, and effort of persons with hearing loss. Task-related arousal and effort were measured by means of pupillometry. DESIGN Twenty-nine participants (mean age: 64.6 years) with hearing loss (4-frequency pure-tone average [4F-PTA] of 50.2 dB HL [SD = 8.9 dB] in the right ear and 51.3 dB HL [SD = 8.7 dB] in the left ear; averaged across 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) listened to and repeated spoken Danish sentences that were masked by four streams of continuous speech. Participants were presented with blocks of 20 sentences, during which copresence was manipulated by having participants do the task either alone or accompanied by two observers who were recruited from a similar age group. The task was presented at two difficulty levels, which was accomplished by fixing the signal-to-noise ratio of the speech and masker to match the thresholds at which participants were estimated to correctly repeat 50% (difficult) or 80% (easy) of the sentences in a block. Performance was assessed based on whether or not sentences were repeated correctly. Measures of pupil size (baseline pupil size [BPS], peak pupil dilation [PPD], and mean pupil dilation [MPD]) were used to index arousal and effort. Participants also completed ratings of subjective effort and stress after each block of sentences and a self-efficacy for listening-questionnaire. RESULTS Task performance was not associated with copresence, but was found to be related to 4F-PTA. An increase in BPS was found for copresence conditions, compared to alone conditions. Furthermore, a post-hoc exploratory analysis revealed that the copresence conditions were associated with a significantly larger pupil size in the second half of the task-evoked pupil response (TEPR). No change in PPD or MPD did was detected between copresence and alone conditions. Self-efficacy, 4F-PTA, and age were not found to be related to the pupil data. Subjective ratings were sensitive to task difficulty but not copresence. CONCLUSION Copresence was not found to be related to speech-in-noise performance, PPD, or MPD in persons with HL but was associated with an increase in arousal (as indicated by a larger BPS). This could be related to premobilization of effort and/or discomfort in response to the observers' presence. Furthermore, an exploratory analysis of the pupil data showed that copresence was associated with greater pupil dilations in the second half of the TEPR. This may indicate that participants invested more effort during the speech-in-noise task while in the presence of the observers, but that this increase in effort may not necessarily have been related to listening itself. Instead, other speech-in-noise task-related processes, such as preparing to respond, could have been influenced by copresence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hidde Pielage
- Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, section Ear & Hearing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
| | - Bethany J. Plain
- Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, section Ear & Hearing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
| | - Gabrielle H. Saunders
- Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Niek J. Versfeld
- Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, section Ear & Hearing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Sophia E. Kramer
- Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, section Ear & Hearing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Adriana A. Zekveld
- Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, section Ear & Hearing, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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34
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Wietek J, Nozownik A, Pulin M, Saraf-Sinik I, Matosevich N, Malan D, Brown BJ, Dine J, Levy R, Litvin A, Regev N, Subramaniam S, Bitton E, Benjamin A, Copits BA, Sasse P, Rost BR, Schmitz D, Soba P, Nir Y, Wiegert JS, Yizhar O. A bistable inhibitory OptoGPCR for multiplexed optogenetic control of neural circuits. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.07.01.547328. [PMID: 37425961 PMCID: PMC10327178 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.01.547328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Information is transmitted between brain regions through the release of neurotransmitters from long-range projecting axons. Understanding how the activity of such long-range connections contributes to behavior requires efficient methods for reversibly manipulating their function. Chemogenetic and optogenetic tools, acting through endogenous G-protein coupled receptor (GPCRs) pathways, can be used to modulate synaptic transmission, but existing tools are limited in sensitivity, spatiotemporal precision, or spectral multiplexing capabilities. Here we systematically evaluated multiple bistable opsins for optogenetic applications and found that the Platynereis dumerilii ciliary opsin (PdCO) is an efficient, versatile, light-activated bistable GPCR that can suppress synaptic transmission in mammalian neurons with high temporal precision in-vivo. PdCO has superior biophysical properties that enable spectral multiplexing with other optogenetic actuators and reporters. We demonstrate that PdCO can be used to conduct reversible loss-of-function experiments in long-range projections of behaving animals, thereby enabling detailed synapse-specific functional circuit mapping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Wietek
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Adrianna Nozownik
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- Present address: Paris Brain Institute, Institut du Cerveau (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U1127, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Mauro Pulin
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- Present address: Laboratory of Sensory Processing, Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Inbar Saraf-Sinik
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noa Matosevich
- Sagol school of neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Daniela Malan
- Institut für Physiologie I, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Bobbie J. Brown
- Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Julien Dine
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Present address: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG; CNS Diseases, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Rivka Levy
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Anna Litvin
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noa Regev
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Suraj Subramaniam
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Eyal Bitton
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Asaf Benjamin
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Bryan A. Copits
- Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Philipp Sasse
- Institut für Physiologie I, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Benjamin R. Rost
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dietmar Schmitz
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany
- Neuroscience Research Center, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| | - Peter Soba
- Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
- LIMES-Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Yuval Nir
- Sagol school of neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - J. Simon Wiegert
- Center for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg, Germany
- Present address: MCTN, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Ofer Yizhar
- Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Rojas-Thomas F, Artigas C, Wainstein G, Morales JP, Arriagada M, Soto D, Dagnino-Subiabre A, Silva J, Lopez V. Impact of acute psychosocial stress on attentional control in humans. A study of evoked potentials and pupillary response. Neurobiol Stress 2023; 25:100551. [PMID: 37362419 PMCID: PMC10285563 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Psychosocial stress has increased considerably in our modern lifestyle, affecting global mental health. Deficits in attentional control are cardinal features of stress disorders and pathological anxiety. Studies suggest that changes in the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system could underlie the effects of stress on top-down attentional control. However, the impact of psychosocial stress on attentional processes and its underlying neural mechanisms are poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the effect of psychosocial stress on attentional processing and brain signatures. Evoked potentials and pupillary activity related to the oddball auditory paradigm were recorded before and after applying the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). Electrocardiogram (ECG), salivary cortisol, and subjective anxiety/stress levels were measured at different experimental periods. The control group experienced the same physical and cognitive effort but without the psychosocial stress component. The results showed that stressed subjects exhibited decreased P3a and P3b amplitude, pupil phasic response, and correct responses. On the other hand, they displayed an increase in Mismatch Negativity (MMN). N1 amplitude after MIST only decreased in the control group. We found that differences in P3b amplitude between the first and second oddball were significantly correlated with pupillary dilation and salivary cortisol levels. Our results suggest that under social-evaluative threat, basal activity of the coeruleus-norepinephrine system increases, enhancing alertness and decreasing voluntary attentional resources for the cognitive task. These findings contribute to understanding the neurobiological basis of attentional changes in pathologies associated with chronic psychosocial stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- F. Rojas-Thomas
- Laboratorio de Psicología Experimental y Neurociencias, Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Programa de Doctorado en Neurociencia, Centro Interdisciplinario en Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - C. Artigas
- Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - G. Wainstein
- Departamento de Psiquiatría, Escuela de Medicina y Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Juan-Pablo Morales
- Programa de Doctorado en Neurociencia, Centro Interdisciplinario en Neurociencia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
- Facultad de Educación Psicología y Familia, Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile
| | - M. Arriagada
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Bernardo O'Higgins University, Santiago, Chile
| | - D. Soto
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago de Chile, Chile
| | - A. Dagnino-Subiabre
- Laboratorio de Neurobiología del Estrés, Instituto de Fisiología, CENFI, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - J. Silva
- Instituto de Bienestar Socioemocional (IBEM), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - V. Lopez
- Laboratorio de Psicología Experimental y Neurociencias, Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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36
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Fietz J, Pöhlchen D, Brückl TM, Brem AK, Padberg F, Czisch M, Sämann PG, Spoormaker VI. Data-Driven Pupil Response Profiles as Transdiagnostic Readouts for the Detection of Neurocognitive Functioning in Affective and Anxiety Disorders. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2023:S2451-9022(23)00149-0. [PMID: 37348604 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neurocognitive functioning is a relevant transdiagnostic dimension in psychiatry. As pupil size dynamics track cognitive load during a working memory task, we aimed to explore if this parameter allows identification of psychophysiological subtypes in healthy participants and patients with affective and anxiety disorders. METHODS Our sample consisted of 226 participants who completed the n-back task during simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging and pupillometry measurements. We used latent class growth modeling to identify clusters based on pupil size in response to cognitive load. In a second step, these clusters were compared on affective and anxiety symptom levels, performance in neurocognitive tests, and functional magnetic resonance imaging activity. RESULTS The clustering analysis resulted in two distinct pupil response profiles: one with a stepwise increasing pupil size with increasing cognitive load (reactive group) and one with a constant pupil size across conditions (nonreactive group). A larger increase in pupil size was significantly associated with better performance in neurocognitive tests in executive functioning and sustained attention. Statistical maps of parametric modulation of pupil size during the n-back task showed the frontoparietal network in the positive contrast and the default mode network in the negative contrast. The pupil response profile of the reactive group was associated with more thalamic activity, likely reflecting better arousal upregulation and less deactivation of the limbic system. CONCLUSIONS Pupil measurements have the potential to serve as a highly sensitive psychophysiological readout for detection of neurocognitive deficits in the core domain of executive functioning, adding to the development of valid transdiagnostic constructs in psychiatry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Fietz
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Dorothee Pöhlchen
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Tanja M Brückl
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Anna-Katharine Brem
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Frank Padberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | - Victor I Spoormaker
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
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Yamazaki Y, Suwabe K, Nagano-Saito A, Saotome K, Kuwamizu R, Hiraga T, Torma F, Suzuki K, Sankai Y, Yassa MA, Soya H. A possible contribution of the locus coeruleus to arousal enhancement with mild exercise: evidence from pupillometry and neuromelanin imaging. Cereb Cortex Commun 2023; 4:tgad010. [PMID: 37323937 PMCID: PMC10267300 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgad010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Acute mild exercise has been observed to facilitate executive function and memory. A possible underlying mechanism of this is the upregulation of the ascending arousal system, including the catecholaminergic system originating from the locus coeruleus (LC). Prior work indicates that pupil diameter, as an indirect marker of the ascending arousal system, including the LC, increases even with very light-intensity exercise. However, it remains unclear whether the LC directly contributes to exercise-induced pupil-linked arousal. Here, we examined the involvement of the LC in the change in pupil dilation induced by very light-intensity exercise using pupillometry and neuromelanin imaging to assess the LC integrity. A sample of 21 young males performed 10 min of very light-intensity exercise, and we measured changes in the pupil diameters and psychological arousal levels induced by the exercise. Neuromelanin-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans were also obtained. We observed that pupil diameter and psychological arousal levels increased during very light-intensity exercise, which is consistent with previous findings. Notably, the LC contrast, a marker of LC integrity, predicted the magnitude of pupil dilation and psychological arousal enhancement with exercise. These relationships suggest that the LC-catecholaminergic system is a potential a mechanism for pupil-linked arousal induced by very light-intensity exercise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yudai Yamazaki
- Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tannoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
| | - Kazuya Suwabe
- Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Ryutsu Keizai University, 120 Ryugasaki, Ibaraki 301-0844, Japan
- Center for Cybernics Research, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan
| | - Atsuko Nagano-Saito
- Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tannoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Department of Radiology, Ushiku Aiwa General Hospital, 896 Inoko-cho, Ushiku, Ibaraki 300-1296, Japan
| | - Kousaku Saotome
- Center for Cybernics Research, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan
- Department of Radiological Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
| | - Ryuta Kuwamizu
- Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tannoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Taichi Hiraga
- Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tannoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
| | - Ferenc Torma
- Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tannoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
| | - Kenji Suzuki
- Center for Cybernics Research, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Sankai
- Center for Cybernics Research, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan
| | - Michael A Yassa
- Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92679-3800, United States
- Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, CA 92679-3800, United States
| | - Hideaki Soya
- Corresponding author: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Neuroendocrinology; Sport Neuroscience Division, Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan.
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Kraus F, Tune S, Obleser J, Herrmann B. Neural α Oscillations and Pupil Size Differentially Index Cognitive Demand under Competing Audiovisual Task Conditions. J Neurosci 2023; 43:4352-4364. [PMID: 37160365 PMCID: PMC10255021 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2181-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive demand is thought to modulate two often used, but rarely combined, measures: pupil size and neural α (8-12 Hz) oscillatory power. However, it is unclear whether these two measures capture cognitive demand in a similar way under complex audiovisual-task conditions. Here we recorded pupil size and neural α power (using electroencephalography), while human participants of both sexes concurrently performed a visual multiple object-tracking task and an auditory gap detection task. Difficulties of the two tasks were manipulated independent of each other. Participants' performance decreased in accuracy and speed with increasing cognitive demand. Pupil size increased with increasing difficulty for both the auditory and the visual task. In contrast, α power showed diverging neural dynamics: parietal α power decreased with increasing difficulty in the visual task, but not with increasing difficulty in the auditory task. Furthermore, independent of task difficulty, within-participant trial-by-trial fluctuations in pupil size were negatively correlated with α power. Difficulty-induced changes in pupil size and α power, however, did not correlate, which is consistent with their different cognitive-demand sensitivities. Overall, the current study demonstrates that the dynamics of the neurophysiological indices of cognitive demand and associated effort are multifaceted and potentially modality-dependent under complex audiovisual-task conditions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Pupil size and oscillatory α power are associated with cognitive demand and effort, but their relative sensitivity under complex audiovisual-task conditions is unclear, as is the extent to which they share underlying mechanisms. Using an audiovisual dual-task paradigm, we show that pupil size increases with increasing cognitive demands for both audition and vision. In contrast, changes in oscillatory α power depend on the respective task demands: parietal α power decreases with visual demand but not with auditory task demand. Hence, pupil size and α power show different sensitivity to cognitive demands, perhaps suggesting partly different underlying neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frauke Kraus
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Sarah Tune
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
- Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Björn Herrmann
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada
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Jordan R, Keller GB. The locus coeruleus broadcasts prediction errors across the cortex to promote sensorimotor plasticity. eLife 2023; 12:RP85111. [PMID: 37285281 PMCID: PMC10328511 DOI: 10.7554/elife.85111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Prediction errors are differences between expected and actual sensory input and are thought to be key computational signals that drive learning related plasticity. One way that prediction errors could drive learning is by activating neuromodulatory systems to gate plasticity. The catecholaminergic locus coeruleus (LC) is a major neuromodulatory system involved in neuronal plasticity in the cortex. Using two-photon calcium imaging in mice exploring a virtual environment, we found that the activity of LC axons in the cortex correlated with the magnitude of unsigned visuomotor prediction errors. LC response profiles were similar in both motor and visual cortical areas, indicating that LC axons broadcast prediction errors throughout the dorsal cortex. While imaging calcium activity in layer 2/3 of the primary visual cortex, we found that optogenetic stimulation of LC axons facilitated learning of a stimulus-specific suppression of visual responses during locomotion. This plasticity - induced by minutes of LC stimulation - recapitulated the effect of visuomotor learning on a scale that is normally observed during visuomotor development across days. We conclude that prediction errors drive LC activity, and that LC activity facilitates sensorimotor plasticity in the cortex, consistent with a role in modulating learning rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Jordan
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical ResearchBaselSwitzerland
| | - Georg B Keller
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical ResearchBaselSwitzerland
- Faculty of Sciences, University of BaselBaselSwitzerland
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40
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Azer L, Xie W, Park HB, Zhang W. Detrimental effects of effortful physical exertion on a working memory dual-task in older adults. Psychol Aging 2023; 38:291-304. [PMID: 37104787 PMCID: PMC10238666 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Action and cognition often interact in everyday life and are both sensitive to the effects of aging. The present study tested the effects of a simple physical action, effortful handgrip exertion, on working memory (WM) and inhibitory control in younger and older adults. Using a novel dual-task paradigm, participants engaged in a WM task with 0 or 5-distractors under concurrent physical exertion (5% vs. 30% individual maximum voluntary contraction). Effortful physical exertion, although failing to effect WM accuracy in the distractor absent condition for both age groups, reduced WM accuracy for the older, but not young adults, in the distractor-present condition. Similarly, older adults experienced greater distractor interference in the distractor-present condition under high physical exertion, indexed by slower reaction time (RT), confirmed by hierarchical Bayesian modeling of RT distributions. Our finding that a simple but effortful physical task results in impaired cognitive control may be empirically important for understanding everyday functions of older adults. For example, the ability to ignore task-irrelevant items declines with age and this decline is greater when simultaneously performing a physical task, which is a frequent occurrence in daily life. The negative interactions between cognitive and motor tasks may further impair daily functions, beyond the negative consequences of reduced inhibitory control and physical abilities in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lilian Azer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
| | - Weizhen Xie
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
| | - Hyung-Bum Park
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
| | - Weiwei Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside
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Bachman SL, Attanti S, Mather M. Isometric handgrip exercise speeds working memory responses in younger and older adults. Psychol Aging 2023; 38:305-322. [PMID: 36931831 PMCID: PMC10238670 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
Physiological arousal affects attention and memory, sometimes enhancing and other times impairing what we attend to and remember. In the present study, we investigated how changes in physiological arousal-induced through short bursts of isometric handgrip exercise-affected subsequent working memory performance. A sample of 57 younger (ages 18-29) and 56 older (ages 65-85) participants performed blocks of isometric handgrip exercise in which they periodically squeezed a therapy ball, alternating with blocks of an auditory working memory task. We found that, compared with those in a control group, participants who performed isometric handgrip had faster reaction times on the working memory task. Handgrip-speeded responses were observed for both younger and older participants, across working memory loads. Analysis of multimodal physiological responses indicated that physiological arousal increased during handgrip. Our findings suggest that performing short bouts of isometric handgrip exercise can improve processing speed, and they offer testable possibilities for the mechanism underlying handgrip's effects on performance. The potential for acute isometric exercise to temporarily improve processing speed may be of particular relevance for older adults who show declines in processing speed and working memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sumedha Attanti
- Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California
| | - Mara Mather
- Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California
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42
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Bonmassar C, Scharf F, Widmann A, Wetzel N. On the relationship of arousal and attentional distraction by emotional novel sounds. Cognition 2023; 237:105470. [PMID: 37150156 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105470] [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: 07/17/2022] [Revised: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Unexpected and task-irrelevant sounds can impair performance in a task. It has been shown that highly arousing emotional distractor sounds impaired performance less compared to moderately arousing neutral distractor sounds. The present study tests whether these differential emotion-related distraction effects are directly related to an enhancement of arousal evoked by processing of emotional distractor sounds. We disentangled costs of orienting of attention and benefits of increased arousal levels during the presentation of highly arousing emotional and moderately arousing neutral novel sounds that were embedded in a sequence of repeated standard sounds. We used sound-related pupil dilation responses as a marker of arousal and RTs as a marker of distraction in a visual categorization task in 57 healthy young adults. Multilevel analyses revealed increased RT and increased pupil dilation in response to novel vs. standard sounds. Emotional novel sounds reduced distraction effects on the behavioral level and increased pupil dilation responses compared to neutral novel sounds. Bayes Factors revealed strong evidence against an inverse proportional relationship between behavioral distraction effects and sound-related pupil dilation responses for emotional sounds. Given that the activity of the locus coeruleus has been linked to both changes in pupil diameter and arousal, it may embody an indirect relationship as a common antecedent by the release of norepinephrine into brain networks involved in attention control and control of the pupil. The present study provides new insights into the relation of changes in arousal and attentional distraction during the processing of emotional task-irrelevant novel sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Andreas Widmann
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany; Leipzig University, Germany
| | - Nicole Wetzel
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences Magdeburg, Germany; University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-, Stendal, Germany
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43
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Reitman ME, Tse V, Mi X, Willoughby DD, Peinado A, Aivazidis A, Myagmar BE, Simpson PC, Bayraktar OA, Yu G, Poskanzer KE. Norepinephrine links astrocytic activity to regulation of cortical state. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:579-593. [PMID: 36997759 PMCID: PMC10089924 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01284-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
Cortical state, defined by population-level neuronal activity patterns, determines sensory perception. While arousal-associated neuromodulators-including norepinephrine (NE)-reduce cortical synchrony, how the cortex resynchronizes remains unknown. Furthermore, general mechanisms regulating cortical synchrony in the wake state are poorly understood. Using in vivo imaging and electrophysiology in mouse visual cortex, we describe a critical role for cortical astrocytes in circuit resynchronization. We characterize astrocytes' calcium responses to changes in behavioral arousal and NE, and show that astrocytes signal when arousal-driven neuronal activity is reduced and bi-hemispheric cortical synchrony is increased. Using in vivo pharmacology, we uncover a paradoxical, synchronizing response to Adra1a receptor stimulation. We reconcile these results by demonstrating that astrocyte-specific deletion of Adra1a enhances arousal-driven neuronal activity, while impairing arousal-related cortical synchrony. Our findings demonstrate that astrocytic NE signaling acts as a distinct neuromodulatory pathway, regulating cortical state and linking arousal-associated desynchrony to cortical circuit resynchronization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael E Reitman
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Vincent Tse
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Xuelong Mi
- Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Arlington, VA, USA
| | - Drew D Willoughby
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alba Peinado
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Bat-Erdene Myagmar
- Department of Medicine and Research Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Paul C Simpson
- Department of Medicine and Research Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Guoqiang Yu
- Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Arlington, VA, USA
| | - Kira E Poskanzer
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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Drummond PD, Finch PM. Auditory disturbances in patients with complex regional pain syndrome. Pain 2023; 164:804-810. [PMID: 36036917 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is often associated with reduced sound tolerance (hyperacusis) on the affected side, but the mechanism of this symptom is unclear. As compensatory increases in central auditory activity after cochlear injury may trigger hyperacusis, hearing and discomfort thresholds to pure tones (250, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000, and 8000 Hz) were assessed in 34 patients with CRPS and 26 pain-free controls. In addition, in 31 patients and 17 controls, auditory-evoked potentials to click stimuli (0.08 ms duration, 6 Hz, 60 dB above the hearing threshold) were averaged across 2000 trials for each ear. Auditory discomfort thresholds were lower at several pitches on the CRPS-affected than contralateral side and lower at all pitches on the affected side than in controls. However, ipsilateral hyperacusis was not associated with psychophysical or physiological signs of cochlear damage. Instead, neural activity in the ipsilateral brainstem and midbrain was greater when repetitive click stimuli were presented on the affected than contralateral side and greater bilaterally than in controls. In addition, click-evoked potentials, reflecting thalamo-cortical signal transfer and early cortical processing, were greater contralaterally in patients than controls. Together, these findings suggest that hyperacusis originates in the ipsilateral brainstem and midbrain rather than the peripheral auditory apparatus of patients with CRPS. Failure of processes that jointly modulate afferent auditory signalling and pain (eg, inhibitory influences stemming from the locus coeruleus) could contribute to ipsilateral hyperacusis in CRPS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter D Drummond
- Discipline of Psychology, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia
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Dercksen TT, Widmann A, Wetzel N. Salient omissions-pupil dilation in response to unexpected omissions of sound and touch. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1143931. [PMID: 37032955 PMCID: PMC10077953 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1143931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Recent theories describe perception as an inferential process based on internal predictive models adjusted by means of prediction violations (prediction error). To study and demonstrate predictive processing in the brain the use of unexpected stimulus omissions has been suggested as a promising approach as the evoked brain responses are uncontaminated by responses to stimuli. Here, we aimed to investigate the pupil's response to unexpected stimulus omissions in order to better understand surprise and orienting of attention resulting from prediction violation. So far only few studies have used omission in pupillometry research and results have been inconsistent. Methods This study adapted an EEG paradigm that has been shown to elicit omission responses in auditory and somatosensory modalities. Healthy adults pressed a button at their own pace, which resulted in the presentation of sounds or tactile stimuli in either 88%, 50% or 0% (motor-control) of cases. Pupil size was recorded continuously and averaged to analyze the pupil dilation response associated with each condition. Results Results revealed that omission responses were observed in both modalities in the 88%-condition compared to motor-control. Similar pupil omission responses were observed between modalities, suggesting modality-unspecific activation of the underlying brain circuits. Discussion In combination with previous omission studies using EEG, the findings demonstrate predictive models in brain processing and point to the involvement of subcortical structures in the omission response. Our pupillometry approach is especially suitable to study sensory prediction in vulnerable populations within the psychiatric field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tjerk T. Dercksen
- Research Group Neurocognitive Development, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
- Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Widmann
- Research Group Neurocognitive Development, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nicole Wetzel
- Research Group Neurocognitive Development, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
- Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany
- University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Stendal, Germany
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The sensory and affective components of pain differentially shape pupillary dilatation during cold pressor tests. Auton Neurosci 2023; 246:103084. [PMID: 36934567 DOI: 10.1016/j.autneu.2023.103084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
Nociceptive and affective stimuli increase reflex sympathetic outflow to the pupils. To investigate effects of stimulus intensity, unpleasantness and distress on these pupillary reflexes, and to assess their stability, healthy participants immersed their hand in ice-water three times (for 20, 40 and 60 s; or 60, 40 and 20 s; or three times for 60 s) (N = 21 in each condition). Each ice-water immersion was preceded by a 90 s warm water immersion. To evaluate phasic sympathetic influences on pupil diameter, pupillary re-dilatation after 1 s of bright light was assessed during the last 10 s of each immersion. By-and-large, pain ratings and pupil diameter were greater during longer than shorter ice-water immersions, and ice-water immersions facilitated pupillary re-dilatation after the flash stimulus. However, mean pupil diameter during ice- and warm water immersions, minor ipsilateral amplification of the pupillary response, and ratings of pain unpleasantness and distress decreased across the experiment. Together, these findings suggest that nociceptive input increased sympathetic pupillary tone and amplified phasic increases in sympathetic activity after exposure to light. However, tonic sympathetic influences on pupil diameter and lateralization decreased across repeated immersions, possibly as novel or threatening aspects of the experience declined. Pupillary nociceptive and affective reflexes involve the locus coeruleus, an integral component of neural circuits that heighten cortical arousal and regulate pain. As these reflexes appear to reflect different aspects of sensory and affective processing, their combined assessment might increase the sensitivity and specificity of tests of locus coeruleus function in patients with suspected deficits.
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Weiss E, Kann M, Wang Q. Neuromodulation of Neural Oscillations in Health and Disease. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:371. [PMID: 36979063 PMCID: PMC10045166 DOI: 10.3390/biology12030371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
Using EEG and local field potentials (LFPs) as an index of large-scale neural activities, research has been able to associate neural oscillations in different frequency bands with markers of cognitive functions, goal-directed behavior, and various neurological disorders. While this gives us a glimpse into how neurons communicate throughout the brain, the causality of these synchronized network activities remains poorly understood. Moreover, the effect of the major neuromodulatory systems (e.g., noradrenergic, cholinergic, and dopaminergic) on brain oscillations has drawn much attention. More recent studies have suggested that cross-frequency coupling (CFC) is heavily responsible for mediating network-wide communication across subcortical and cortical brain structures, implicating the importance of neurotransmitters in shaping coordinated actions. By bringing to light the role each neuromodulatory system plays in regulating brain-wide neural oscillations, we hope to paint a clearer picture of the pivotal role neural oscillations play in a variety of cognitive functions and neurological disorders, and how neuromodulation techniques can be optimized as a means of controlling neural network dynamics. The aim of this review is to showcase the important role that neuromodulatory systems play in large-scale neural network dynamics, informing future studies to pay close attention to their involvement in specific features of neural oscillations and associated behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Qi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, ET 351, 500 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
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Human voices escape the auditory attentional blink: Evidence from detections and pupil responses. Brain Cogn 2023; 165:105928. [PMID: 36459865 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105928] [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: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Attentional selection of a second target in a rapid stream of stimuli embedding two targets tends to be briefly impaired when two targets are presented in close temporal proximity, an effect known as an attentional blink (AB). Two target sounds (T1 and T2) were embedded in a rapid serial auditory presentation of environmental sounds with a short (Lag 3) or long lag (Lag 9). Participants were to first identify T1 (bell or sine tone) and then to detect T2 (present or absent). Individual stimuli had durations of either 30 or 90 ms, and were presented in streams of 20 sounds. The T2 varied in category: human voice, cello, or dog sound. Previous research has introduced pupillometry as a useful marker of the intensity of cognitive processing and attentional allocation in the visual AB paradigm. Results suggest that the interplay of stimulus factors is critical for target detection accuracy and provides support for the hypothesis that the human voice is the least likely to show an auditory AB (in the 90 ms condition). For the other stimuli, accuracy for T2 was significantly worse at Lag 3 than at Lag 9 in the 90 ms condition, suggesting the presence of an auditory AB. When AB occurred (at Lag 3), we observed smaller pupil dilations, time-locked to the onset of T2, compared to Lag 9, reflecting lower attentional processing when 'blinking' during target detection. Taken together, these findings support the conclusion that human voices escape the AB and that the pupillary changes are consistent with the so-called T2 attentional deficit. In addition, we found some indication that salient stimuli like human voices could require a less intense allocation of attention, or noradrenergic potentiation, compared to other auditory stimuli.
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Lan YQ, Yu MB, Zhan ZY, Huang YR, Zhao LW, Quan YD, Li ZJ, Sun DF, Wu YL, Wu HY, Liu ZT, Wu KL. Use of a tissue clearing technique combined with retrograde trans-synaptic viral tracing to evaluate changes in mouse retinorecipient brain regions following optic nerve crush. Neural Regen Res 2023; 18:913-921. [DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.353852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
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Książek P, Zekveld AA, Fiedler L, Kramer SE, Wendt D. Time-specific Components of Pupil Responses Reveal Alternations in Effort Allocation Caused by Memory Task Demands During Speech Identification in Noise. Trends Hear 2023; 27:23312165231153280. [PMID: 36938784 PMCID: PMC10028670 DOI: 10.1177/23312165231153280] [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] [Indexed: 03/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Daily communication may be effortful due to poor acoustic quality. In addition, memory demands can induce effort, especially for long or complex sentences. In the current study, we tested the impact of memory task demands and speech-to-noise ratio on the time-specific components of effort allocation during speech identification in noise. Thirty normally hearing adults (15 females, mean age 42.2 years) participated. In an established auditory memory test, listeners had to listen to a list of seven sentences in noise, and repeat the sentence-final word after presentation, and, if instructed, recall the repeated words. We tested the effects of speech-to-noise ratio (SNR; -4 dB, +1 dB) and recall (Recall; Yes, No), on the time-specific components of pupil responses, trial baseline pupil size, and their dynamics (change) along the list. We found three components in the pupil responses (early, middle, and late). While the additional memory task (recall versus no recall) lowered all components' values, SNR (-4 dB versus +1 dB SNR) increased the middle and late component values. Increasing memory demands (Recall) progressively increased trial baseline and steepened decrease of the late component's values. Trial baseline increased most steeply in the condition of +1 dB SNR with recall. The findings suggest that adding a recall to the auditory task alters effort allocation for listening. Listeners are dynamically re-allocating effort from listening to memorizing under changing memory and acoustic demands. The pupil baseline and the time-specific components of pupil responses provide a comprehensive picture of the interplay of SNR and recall on effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrycja Książek
- 26066Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 263099Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
| | - Adriana A Zekveld
- 26066Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Sophia E Kramer
- 26066Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Dorothea Wendt
- 263099Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Department of Health Technology, 5205Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
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