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Lundqvist M, Miller EK, Nordmark J, Liljefors J, Herman P. Beta: bursts of cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2024:S1364-6613(24)00077-9. [PMID: 38658218 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.03.010] [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: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Beta oscillations are linked to the control of goal-directed processing of sensory information and the timing of motor output. Recent evidence demonstrates they are not sustained but organized into intermittent high-power bursts mediating timely functional inhibition. This implies there is a considerable moment-to-moment variation in the neural dynamics supporting cognition. Beta bursts thus offer new opportunities for studying how sensory inputs are selectively processed, reshaped by inhibitory cognitive operations and ultimately result in motor actions. Recent method advances reveal diversity in beta bursts that provide deeper insights into their function and the underlying neural circuit activity motifs. We propose that brain-wide, spatiotemporal patterns of beta bursting reflect various cognitive operations and that their dynamics reveal nonlinear aspects of cortical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Lundqvist
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden; The Picower Institute for Learning & Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Earl K Miller
- The Picower Institute for Learning & Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jonatan Nordmark
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Johan Liljefors
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Pawel Herman
- School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden; Digital Futures, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
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Medrano J, Friston K, Zeidman P. Linking fast and slow: The case for generative models. Netw Neurosci 2024; 8:24-43. [PMID: 38562283 PMCID: PMC10861163 DOI: 10.1162/netn_a_00343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
A pervasive challenge in neuroscience is testing whether neuronal connectivity changes over time due to specific causes, such as stimuli, events, or clinical interventions. Recent hardware innovations and falling data storage costs enable longer, more naturalistic neuronal recordings. The implicit opportunity for understanding the self-organised brain calls for new analysis methods that link temporal scales: from the order of milliseconds over which neuronal dynamics evolve, to the order of minutes, days, or even years over which experimental observations unfold. This review article demonstrates how hierarchical generative models and Bayesian inference help to characterise neuronal activity across different time scales. Crucially, these methods go beyond describing statistical associations among observations and enable inference about underlying mechanisms. We offer an overview of fundamental concepts in state-space modeling and suggest a taxonomy for these methods. Additionally, we introduce key mathematical principles that underscore a separation of temporal scales, such as the slaving principle, and review Bayesian methods that are being used to test hypotheses about the brain with multiscale data. We hope that this review will serve as a useful primer for experimental and computational neuroscientists on the state of the art and current directions of travel in the complex systems modelling literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Medrano
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Karl Friston
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
| | - Peter Zeidman
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK
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Papadopoulos S, Szul MJ, Congedo M, Bonaiuto JJ, Mattout J. Beta bursts question the ruling power for brain-computer interfaces. J Neural Eng 2024; 21:016010. [PMID: 38167234 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad19ea] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Objective: Current efforts to build reliable brain-computer interfaces (BCI) span multiple axes from hardware, to software, to more sophisticated experimental protocols, and personalized approaches. However, despite these abundant efforts, there is still room for significant improvement. We argue that a rather overlooked direction lies in linking BCI protocols with recent advances in fundamental neuroscience.Approach: In light of these advances, and particularly the characterization of the burst-like nature of beta frequency band activity and the diversity of beta bursts, we revisit the role of beta activity in 'left vs. right hand' motor imagery (MI) tasks. Current decoding approaches for such tasks take advantage of the fact that MI generates time-locked changes in induced power in the sensorimotor cortex and rely on band-passed power changes in single or multiple channels. Although little is known about the dynamics of beta burst activity during MI, we hypothesized that beta bursts should be modulated in a way analogous to their activity during performance of real upper limb movements.Main results and Significance: We show that classification features based on patterns of beta burst modulations yield decoding results that are equivalent to or better than typically used beta power across multiple open electroencephalography datasets, thus providing insights into the specificity of these bio-markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sotirios Papadopoulos
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
- Institut de Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, UMR5229, Lyon, France
| | - Maciej J Szul
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Institut de Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, UMR5229, Lyon, France
| | - Marco Congedo
- GIPSA-lab, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble-INP, Grenoble, France
| | - James J Bonaiuto
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Institut de Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, UMR5229, Lyon, France
| | - Jérémie Mattout
- University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, Lyon, France
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He S, Baig F, Merla A, Torrecillos F, Perera A, Wiest C, Debarros J, Benjaber M, Hart MG, Ricciardi L, Morgante F, Hasegawa H, Samuel M, Edwards M, Denison T, Pogosyan A, Ashkan K, Pereira E, Tan H. Beta-triggered adaptive deep brain stimulation during reaching movement in Parkinson's disease. Brain 2023; 146:5015-5030. [PMID: 37433037 PMCID: PMC10690014 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awad233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Subthalamic nucleus (STN) beta-triggered adaptive deep brain stimulation (ADBS) has been shown to provide clinical improvement comparable to conventional continuous DBS (CDBS) with less energy delivered to the brain and less stimulation induced side effects. However, several questions remain unanswered. First, there is a normal physiological reduction of STN beta band power just prior to and during voluntary movement. ADBS systems will therefore reduce or cease stimulation during movement in people with Parkinson's disease and could therefore compromise motor performance compared to CDBS. Second, beta power was smoothed and estimated over a time period of 400 ms in most previous ADBS studies, but a shorter smoothing period could have the advantage of being more sensitive to changes in beta power, which could enhance motor performance. In this study, we addressed these two questions by evaluating the effectiveness of STN beta-triggered ADBS using a standard 400 ms and a shorter 200 ms smoothing window during reaching movements. Results from 13 people with Parkinson's disease showed that reducing the smoothing window for quantifying beta did lead to shortened beta burst durations by increasing the number of beta bursts shorter than 200 ms and more frequent switching on/off of the stimulator but had no behavioural effects. Both ADBS and CDBS improved motor performance to an equivalent extent compared to no DBS. Secondary analysis revealed that there were independent effects of a decrease in beta power and an increase in gamma power in predicting faster movement speed, while a decrease in beta event related desynchronization (ERD) predicted quicker movement initiation. CDBS suppressed both beta and gamma more than ADBS, whereas beta ERD was reduced to a similar level during CDBS and ADBS compared with no DBS, which together explained the achieved similar performance improvement in reaching movements during CDBS and ADBS. In addition, ADBS significantly improved tremor compared with no DBS but was not as effective as CDBS. These results suggest that STN beta-triggered ADBS is effective in improving motor performance during reaching movements in people with Parkinson's disease, and that shortening of the smoothing window does not result in any additional behavioural benefit. When developing ADBS systems for Parkinson's disease, it might not be necessary to track very fast beta dynamics; combining beta, gamma, and information from motor decoding might be more beneficial with additional biomarkers needed for optimal treatment of tremor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shenghong He
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Fahd Baig
- Neurosciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London & St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Sciences, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT, UK
| | - Anca Merla
- Department of Neurosurgery, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Flavie Torrecillos
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Andrea Perera
- Department of Neurosurgery, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Christoph Wiest
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Jean Debarros
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Moaad Benjaber
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Michael G Hart
- Neurosciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London & St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Sciences, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT, UK
| | - Lucia Ricciardi
- Neurosciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London & St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Sciences, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT, UK
| | - Francesca Morgante
- Neurosciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London & St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Sciences, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT, UK
| | - Harutomo Hasegawa
- Department of Neurosurgery, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Michael Samuel
- Department of Neurology, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Mark Edwards
- Department of Clinical and Basic Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - Timothy Denison
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Alek Pogosyan
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Keyoumars Ashkan
- Department of Neurosurgery, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Erlick Pereira
- Neurosciences Research Centre, St George’s, University of London & St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Sciences, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0QT, UK
| | - Huiling Tan
- MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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Rangel BO, Novembre G, Wessel JR. Measuring the nonselective effects of motor inhibition using isometric force recordings. Behav Res Methods 2023:10.3758/s13428-023-02197-z. [PMID: 37550468 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02197-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
Inhibition is a key cognitive control mechanism humans use to enable goal-directed behavior. When rapidly exerted, inhibitory control has broad, nonselective motor effects, typically demonstrated using corticospinal excitability measurements (CSE) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). For example, during rapid action-stopping, CSE is suppressed at both stopped and task-unrelated muscles. While such TMS-based CSE measurements have provided crucial insights into the fronto-basal ganglia circuitry underlying inhibitory control, they have several downsides. TMS is contraindicated in many populations (e.g., epilepsy or deep-brain stimulation patients), has limited temporal resolution, produces distracting auditory and haptic stimulation, is difficult to combine with other imaging methods, and necessitates expensive, immobile equipment. Here, we attempted to measure the nonselective motor effects of inhibitory control using a method unaffected by these shortcomings. Thirty male and female human participants exerted isometric force on a high-precision handheld force transducer while performing a foot-response stop-signal task. Indeed, when foot movements were successfully stopped, force output at the task-irrelevant hand was suppressed as well. Moreover, this nonselective reduction of isometric force was highly correlated with stop-signal performance and showed frequency dynamics similar to established inhibitory signatures typically found in neural and muscle recordings. Together, these findings demonstrate that isometric force recordings can reliably capture the nonselective effects of motor inhibition, opening the door to many applications that are hard or impossible to realize with TMS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin O Rangel
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA.
- Cognitive Control Collaborative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA.
- University of Iowa, 444 Medical Research Center, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception & Action Laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy
| | - Jan R Wessel
- Cognitive Control Collaborative, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
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Stokkermans M, Solis-Escalante T, Cohen MX, Weerdesteyn V. Distinct cortico-muscular coupling between step and stance leg during reactive stepping responses. Front Neurol 2023; 14:1124773. [PMID: 36998772 PMCID: PMC10043329 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1124773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Balance recovery often relies on successful stepping responses, which presumably require precise and rapid interactions between the cerebral cortex and the leg muscles. Yet, little is known about how cortico-muscular coupling (CMC) supports the execution of reactive stepping. We conducted an exploratory analysis investigating time-dependent CMC with specific leg muscles in a reactive stepping task. We analyzed high density EEG, EMG, and kinematics of 18 healthy young participants while exposing them to balance perturbations at different intensities, in the forward and backward directions. Participants were instructed to maintain their feet in place, unless stepping was unavoidable. Muscle-specific Granger causality analysis was conducted on single step- and stance-leg muscles over 13 EEG electrodes with a midfrontal scalp distribution. Time-frequency Granger causality analysis was used to identify CMC from cortex to muscles around perturbation onset, foot-off and foot strike events. We hypothesized that CMC would increase compared to baseline. In addition, we expected to observe different CMC between step and stance leg because of their functional role during the step response. In particular, we expected that CMC would be most evident for the agonist muscles while stepping, and that CMC would precede upregulation in EMG activity in these muscles. We observed distinct Granger gain dynamics over theta, alpha, beta, and low/high-gamma frequencies during the reactive balance response for all leg muscles in each step direction. Interestingly, between-leg differences in Granger gain were almost exclusively observed following the divergence of EMG activity. Our results demonstrate cortical involvement in the reactive balance response and provide insights into its temporal and spectral characteristics. Overall, our findings suggest that higher levels of CMC do not facilitate leg-specific EMG activity. Our work is relevant for clinical populations with impaired balance control, where CMC analysis may elucidate the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchel Stokkermans
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center for Medical Neuroscience, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Department of Synchronisation in Neural Systems, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Teodoro Solis-Escalante
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center for Medical Neuroscience, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Michael X. Cohen
- Department of Synchronisation in Neural Systems, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Vivian Weerdesteyn
- Department of Rehabilitation, Radboud University Medical Center for Medical Neuroscience, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Sint Maartenskliniek Research, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Abstract
In this reflective piece on visual working memory, I depart from the laboriously honed skills of writing a review. Instead of integrating approaches, synthesizing evidence, and building a cohesive perspective, I scratch my head and share niggles and puzzlements. I expose where my scholarship and understanding are stumped by findings and standard views in the literature.
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Bräcklein M, Barsakcioglu DY, Del Vecchio A, Ibáñez J, Farina D. Reading and Modulating Cortical β Bursts from Motor Unit Spiking Activity. J Neurosci 2022; 42:3611-3621. [PMID: 35351832 PMCID: PMC9053843 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1885-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
β Oscillations (13-30 Hz) are ubiquitous in the human motor nervous system. Yet, their origins and roles are unknown. Traditionally, β activity has been treated as a stationary signal. However, recent studies observed that cortical β occurs in "bursting events," which are transmitted to muscles. This short-lived nature of β events makes it possible to study the main mechanism of β activity found in the muscles in relation to cortical β. Here, we assessed whether muscle β activity mainly results from cortical projections. We ran two experiments in healthy humans of both sexes (N = 15 and N = 13, respectively) to characterize β activity at the cortical and motor unit (MU) levels during isometric contractions of the tibialis anterior muscle. We found that β rhythms observed at the cortical and MU levels are indeed in bursts. These bursts appeared to be time-locked and had comparable average durations (40-80 ms) and rates (approximately three to four bursts per second). To further confirm that cortical and MU β have the same source, we used a novel operant conditioning framework to allow subjects to volitionally modulate MU β. We showed that volitional modulation of β activity at the MU level was possible with minimal subject learning and was paralleled by similar changes in cortical β activity. These results support the hypothesis that MU β mainly results from cortical projections. Moreover, they demonstrate the possibility to decode cortical β activity from MU recordings, with a potential translation to future neural interfaces that use peripheral information to identify and modulate activity in the central nervous system.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We show for the first time that β activity in motor unit (MU) populations occurs in bursting events. These bursts observed in the output of the spinal cord appear to be time-locked and share similar characteristics of β activity at the cortical level, such as the duration and rate at which they occur. Moreover, when subjects were exposed to a novel operant conditioning paradigm and modulated MU β activity, cortical β activity changed in a similar way as peripheral β. These results provide evidence for a strong correspondence between cortical and peripheral β activity, demonstrating the cortical origin of peripheral β and opening the pathway for a new generation of neural interfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Bräcklein
- Neuromechanics and Rehabilitation Technology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
| | - Deren Y Barsakcioglu
- Neuromechanics and Rehabilitation Technology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
| | - Alessandro Del Vecchio
- Department Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen 91052, Germany
| | - Jaime Ibáñez
- Neuromechanics and Rehabilitation Technology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Signal Interpretation and Computational Simulation (BSICoS), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
- Department of Clinical and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Dario Farina
- Neuromechanics and Rehabilitation Technology Group, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, United Kingdom
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