1
|
Ma CC, Lin YY, Chung YA, Park SY, Huang CCY, Chang WC, Chang HA. The two-back task leads to activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia patients with predominant negative symptoms: a fNIRS study and its implication for tDCS. Exp Brain Res 2024; 242:585-597. [PMID: 38227007 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-023-06769-5] [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: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has shown some potential as an adjunctive intervention for ameliorating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, but its efficacy requires optimization. Recently, 'functional targeting' of stimulation holds promise for advancing tDCS efficacy by coupling tDCS with a cognitive task where the target brain regions are activated by that task and further specifically polarized by tDCS.The study used 48-channel functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fNIRS) aiming to determine a cognitive task that can effectively induce a cortical activation of the left DLPFC in schizophrenia patients with predominant negative symptoms before running a tDCS trial. Sixty schizophrenia patients with predominant negative symptoms completed measures of clinical and psychosocial functioning characteristics and assessments across cognitive domains. Hemodynamic changes during n-back working memory tasks with different cognitive loads (1-back and 2-back) and verbal fluency test (VFT) were measured using fNIRS. For n-back tasks, greater signal changes were found when the task required elevated cognitive load. One sample t-test revealed that only 2-back task elicited significant activation in left DLPFC (t = 4.23, FDR-corrected p = 0.0007). During VFT, patients failed to show significant task-related activity in left DLPFC (one sample t-test, t = -0.25, FDR-corrected p > 0.05). Our study implies that 2-back task can effectively activate left DLPFC in schizophrenia patients with predominant negative symptoms. This neurophysiologically-validated task is considered highly potential to be executed in conjunction with high-definition tDCS for "functional targeting" of the left DLPFC to treat negative symptoms in a double-blind randomized sham-control trial, registered on ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (ID: NCT05582980).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chin-Chao Ma
- Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Beitou Branch, National Defense Medical Center, No. 325, Cheng-Kung Road, Sec. 2, Nei-Hu District, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yen-Yue Lin
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Life Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Yong-An Chung
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Sonya Youngju Park
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Wei-Chou Chang
- Department of Radiology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Hsin-An Chang
- Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Beitou Branch, National Defense Medical Center, No. 325, Cheng-Kung Road, Sec. 2, Nei-Hu District, Taipei, Taiwan.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Yang W, Niu H, Jin Y, Cui J, Li M, Qiu Y, Lu D, Li G, Li J. Altered dynamic functional connectivity of the thalamus subregions in patients with schizophrenia. J Psychiatr Res 2023; 167:86-92. [PMID: 37862908 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous neuroimaging studies indicated that patients with schizophrenia showed impaired thalamus and thalamo-cortical circuits. However, the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) patterns of the thalamus remain unclear. In this study, we explored the dFC of the thalamus in SZ patients and whether clinical features are correlated with altered dFC. METHODS Forty-three patients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls underwent 3.0 T rs-fMRI. Based on the human Brainnetome atlas, the thalamus is divided into 8 subregions. Subsequently, we performed flexible least squares method to calculate the dFC of each thalamus subregions. RESULTS Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia exhibited increased dFC between the thalamus and cerebellar, visual-related cortex, sensorimotor-related cortex, and frontal lobe. In addition, we found that the dFC of the thalamus and the right fusiform gyrus was negatively associated with age of onset. CONCLUSIONS Our findings demonstrated that the dFC of specific thalamus sub-regions is altered in patients with schizophrenia. Our results further suggested the dysconnectivity of thalamus plays an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Weiliang Yang
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Huiming Niu
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Yiqiong Jin
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Jie Cui
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Meijuan Li
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Yuying Qiu
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China
| | - Duihong Lu
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Gang Li
- The Third People's Hospital of Tianshui, Tianshui, 741000, China
| | - Jie Li
- Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300222, China.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Wang C, Zhang Y, Lim LG, Cao W, Zhang W, Wan X, Fan L, Liu Y, Zhang X, Tian Z, Liu X, Pan X, Zheng Y, Pan R, Tan Y, Zhang Z, McIntyre RS, Li Z, Ho RCM, Tang TB. An fNIRS investigation of novel expressed emotion stimulations in schizophrenia. Sci Rep 2023; 13:11141. [PMID: 37429942 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38057-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Living in high expressed emotion (EE) environments tends to increase the relapse rate in schizophrenia (SZ). At present, the neural substrates responsible for high EE in SZ remain poorly understood. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) may be of great use to quantitatively assess cortical hemodynamics and elucidate the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. In this study, we designed novel low- (positivity and warmth) and high-EE (criticism, negative emotion, and hostility) stimulations, in the form of audio, to investigate cortical hemodynamics. We used fNIRS to measure hemodynamic signals while participants listened to the recorded audio. Healthy controls (HCs, [Formula: see text]) showed increased hemodynamic activation in the major language centers across EE stimulations, with stronger activation in Wernicke's area during the processing of negative emotional language. Compared to HCs, people with SZ ([Formula: see text]) exhibited smaller hemodynamic activation in the major language centers across EE stimulations. In addition, people with SZ showed weaker or insignificant hemodynamic deactivation in the medial prefrontal cortex. Notably, hemodynamic activation in SZ was found to be negatively correlated with the negative syndrome scale score at high EE. Our findings suggest that the neural mechanisms in SZ are altered and disrupted, especially during negative emotional language processing. This supports the feasibility of using the designed EE stimulations to assess people who are vulnerable to high-EE environments, such as SZ. Furthermore, our findings provide preliminary evidence for future research on functional neuroimaging biomarkers for people with psychiatric disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lam Ghai Lim
- Department of Electrical and Robotics Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia.
| | - Weiqi Cao
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Huaibei Mental Health Center, Huaibei, China
| | | | - Lijun Fan
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | - Ying Liu
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | - Xi Zhang
- Huaibei Mental Health Center, Huaibei, China
| | | | | | - Xiuzhi Pan
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | - Yuan Zheng
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | - Riyu Pan
- Anqing Normal University, Anqing, China
| | - Yilin Tan
- Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
| | | | - Roger S McIntyre
- Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, Poul Hansen Family Centre for Depression, Toronto, Canada
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation, Toronto, Canada
| | - Zhifei Li
- Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore
| | - Roger C M Ho
- Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119228, Singapore
| | - Tong Boon Tang
- Centre for Intelligent Signal and Imaging Research (CISIR), Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Static and temporal dynamic changes of intrinsic brain activity in pediatric and adults OCD. J Affect Disord 2022; 311:416-424. [PMID: 35618169 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.05.101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Revised: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Epidemiological and clinical age differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been reported in clinical symptoms and morphometry changes; however, age differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and the relationship between ALFF imaging and clinical symptoms has not been thoroughly studied in OCD. Age may be an important feature associated with distinct subtypes of OCD. To examine the effect of age on OCD, the current study enrolled 92 OCD patients (32 pediatrics and 60 adults) and matched HCs (33 pediatrics and 84 adults), undergoing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The spontaneous brain activity was measured by static and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) followed by two-way ANOVA. In pediatric OCD patients versus adult patients, we observed a significantly higher ALFF in the default mode network (DMN), including posterior cingulate, precuneus and superior frontal gyrus, and extending to cuneus, lingual gyrus. Additionally, the increased ALFF and dynamic ALFF in the precentral gyrus were found in pediatric patients. In OCD patients compared with controls, we found a significantly increased ALFF in hippocampal gyrus, cerebellum network (CN), and the dALFF in middle and inferior occipital gyrus, bilateral paracentral lobule and sensorimotor network. The findings emphasized the different patterns of static and dynamic intrinsic brain activity alterations associated with pediatric and adult OCD patients. These results provide unique insights into constructing evidenced-based distinct OCD subtypes based on brain activity and point the need of specified management for pediatric and adult OCD patients in clinical setting.
Collapse
|
5
|
Fekete Z, Vass E, Balajthy R, Tana Ü, Nagy AC, Oláh B, Domján N, Kuritárné IS. Efficacy of metacognitive training on symptom severity, neurocognition and social cognition in patients with schizophrenia: A single-blind randomized controlled trial. Scand J Psychol 2022; 63:321-333. [PMID: 35388496 PMCID: PMC9544200 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Over the past decades, a number of complementary treatments for schizophrenia have emerged. One of these is metacognitive training (MCT), which combines the principles of cognitive‐behavioral therapies, cognitive remediation, and psychoeducation into a hybrid approach placing emphasis on increasing metacognitive awareness. The aim of our study was to investigate the efficacy of MCT on symptom severity, and neurocognitive and social cognitive functioning in schizophrenia; also, attention was paid to the assessment of subjective acceptability. Forty‐six patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were included in our single‐blind randomized controlled trial, who were assigned to the intervention or control group. The intervention group was provided standard MCT, while the control group received treatment as usual. We assessed symptom severity and cognitive functions before and after the training, as well as after a 6‐month follow‐up period. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed improvement in overall symptom severity, and positive and disorganized symptoms. Training participans showed further improvement at the follow‐up assessment. Regarding neurocognitive functions, improvement in visuospatial functions was observed between pre‐ and post‐intervention assessments compared to the control group. Patients showed excellent adherence, and evaluated the training as useful and interesting. In line with the results of previous studies, our results demonstrate the efficacy of MCT on symptom severity in schizophrenia. Improvements in cognitive functions that are closely related to the onset and prevalence of symptoms of schizophrenia were also found.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zita Fekete
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.,Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Edit Vass
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ramóna Balajthy
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jósa András Teaching Hospital, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Hospitals and University Teaching Hospital, Nyíregyháza, Hungary
| | - Ünige Tana
- Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, URBS Pro Patiente Nonprofit Ltd., Budakalász, Hungary
| | - Attila Csaba Nagy
- Faculty of Public Health, Faculty of Public Health, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Barnabás Oláh
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Nóra Domján
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Ildikó Szabó Kuritárné
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Sklar AL, Coffman BA, Salisbury DF. Fronto-parietal network function during cued visual search in the first-episode schizophrenia spectrum. J Psychiatr Res 2021; 141:339-345. [PMID: 34304038 PMCID: PMC8364882 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive impairments account for significant morbidity in schizophrenia and are present at disease onset. Controlled processes are particularly susceptible and may contribute to pervasive selective attention deficits. The present study assessed fronto-parietal attention network (FPAN) functioning during cue presentation on a visual search task in first-episode schizophrenia spectrum patients (FE) and its relation to symptom burden and community functioning. Brain activity was recorded with magnetoencephalography from 38 FE and 38 healthy controls (HC) during blocks of pop-out and serial search target detection. Activity during cue presentation was compared between groups across bilateral FPAN regions (frontal eye fields (FEF), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), midcingulate cortex (MCC), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS)). FE exhibited greater right hemisphere IFG activity despite worse performance relative to HC. Performance and FPAN activity were not correlated in HC. Among FE, however, stronger activity within right hemisphere FEF and IFG was associated with faster responses. Stronger right IPS and left IFG activity in patients was also associated with reduced negative symptoms and improved community functioning, respectively. Increased reliance on the FPAN for task completion suggests an inefficient cognitive control network and might reflect a compensation for impaired attentional deployment during target detection, a strategy employed by those with less severe illness. These findings represent a critical step towards identifying the neural substrates of negative symptoms and impaired neurocognition at disease onset.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo L Sklar
- Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Brian A Coffman
- Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Dean F Salisbury
- Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory, Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Western Psychiatric Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Smith ES, Crawford TJ. Memory-Guided Saccades in Psychosis: Effects of Medication and Stimulus Location. Brain Sci 2021; 11:1071. [PMID: 34439693 PMCID: PMC8393375 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11081071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The memory-guided saccade task requires the remembrance of a peripheral target location, whilst inhibiting the urge to make a saccade ahead of an auditory cue. The literature has explored the endophenotypic deficits associated with differences in target laterality, but less is known about target amplitude. The data presented came from Crawford et al. (1995), employing a memory-guided saccade task among neuroleptically medicated and non-medicated patients with schizophrenia (n = 31, n = 12), neuroleptically medicated and non-medicated bipolar affective disorder (n = 12, n = 17), and neurotypical controls (n = 30). The current analyses explore the relationships between memory-guided saccades toward targets with different eccentricities (7.5° and 15°), the discernible behaviour exhibited amongst diagnostic groups, and cohorts distinguished based on psychotic symptomatology. Saccade gain control and final eye position were reduced among medicated-schizophrenia patients. These metrics were reduced further among targets with greater amplitudes (15°), indicating greater deficit. The medicated cohort exhibited reduced gain control and final eye positions in both amplitudes compared to the non-medicated cohort, with deficits markedly observed for the furthest targets. No group differences in symptomatology (positive and negative) were reported, however, a greater deficit was observed toward the larger amplitude. This suggests that within the memory-guided saccade paradigm, diagnostic classification is more prominent in characterising disparities in saccade performance than symptomatology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor S. Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Trevor J. Crawford
- Department of Psychology, Centre for Ageing Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK;
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Taylor JA, Larsen KM, Garrido MI. Multi-dimensional predictions of psychotic symptoms via machine learning. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:5151-5163. [PMID: 32870535 PMCID: PMC7670649 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia comprise a diverse range of heterogeneous symptoms. As a result, individuals each present a distinct set of symptoms despite having the same overall diagnosis. Whilst previous machine learning studies have primarily focused on dichotomous patient-control classification, we predict the severity of each individual symptom on a continuum. We applied machine learning regression within a multi-modal fusion framework to fMRI and behavioural data acquired during an auditory oddball task in 80 schizophrenia patients. Brain activity was highly predictive of some, but not all symptoms, namely hallucinations, avolition, anhedonia and attention. Critically, each of these symptoms was associated with specific functional alterations across different brain regions. We also found that modelling symptoms as an ensemble of subscales was more accurate, specific and informative than models which predict compound scores directly. In principle, this approach is transferrable to any psychiatric condition or multi-dimensional diagnosis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy A Taylor
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Kit M Larsen
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.,Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.,Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark.,Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care, Mental Health Services Capital Region Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Marta I Garrido
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.,Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.,Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.,Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Mutlu MC, Erdoğan SB, Öztürk OC, Canbeyli R, Saybaşιlι H. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Indicates That Asymmetric Right Hemispheric Activation in Mental Rotation of a Jigsaw Puzzle Decreases With Task Difficulty. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:252. [PMID: 32694987 PMCID: PMC7339288 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Mental rotation (MR) is a cognitive skill whose neural dynamics are still a matter of debate as previous neuroimaging studies have produced controversial results. In order to investigate the underlying neurophysiology of MR, hemodynamic responses from the prefrontal cortex of 14 healthy subjects were recorded with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during a novel MR task that had three categorical difficulty levels. Hemodynamic activity strength (HAS) parameter, which reflects the ratio of brain activation during the task to the baseline activation level, was used to assess the prefrontal cortex activation localization and strength. Behavioral data indicated that the MR requiring conditions are more difficult than the condition that did not require MR. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be active in all conditions and to be the dominant region in the easiest task while more complex tasks showed widespread bilateral prefrontal activation. A significant increase in left DLPFC activation was observed with increasing task difficulty. Significantly higher right DLPFC activation was observed when the incongruent trials were contrasted against the congruent trials, which implied the possibility of a robust error or conflict-monitoring process during the incongruent trials. Our results showed that the right DLPFC is a core region for the processing of MR tasks regardless of the task complexity and that the left DLPFC is involved to a greater extent with increasing task complexity, which is consistent with the previous neuroimaging literature.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Murat Can Mutlu
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Sinem Burcu Erdoğan
- Department of Medical Engineering, Acιbadem Mehmet Ali Aydιnlar University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ozan Cem Öztürk
- School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
| | - Reşit Canbeyli
- Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Hale Saybaşιlι
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
| |
Collapse
|