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Angenstein N. Asymmetries and hemispheric interaction in the auditory system of elderly people. FRONTIERS IN NEUROIMAGING 2024; 2:1320989. [PMID: 38235106 PMCID: PMC10791916 DOI: 10.3389/fnimg.2023.1320989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
Age-related changes of asymmetries in the auditory system and decreasing efficiency of hemispheric interaction have been discussed for some time. This mini-review discusses recent neuroimaging studies on alterations in lateralization of cortical processing and structural changes concerning the division of labor and interaction between hemispheres during auditory processing in elderly people with the focus on people without severe hearing loss. Several changes of asymmetries in anatomy, function and neurotransmitter concentration were observed in auditory cortical areas of older compared to younger adults. It was shown that connections between left and right auditory cortex are reduced during aging. Functionally, aging seems to lead to a reduction in asymmetry of auditory processing. However, the results do not always point into the same direction. Furthermore, correlations between function, anatomy and behavior in the left and right hemisphere appear to differ between younger and older adults. The changes in auditory cortex asymmetries with aging might be due to compensation of declining processing capacities, but at the same time these mechanisms could impair the balanced division of labor between the two hemispheres that is required for the processing of complex auditory stimuli such as speech. Neuroimaging studies are essential to follow the slow changes with aging as in the beginning no behavioral effects might be visible due to compensation. Future studies should control well for peripheral hearing loss and cognitive decline. Furthermore, for the interpretability of results it is necessary to use specific tasks with well-controlled task difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Angenstein
- Combinatorial NeuroImaging Core Facility, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
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Huang X, Yin J, Liu X, Tan W, Lao M, Wang X, Liu S, Ou Q, Tang D, Wu W. The overgeneralization of pain-related fear in individuals with higher pain sensitivity: A behavioral and event-related potential study. Brain Res 2023; 1818:148473. [PMID: 37414269 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148473] [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: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Fear generalization contributes to the development and maintenance of pain. Pain sensitivity has been proposed to predict the strength of fear responses to aversive stimuli. However, whether individual variation in pain sensitivity affects pain-related fear generalization and its underlying cognitive processing remains unclear. To address this gap, we recorded behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data among 22 high pain sensitivity (HPS) and 22 low pain sensitivity (LPS) healthy adults when exposed to a fear generalization paradigm. The behavioral results indicate that the HPS group displayed higher unconditioned stimulus expectancy and greater fear, arousal, and anxiety ratings to conditioned stimulus and generalization stimulus than the LPS group (all p values < 0.05). The ERP results showed that the HPS group exhibited a larger late positive potential evoked by GS2, GS3 and CS- (all p < 0.005) but a smaller N1 evoked by all CS and GSs (all p values < 0.05) relative to the LPS group. These findings suggest that individuals with a high level of pain sensitivity allocate more attention resources to pain-related threatening stimuli, which contributes to an overgeneralization of pain-related fear.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomin Huang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Junxiao Yin
- Department of Clinical Medical College of Acupuncture and Rehabilitation, University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China
| | - Xinli Liu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Wenwei Tan
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Mengting Lao
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Xianglong Wang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Sishi Liu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Qiling Ou
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Danzhe Tang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
| | - Wen Wu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China.
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