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Williams JG, Harrison WJ, Beale HA, Mattingley JB, Harris AM. Effects of neural oscillation power and phase on discrimination performance in a visual tilt illusion. Curr Biol 2024; 34:1801-1809.e4. [PMID: 38569544 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Neural oscillations reflect fluctuations in the relative excitation/inhibition of neural systems1,2,3,4,5 and are theorized to play a critical role in canonical neural computations6,7,8,9 and cognitive processes.10,11,12,13,14 These theories have been supported by findings that detection of visual stimuli fluctuates with the phase of oscillations prior to stimulus onset.15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 However, null results have emerged in studies seeking to demonstrate these effects in visual discrimination tasks,24,25,26,27 raising questions about the generalizability of these phenomena to wider neural processes. Recently, we suggested that methodological limitations may mask effects of phase in higher-level sensory processing.28 To test the generality of phasic influences on perception requires a task that involves stimulus discrimination while also depending on early sensory processing. Here, we examined the influence of oscillation phase on the visual tilt illusion, in which a center grating has its perceived orientation biased away from the orientation of a surround grating29 due to lateral inhibitory interactions in early visual processing.30,31,32 We presented center gratings at participants' subjective vertical angle and had participants report whether the grating appeared tilted clockwise or counterclockwise from vertical on each trial while measuring their brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG). In addition to effects of alpha power and aperiodic slope, we observed robust associations between orientation perception and alpha and theta phase, consistent with fluctuating illusion magnitude across the oscillatory cycle. These results confirm that oscillation phase affects the complex processing involved in stimulus discrimination, consistent with its purported role in canonical computations that underpin cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica G Williams
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Building 79, Upland Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, Campbell Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - William J Harrison
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Building 79, Upland Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, Campbell Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, QLD 4556, Australia
| | - Henry A Beale
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Building 79, Upland Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Jason B Mattingley
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Building 79, Upland Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, McElwain Building, Campbell Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), MaRS Centre, West Tower, 661 University Ave., Suite 505, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Anthony M Harris
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Building 79, Upland Road, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
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Zając-Lamparska L, Zabielska-Mendyk E, Zapała D, Augustynowicz P. Compensatory brain activity pattern is not present in older adults during the n-back task performance-Findings based on EEG frequency analysis. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1371035. [PMID: 38666231 PMCID: PMC11043891 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1371035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Cognitive ability is one of the most important enablers for successful aging. At the same time, cognitive decline is a well-documented phenomenon accompanying the aging process. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that aging can also be related to positive processes that allow one to compensate for the decline. These processes include the compensatory brain activity of older adults primarily investigated using fMRI and PET. To strengthen the cognitive interpretation of compensatory brain activity in older adults, we searched for its indicators in brain activity measured by EEG. Methods The study sample comprised 110 volunteers, including 50 older adults (60-75 years old) and 60 young adults (20-35 years old) who performed 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back tasks while recording the EEG signal. The study analyzed (1) the level of cognitive performance, including sensitivity index, the percentage of correct answers to the target, and the percentage of false alarm errors; (2) theta and alpha power for electrodes located in the frontal-midline (Fz, AF3, AF4, F3, F4, FC1, and FC2) and the centro-parietal (CP1, CP2, P3, P4, and Pz) areas. Results Cognitive performance was worse in older adults than in young adults, which manifested in a significantly lower sensitivity index and a significantly higher false alarm error rate at all levels of the n-back task difficulty. Simultaneously, performance worsened with increasing task difficulty regardless of age. Significantly lower theta power in the older participants was observed at all difficulty levels, even at the lowest one, where compensatory activity was expected. At the same time, at this difficulty level, cognitive performance was worse in older adults than in young adults, which could reduce the chances of observing compensatory brain activity. The significant decrease in theta power observed in both age groups with rising task difficulty can reflect a declining capacity for efficient cognitive functioning under increasing demands rather than adapting to this increase. Moreover, in young adults, alpha power decreased to some extent with increasing cognitive demand, reflecting adaptation to them, while in older adults, no analogous pattern was observed. Discussion In conclusion, based on the results of the current study, the presence of compensatory activity in older adults cannot be inferred.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ludmiła Zając-Lamparska
- Department of General and Human Development Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
| | - Emilia Zabielska-Mendyk
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | - Dariusz Zapała
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | - Paweł Augustynowicz
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
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Zioga I, Zhou YJ, Weissbart H, Martin AE, Haegens S. Alpha and Beta Oscillations Differentially Support Word Production in a Rule-Switching Task. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0312-23.2024. [PMID: 38490743 PMCID: PMC10988358 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0312-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Research into the role of brain oscillations in basic perceptual and cognitive functions has suggested that the alpha rhythm reflects functional inhibition while the beta rhythm reflects neural ensemble (re)activation. However, little is known regarding the generalization of these proposed fundamental operations to linguistic processes, such as speech comprehension and production. Here, we recorded magnetoencephalography in participants performing a novel rule-switching paradigm. Specifically, Dutch native speakers had to produce an alternative exemplar from the same category or a feature of a given target word embedded in spoken sentences (e.g., for the word "tuna", an exemplar from the same category-"seafood"-would be "shrimp", and a feature would be "pink"). A cue indicated the task rule-exemplar or feature-either before (pre-cue) or after (retro-cue) listening to the sentence. Alpha power during the working memory delay was lower for retro-cue compared with that for pre-cue in the left hemispheric language-related regions. Critically, alpha power negatively correlated with reaction times, suggestive of alpha facilitating task performance by regulating inhibition in regions linked to lexical retrieval. Furthermore, we observed a different spatiotemporal pattern of beta activity for exemplars versus features in the right temporoparietal regions, in line with the proposed role of beta in recruiting neural networks for the encoding of distinct categories. Overall, our study provides evidence for the generalizability of the role of alpha and beta oscillations from perceptual to more "complex, linguistic processes" and offers a novel task to investigate links between rule-switching, working memory, and word production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioanna Zioga
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands
| | - Ying Joey Zhou
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Hugo Weissbart
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea E Martin
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen 6525 XD, The Netherlands
| | - Saskia Haegens
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032
- Division of Systems Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York 10032
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Balestrieri E, Michel R, Busch NA. Alpha-Band Lateralization and Microsaccades Elicited by Exogenous Cues Do Not Track Attentional Orienting. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0076-23.2023. [PMID: 38164570 PMCID: PMC10866192 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0076-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
We explore the world by constantly shifting our focus of attention toward salient stimuli and then disengaging from them in search of new ones. The alpha rhythm (8-13 Hz) has been suggested as a pivotal neural substrate of these attentional shifts, due to its local synchronization and desynchronization that suppress irrelevant cortical areas and facilitate relevant areas, a phenomenon called alpha lateralization. Whether alpha lateralization tracks the focus of attention from orienting toward a salient stimulus to disengaging from it is still an open question. We addressed it by leveraging the phenomenon of inhibition of return (IOR), consisting of an initial facilitation in response times (RTs) for stimuli appearing at an exogenously cued location, followed by a suppression of that location. Our behavioral data from human participants showed a typical IOR effect with both early facilitation and subsequent inhibition. In contrast, alpha lateralized in the cued direction after the behavioral facilitation effect and never re-lateralized compatibly with the behavioral inhibition. Furthermore, we analyzed the interaction between alpha lateralization and microsaccades: while alpha was lateralized toward the cued location, microsaccades were mostly oriented away from it. Crucially, the two phenomena showed a significant positive correlation. These results indicate that alpha lateralization reflects primarily the processing of salient stimuli, challenging the view that alpha lateralization is directly involved in exogenous attentional orienting per se. We discuss the relevance of the present findings for an oculomotor account of alpha lateralization as a modulator of cortical excitability in preparation of a saccade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elio Balestrieri
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
| | - René Michel
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
| | - Niko A Busch
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
- Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster 48149, Germany
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Boncompte G, Freedman I, Qu J, Turco I, Khawaja ZQ, Cortinez I, Pedemonte JC, Akeju O. Cognitive function mediates the relationship between age and anaesthesia-induced oscillatory-specific alpha power. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae023. [PMID: 38370449 PMCID: PMC10873139 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Cognitive decline is common among older individuals, and although the underlying brain mechanisms are not entirely understood, researchers have suggested using EEG frontal alpha activity during general anaesthesia as a potential biomarker for cognitive decline. This is because frontal alpha activity associated with GABAergic general anaesthetics has been linked to cognitive function. However, oscillatory-specific alpha power has also been linked with chronological age. We hypothesize that cognitive function mediates the association between chronological age and (oscillatory-specific) alpha power. We analysed data from 380 participants (aged over 60) with baseline screening assessments and intraoperative EEG. We utilized the telephonic Montreal Cognitive Assessment to assess cognitive function. We computed total band power, oscillatory-specific alpha power, and aperiodics to measure anaesthesia-induced alpha activity. To test our mediation hypotheses, we employed structural equation modelling. Pairwise correlations between age, cognitive function and alpha activity were significant. Cognitive function mediated the association between age and classical alpha power [age → cognitive function → classical alpha; β = -0.0168 (95% confidence interval: -0.0313 to -0.00521); P = 0.0016] as well as the association between age and oscillatory-specific alpha power [age → cognitive function → oscillatory-specific alpha power; β = -0.00711 (95% confidence interval: -0.0154 to -0.000842); P = 0.028]. However, cognitive function did not mediate the association between age and aperiodic activity (1/f slope, P = 0.43; offset, P = 0.0996). This study is expected to provide valuable insights for anaesthesiologists, enabling them to make informed inferences about a patient's age and cognitive function from an analysis of anaesthetic-induced EEG signals in the operating room. To ensure generalizability, further studies across different populations are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Boncompte
- Division of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
- Neurodynamics of Cognition Lab, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
| | - Isaac Freedman
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Jason Qu
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Isabella Turco
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Zain Q Khawaja
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Ignacio Cortinez
- Division of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
| | - Juan C Pedemonte
- Division of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
- Programa de Farmacología y Toxicología, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
| | - Oluwaseun Akeju
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
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Bigoni C, Pagnamenta S, Cadic-Melchior A, Bevilacqua M, Harquel S, Raffin E, Hummel FC. MEP and TEP features variability: is it just the brain-state? J Neural Eng 2024; 21:016011. [PMID: 38211341 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad1dc2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Objective.The literature investigating the effects of alpha oscillations on corticospinal excitability is divergent. We believe inconsistency in the findings may arise, among others, from the electroencephalography (EEG) processing for brain-state determination. Here, we provide further insights in the effects of the brain-state on cortical and corticospinal excitability and quantify the impact of different EEG processing.Approach.Corticospinal excitability was measured using motor evoked potential (MEP) peak-to-peak amplitudes elicited with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); cortical responses were studied through TMS-evoked potentials' TEPs features. A TMS-EEG-electromyography (EMG) dataset of 18 young healthy subjects who received 180 single-pulse (SP) and 180 paired pulses (PP) to determine short-intracortical inhibition (SICI) was investigated. To study the effect of different EEG processing, we compared the brain-state estimation deriving from three published methods. The influence of presence of neural oscillations was also investigated. To evaluate the effect of the brain-state on MEP and TEP features variability, we defined the brain-state based on specific EEG phase and power combinations, only in trials where neural oscillations were present. The relationship between TEPs and MEPs was further evaluated.Main results.The presence of neural oscillations resulted in more consistent results regardless of the EEG processing approach. Nonetheless, the latter still critically affected the outcomes, making conclusive claims complex. With our approach, the MEP amplitude was positively modulated by the alpha power and phase, with stronger responses during the trough phase and high power. Power and phase also affected TEP features. Importantly, similar effects were observed in both TMS conditions.Significance.These findings support the view that the brain state of alpha oscillations is associated with the variability observed in cortical and corticospinal responses to TMS, with a tight correlation between the two. The results further highlight the importance of closed-loop stimulation approaches while underlining that care is needed in designing experiments and choosing the analytical approaches, which should be based on knowledge from offline studies to control for the heterogeneity originating from different EEG processing strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Bigoni
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
| | - Sara Pagnamenta
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Andéol Cadic-Melchior
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
| | - Michele Bevilacqua
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Harquel
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
| | - Estelle Raffin
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
| | - Friedhelm C Hummel
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair of Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (INX), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Valais), Sion 1951, Switzerland
- Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
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Flösch KP, Flaisch T, Imhof MA, Schupp HT. Alpha/beta oscillations reveal cognitive and affective brain states associated with role taking in a dyadic cooperative game. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad487. [PMID: 38100327 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Social cooperation often requires taking different roles in order to reach a shared goal. By defining individual tasks, these roles dictate processing demands of the collaborators. The main aim of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that induced alpha and lower beta oscillations provide insights into affective and cognitive brain states during social cooperation. Toward this end, an experimental game was used in which participants had to navigate a Pacman figure through a maze by sending and receiving information about the correct moving direction. Supporting our hypotheses, individual roles taken by the collaborators during gameplay were associated with significant changes in alpha and lower beta power. Furthermore, effects were similar when participants played the Pacman Game with human or computer partners. Findings are discussed from the perspective of the information-via-desynchronization hypothesis proposing that alpha and lower beta power decreases reflect states of enhanced cortical information representation. Overall, experimental games are a useful tool for extending basic research on brain oscillations to the domain of naturalistic social interaction as emphasized by the second-person neuroscience perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karl-Philipp Flösch
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
| | - Tobias Flaisch
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
| | - Martin A Imhof
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
| | - Harald T Schupp
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
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Junker FB, Schmidt‐Wilcke T, Schnitzler A, Lange J. Temporal dynamics of oscillatory activity during nonlexical language decoding: Evidence from Morse code and magnetoencephalography. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:6185-6197. [PMID: 37792277 PMCID: PMC10619365 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding encoded languages, such as written script or Morse code, requires nonlexical and lexical processing components that act in a parallel and interactive fashion. Decoding written script-as for example in reading-is typically very fast, making the investigation of the lexical and nonlexical components and their underlying neural mechanisms challenging. In the current study, we aimed to accomplish this problem by using Morse code as a model for language decoding. The decoding of Morse code is slower and thus allows a better and more fine-grained investigation of the lexical and nonlexical components of language decoding. In the current study, we investigated the impact of various components of nonlexical decoding of Morse code using magnetoencephalography. For this purpose, we reconstructed the time-frequency responses below 40 Hz in brain regions significantly involved in Morse code decoding and word comprehension that were identified in a previous study. Event-related reduction in beta- and alpha-band power were found in left inferior frontal cortex and angular gyrus, respectively, while event-related theta-band power increase was found at frontal midline. These induced oscillations reflect working-memory encoding, long-term memory retrieval as well as demanding cognitive control, respectively. In sum, by using Morse code and MEG, we were able to identify a cortical network underlying language decoding in a time- and frequency-resolved manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick Benjamin Junker
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical FacultyHeinrich‐Heine‐UniversityDüsseldorfGermany
| | - Tobias Schmidt‐Wilcke
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical FacultyHeinrich‐Heine‐UniversityDüsseldorfGermany
- Neurological Center MainkofenDeggendorfGermany
| | - Alfons Schnitzler
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical FacultyHeinrich‐Heine‐UniversityDüsseldorfGermany
| | - Joachim Lange
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical FacultyHeinrich‐Heine‐UniversityDüsseldorfGermany
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Codispoti M, De Cesarei A, Ferrari V. Alpha-band oscillations and emotion: A review of studies on picture perception. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14438. [PMID: 37724827 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023]
Abstract
Although alpha-band activity has long been a focus of psychophysiological research, its modulation by emotional value during picture perception has only recently been studied systematically. Here, we review these studies and report that the most consistent alpha oscillatory pattern indexing emotional processing is an enhanced desynchronization (ERD) over posterior sensors when viewing emotional compared with neutral pictures. This enhanced alpha ERD is not specific to unpleasant picture content, as previously proposed for other measures of affective response, but has also been observed for pleasant stimuli. Evidence suggests that this effect is not confined to the alpha band but that it also involves a desynchronization of the lower beta frequencies (8-20 Hz). The emotional modulation of alpha ERD occurs even after massive stimulus repetition and when emotional cues serve as task-irrelevant distractors, consistent with the hypothesis that evaluative processes are mandatory in emotional picture processing. A similar enhanced ERD has been observed for other significant cues (e.g., conditioned aversive stimuli, or in anticipation of a potential threat), suggesting that it reflects cortical excitability associated with the engagement of the motivational systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Vera Ferrari
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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Wang J, Sun J, Li C, Tong S, Hong X. The effects of pre-cue alpha and cueing strategy on age-related deficits in post-cue alpha activity and target processing during visual spatial attention. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:11112-11125. [PMID: 37750338 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Electroencephalography alpha-band (8-13 Hz) activity during visual spatial attention declines in normal aging. We recently reported the impacts of pre-cue baseline alpha and cueing strategy on post-cue anticipatory alpha activity and target processing in visual spatial attention (Wang et al., Cerebral Cortex, 2023). However, whether these factors affected aging effects remains unaddressed. We investigated this issue in two independent experiments (n = 114) with different cueing strategies (instructional vs. probabilistic). When median-splitting young adults (YA) by their pre-cue alpha power, we found that older adults exhibited similar pre-cue and post-cue alpha activity as YA with lower pre-cue alpha, and only YA with higher pre-cue alpha showed significant post-cue alpha activity, suggesting that diminished anticipatory alpha activity was not specific to aging but likely due to a general decrease with baseline alpha. Moreover, we found that the aging effects on cue-related event-related potentials were dependent on cueing strategy but were relatively independent of pre-cue alpha. However, age-related deficits in target-related N1 attentional modulation might depend on both pre-cue alpha and cueing strategy. By considering the impacts of pre-cue alpha and cueing strategy, our findings offer new insights into age-related deficits in anticipatory alpha activity and target processing during visual spatial attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaqi Wang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Junfeng Sun
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Chunbo Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 200030, China
- Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
| | - Shanbao Tong
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Xiangfei Hong
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
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11
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Klotzsche F, Gaebler M, Villringer A, Sommer W, Nikulin V, Ohl S. Visual short-term memory-related EEG components in a virtual reality setup. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14378. [PMID: 37393581 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) offers a powerful tool for investigating cognitive processes, as it allows researchers to gauge behaviors and mental states in complex, yet highly controlled, scenarios. The use of VR head-mounted displays in combination with physiological measures such as EEG presents new challenges and raises the question whether established findings also generalize to a VR setup. Here, we used a VR headset to assess the spatial constraints underlying two well-established EEG correlates of visual short-term memory: the amplitude of the contralateral delay activity (CDA) and the lateralization of induced alpha power during memory retention. We tested observers' visual memory in a change detection task with bilateral stimulus arrays of either two or four items while varying the horizontal eccentricity of the memory arrays (4, 9, or 14 degrees of visual angle). The CDA amplitude differed between high and low memory load at the two smaller eccentricities, but not at the largest eccentricity. Neither memory load nor eccentricity significantly influenced the observed alpha lateralization. We further fitted time-resolved spatial filters to decode memory load from the event-related potential as well as from its time-frequency decomposition. Classification performance during the retention interval was above-chance level for both approaches and did not vary significantly across eccentricities. We conclude that commercial VR hardware can be utilized to study the CDA and lateralized alpha power, and we provide caveats for future studies targeting these EEG markers of visual memory in a VR setup.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felix Klotzsche
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Faculty of Philosophy, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Gaebler
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Faculty of Philosophy, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Faculty of Philosophy, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Vadim Nikulin
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sven Ohl
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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12
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Lombardi F, Herrmann HJ, Parrino L, Plenz D, Scarpetta S, Vaudano AE, de Arcangelis L, Shriki O. Beyond pulsed inhibition: Alpha oscillations modulate attenuation and amplification of neural activity in the awake resting state. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113162. [PMID: 37777965 PMCID: PMC10842118 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Alpha oscillations are a distinctive feature of the awake resting state of the human brain. However, their functional role in resting-state neuronal dynamics remains poorly understood. Here we show that, during resting wakefulness, alpha oscillations drive an alternation of attenuation and amplification bouts in neural activity. Our analysis indicates that inhibition is activated in pulses that last for a single alpha cycle and gradually suppress neural activity, while excitation is successively enhanced over a few alpha cycles to amplify neural activity. Furthermore, we show that long-term alpha amplitude fluctuations-the "waxing and waning" phenomenon-are an attenuation-amplification mechanism described by a power-law decay of the activity rate in the "waning" phase. Importantly, we do not observe such dynamics during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep with marginal alpha oscillations. The results suggest that alpha oscillations modulate neural activity not only through pulses of inhibition (pulsed inhibition hypothesis) but also by timely enhancement of excitation (or disinhibition).
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrizio Lombardi
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Ugo Bassi 58B, 35131 Padova, Italy.
| | - Hans J Herrmann
- Departamento de Fisica, Universitade Federal do Ceara, Fortaleza 60451-970, Ceara, Brazil; PMMH, ESPCI, 7 quai St. Bernard, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Liborio Parrino
- Sleep Disorders Center, Department of Neurosciences, University of Parma, 43121 Parma, Italy
| | - Dietmar Plenz
- Section on Critical Brain Dynamics, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Silvia Scarpetta
- Department of Physics, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy; INFN sez, Napoli Gr. Coll, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
| | - Anna Elisabetta Vaudano
- Neurology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Modena, OCB Hospital, 41125 Modena, Italy; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
| | - Lucilla de Arcangelis
- Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Viale Lincoln 5, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
| | - Oren Shriki
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-sheva, Israel.
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13
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Weise A, Hartmann T, Parmentier F, Weisz N, Ruhnau P. Involuntary shifts of spatial attention contribute to distraction-Evidence from oscillatory alpha power and reaction time data. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14353. [PMID: 37246813 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Imagine you are focusing on the traffic on a busy street to ride your bike safely when suddenly you hear the siren of an ambulance. This unexpected sound involuntarily captures your attention and interferes with ongoing performance. We tested whether this type of distraction involves a spatial shift of attention. We measured behavioral data and magnetoencephalographic alpha power during a cross-modal paradigm that combined an exogenous cueing task and a distraction task. In each trial, a task-irrelevant sound preceded a visual target (left or right). The sound was usually the same animal sound (i.e., standard sound). Rarely, it was replaced by an unexpected environmental sound (i.e., deviant sound). Fifty percent of the deviants occurred on the same side as the target, and 50% occurred on the opposite side. Participants responded to the location of the target. As expected, responses were slower to targets that followed a deviant compared to a standard. Crucially, this distraction effect was mitigated by the spatial relationship between the targets and the deviants: responses were faster when targets followed deviants on the same versus different side, indexing a spatial shift of attention. This was further corroborated by a posterior alpha power modulation that was higher in the hemisphere ipsilateral (vs. contralateral) to the location of the attention-capturing deviant. We suggest that this alpha power lateralization reflects a spatial attention bias. Overall, our data support the contention that spatial shifts of attention contribute to deviant distraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annekathrin Weise
- CCNS and Division of Physiological Psychology, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Thomas Hartmann
- CCNS and Division of Physiological Psychology, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Fabrice Parmentier
- Neuropsychology & Cognition Group, Department of Psychology and Institute of Health Sciences (iUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain
- Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), Palma, Spain
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Nathan Weisz
- CCNS and Division of Physiological Psychology, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler University Hospital, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Philipp Ruhnau
- School of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
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14
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Humans develop a constellation of different representations of the external environment, even in the face of the same sensory exposure. According to the Bayesian framework, these differentiations could be grounded in a different weight assigned to prior knowledge vs. new external inputs in predictive inference. Since recent advances in computational psychiatry suggest that autism (ASD) and schizophrenia (SSD) lie on the two diametric poles of the same predictive continuum, the adoption of a specific inferential style could be routed by dispositional factors related to autistic and schizotypal traits. However, no studies have directly investigated the role of ASD-SSD dimension in shaping the neuro-behavioral markers underlying perceptual inference. STUDY DESIGN We used a probabilistic detection task while simultaneously recording EEG to investigate whether neurobehavioral signatures related to prior processing were diametrically shaped by ASD and SSD traits in the general population (n = 80). RESULTS We found that the position along the ASD-SSD continuum directed the predictive strategies adopted by the individuals in decision-making. While proximity to the positive schizotypy pole was associated with the adoption of the predictive approach associated to the hyper-weighting of prior knowledge, proximity to ASD pole was related to strategies that favored sensory evidence in decision-making. CONCLUSIONS These findings revealed that the weight assigned to prior knowledge is a marker of the ASD-SSD continuum, potentially useful for identifying individuals at-risk of developing mental disorders and for understanding the mechanisms contributing to the onset of symptoms observed in ASD and SSD clinical forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Tarasi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Campus di Cesena, via Rasi e Spinelli, 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Maria Eugenia Martelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Campus di Cesena, via Rasi e Spinelli, 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Marta Bortoletto
- Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, via pilastroni, 4, 25125 Brescia, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Campus di Cesena, via Rasi e Spinelli, 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Campus di Cesena, via Rasi e Spinelli, 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, 28015, Spain
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Zhou YJ, Ramchandran A, Haegens S. Alpha oscillations protect working memory against distracters in a modality-specific way. Neuroimage 2023; 278:120290. [PMID: 37482324 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Alpha oscillations are thought to be involved in suppressing distracting input in working-memory tasks. Yet, the spatial-temporal dynamics of such suppression remain unclear. Key questions are whether such suppression reflects a domain-general inattentiveness mechanism, or occurs in a stimulus- or modality-specific manner within cortical areas most responsive to the distracters; and whether the suppression is proactive (i.e., preparatory) or reactive. Here, we addressed these questions using a working-memory task where participants had to memorize an array of visually presented digits and reproduce one of them upon being probed. We manipulated the presence of distracters and the sensory modality in which distracters were presented during memory maintenance. Our results show that sensory areas most responsive to visual and auditory distracters exhibited stronger alpha power increase after visual and auditory distracter presentation respectively. These results suggest that alpha oscillations underlie distracter suppression in a reactive, modality-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Joey Zhou
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Aarti Ramchandran
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Saskia Haegens
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States of America; Division of Systems Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States of America.
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16
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Shen L, Wu Z, Yue Z, Li B, Chen Q, Han B. Prior Knowledge Uses Prestimulus Alpha Band Oscillations and Persistent Poststimulus Neural Templates for Conscious Perception. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6164-6175. [PMID: 37536980 PMCID: PMC10476639 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0263-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Prior knowledge has a profound impact on the way we perceive the world. However, it remains unclear how the prior knowledge is maintained in our brains and thereby influences the subsequent conscious perception. The Dalmatian dog illusion is a perfect tool to study prior knowledge, where the picture is initially perceived as noise. Once the prior knowledge was introduced, a Dalmatian dog could be consciously seen, and the picture immediately became meaningful. Using pictures with hidden objects as standard stimuli and similar pictures without hidden objects as deviant stimuli, we investigated the neural representation of prior knowledge and its impact on conscious perception in an oddball paradigm using electroencephalogram (EEG) in both male and female human subjects. We found that the neural patterns between the prestimulus alpha band oscillations and poststimulus EEG activity were significantly more similar for the standard stimuli than for the deviant stimuli after prior knowledge was provided. Furthermore, decoding analysis revealed that persistent neural templates were evoked after the introduction of prior knowledge, similar to that evoked in the early stages of visual processing. In conclusion, the current study suggests that prior knowledge uses alpha band oscillations in a multivariate manner in the prestimulus period and induces specific persistent neural templates in the poststimulus period, enabling the conscious perception of the hidden objects.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The visual world we live in is not always optimal. In dark or noisy environments, prior knowledge can help us interpret imperfect sensory signals and enable us to consciously perceive hidden objects. However, we still know very little about how prior knowledge works at the neural level. Using the Dalmatian dog illusion and multivariate methods, we found that prior knowledge uses prestimulus alpha band oscillations to carry information about the hidden object and exerts a persistent influence in the poststimulus period by inducing specific neural templates. Our findings provide a window into the neural underpinnings of prior knowledge and offer new insights into the role of alpha band oscillations and neural templates associated with conscious perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Shen
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Zehua Wu
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Zhenzhu Yue
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Bing Li
- Department of Psychology, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
| | - Qi Chen
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Biao Han
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
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17
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Houshmand Chatroudi A, Yotsumoto Y. No evidence for the effect of entrainment's phase on duration reproduction and precision of regular intervals. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:3037-3057. [PMID: 37369629 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Perception of time is not always veridical; rather, it is subjected to distortions. One such compelling distortion is that the duration of regularly spaced intervals is often overestimated. One account suggests that excitatory phases of neural entrainment concomitant with such stimuli play a major role. However, assessing the correlation between the power of entrained oscillations and time dilation has yielded inconclusive results. In this study, we evaluated whether phase characteristics of neural oscillations impact time dilation. For this purpose, we entrained 10-Hz oscillations and experimentally manipulated the presentation of flickers so that they were presented either in-phase or out-of-phase relative to the established rhythm. Simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recordings confirmed that in-phase and out-of-phase flickers had landed on different inhibitory phases of high-amplitude alpha oscillations. Moreover, to control for confounding factors of expectancy and masking, we created two additional conditions. Results, supplemented by the Bayesian analysis, indicated that the phase of entrained visual alpha oscillation does not differentially affect flicker-induced time dilation. Repeating the same experiment with regularly spaced auditory stimuli replicated the null findings. Moreover, we found a robust enhancement of precision for the reproduction of flickers relative to static stimuli that were partially supported by entrainment models. We discussed our results within the framework of neural oscillations and time-perception models, suggesting that inhibitory cycles of visual alpha may have little relevance to the overestimation of regularly spaced intervals. Moreover, based on our findings, we proposed that temporal oscillators, assumed in entrainment models, may act independently of excitatory phases in the brain's lower level sensory areas.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yuko Yotsumoto
- Department of Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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18
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Turner W, Blom T, Hogendoorn H. Visual Information Is Predictively Encoded in Occipital Alpha/Low-Beta Oscillations. J Neurosci 2023; 43:5537-5545. [PMID: 37344235 PMCID: PMC10376931 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0135-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Hierarchical predictive coding networks are a general model of sensory processing in the brain. Under neural delays, these networks have been suggested to naturally generate oscillatory activity in approximately the α frequency range (∼8-12 Hz). This suggests that α oscillations, a prominent feature of EEG recordings, may be a spectral "fingerprint" of predictive sensory processing. Here, we probed this possibility by investigating whether oscillations over the visual cortex predictively encode visual information. Specifically, we examined whether their power carries information about the position of a moving stimulus, in a temporally predictive fashion. In two experiments (N = 32, 18 female; N = 34, 17 female), participants viewed an apparent-motion stimulus moving along a circular path while EEG was recorded. To investigate the encoding of stimulus-position information, we developed a method of deriving probabilistic spatial maps from oscillatory power estimates. With this method, we demonstrate that it is possible to reconstruct the trajectory of a moving stimulus from α/low-β oscillations, tracking its position even across unexpected motion reversals. We also show that future position representations are activated in the absence of direct visual input, demonstrating that temporally predictive mechanisms manifest in α/β band oscillations. In a second experiment, we replicate these findings and show that the encoding of information in this range is not driven by visual entrainment. By demonstrating that occipital α/β oscillations carry stimulus-related information, in a temporally predictive fashion, we provide empirical evidence of these rhythms as a spectral "fingerprint" of hierarchical predictive processing in the human visual system.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT "Hierarchical predictive coding" is a general model of sensory information processing in the brain. When in silico predictive coding models are constrained by neural transmission delays, their activity naturally oscillates in roughly the α range (∼8-12 Hz). Using time-resolved EEG decoding, we show that neural rhythms in this approximate range (α/low-β) over the human visual cortex predictively encode the position of a moving stimulus. From the amplitude of these oscillations, we are able to reconstruct the stimulus' trajectory, revealing signatures of temporally predictive processing. This provides direct neural evidence linking occipital α/β rhythms to predictive visual processing, supporting the emerging view of such oscillations as a potential spectral "fingerprint" of hierarchical predictive processing in the human visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Turner
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4059, Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Tessel Blom
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Hinze Hogendoorn
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4059, Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
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19
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Bertaccini R, Ippolito G, Tarasi L, Zazio A, Stango A, Bortoletto M, Romei V. Rhythmic TMS as a Feasible Tool to Uncover the Oscillatory Signatures of Audiovisual Integration. Biomedicines 2023; 11:1746. [PMID: 37371840 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11061746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Multisensory integration is quintessential to adaptive behavior, with clinical populations showing significant impairments in this domain, most notably hallucinatory reports. Interestingly, altered cross-modal interactions have also been reported in healthy individuals when engaged in tasks such as the Sound-Induced Flash-Illusion (SIFI). The temporal dynamics of the SIFI have been recently tied to the speed of occipital alpha rhythms (IAF), with faster oscillations entailing reduced temporal windows within which the illusion is experienced. In this regard, entrainment-based protocols have not yet implemented rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation (rhTMS) to causally test for this relationship. It thus remains to be evaluated whether rhTMS-induced acoustic and somatosensory sensations may not specifically interfere with the illusion. Here, we addressed this issue by asking 27 volunteers to perform a SIFI paradigm under different Sham and active rhTMS protocols, delivered over the occipital pole at the IAF. Although TMS has been proven to act upon brain tissues excitability, results show that the SIFI occurred for both Sham and active rhTMS, with the illusory rate not being significantly different between baseline and stimulation conditions. This aligns with the discrete sampling hypothesis, for which alpha amplitude modulation, known to reflect changes in cortical excitability, should not account for changes in the illusory rate. Moreover, these findings highlight the viability of rhTMS-based interventions as a means to probe the neuroelectric signatures of illusory and hallucinatory audiovisual experiences, in healthy and neuropsychiatric populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Bertaccini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Neurophysiology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, 25125 Brescia, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Ippolito
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
| | - Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Agnese Zazio
- Neurophysiology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, 25125 Brescia, Italy
| | - Antonietta Stango
- Neurophysiology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, 25125 Brescia, Italy
| | - Marta Bortoletto
- Neurophysiology Lab., IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, 25125 Brescia, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, 28015 Madrid, Spain
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20
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Küçük KM, Wienke AS, Mathes B, Başar-Eroğlu C. Multistable perception elicits compensatory alpha activity in older adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1136124. [PMID: 37304078 PMCID: PMC10249475 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1136124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Multistable stimuli lead to the perception of two or more alternative perceptual experiences that spontaneously reverse from one to the other. This property allows researchers to study perceptual processes that endogenously generate and integrate perceptual information. These endogenous processes appear to be slowed down around the age of 55 where participants report significantly lower perceptual reversals. This study aimed to identify neural correlates of this aging effect during multistable perception utilizing a multistable version of the stroboscopic alternative motion paradigm (SAM: endogenous task) and a control condition (exogenous task). Specifically, age-related differences in perceptual destabilization and maintenance processes were examined through alpha responses. Electroencephalography (EEG) of 12 older and 12 young adults were recorded during SAM and control tasks. Alpha band activity (8-14 Hz) was obtained by wavelet-transformation of the EEG signal and analyzed for each experimental condition. Endogenous reversals induced gradual decrease in posterior alpha activity in young adults which is a replication of previous studies' findings. Alpha desynchronization was shifted to anterior areas and prevalent across the cortex except the occipital area for older adults. Alpha responses did not differ between the groups in the control condition. These findings point to recruitment of compensatory alpha networks for maintenance of endogenously generated percepts. Increased number of networks responsible for maintenance might have extended the neural satiation duration and led to decreased reversal rates in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Annika S. Wienke
- Bremen Initiative to Foster Early Childhood Development (BRISE), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Birgit Mathes
- Bremen Initiative to Foster Early Childhood Development (BRISE), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
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21
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Gallina J, Marsicano G, Romei V, Bertini C. Electrophysiological and Behavioral Effects of Alpha-Band Sensory Entrainment: Neural Mechanisms and Clinical Applications. Biomedicines 2023; 11:biomedicines11051399. [PMID: 37239069 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11051399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Alpha-band (7-13 Hz) activity has been linked to visuo-attentional performance in healthy participants and to impaired functionality of the visual system in a variety of clinical populations including patients with acquired posterior brain lesion and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Crucially, several studies suggested that short uni- and multi-sensory rhythmic stimulation (i.e., visual, auditory and audio-visual) administered in the alpha-band effectively induces transient changes in alpha oscillatory activity and improvements in visuo-attentional performance by synchronizing the intrinsic brain oscillations to the external stimulation (neural entrainment). The present review aims to address the current state of the art on the alpha-band sensory entrainment, outlining its potential functional effects and current limitations. Indeed, the results of the alpha-band entrainment studies are currently mixed, possibly due to the different stimulation modalities, task features and behavioral and physiological measures employed in the various paradigms. Furthermore, it is still unknown whether prolonged alpha-band sensory entrainment might lead to long-lasting effects at a neural and behavioral level. Overall, despite the limitations emerging from the current literature, alpha-band sensory entrainment may represent a promising and valuable tool, inducing functionally relevant changes in oscillatory activity, with potential rehabilitative applications in individuals characterized by impaired alpha activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Gallina
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40121 Bologna, Italy
| | - Gianluca Marsicano
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40121 Bologna, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40121 Bologna, Italy
| | - Caterina Bertini
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Via Rasi e Spinelli 176, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40121 Bologna, Italy
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22
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Arıkan MK, Oba MÇ, İlhan R, Mat MC. When to Choose Paroxetine Treatment in Skin-Picking Disorder: A Case Report. Clin EEG Neurosci 2023; 54:168-172. [PMID: 34994223 DOI: 10.1177/15500594211073390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Skin picking disorder (SPD) characterized by repetitive compulsive scratching in the absence of a primary skin disease is strongly associated with psychiatric comorbidities, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression (MDD). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been used in the treatment of SPD with variable success. Nevertheless, the optimum treatment choice for SPD is an issue for clinicians. This case report presents a 32-year-old female SPD patient treated with four-week paroxetine monotherapy. Based upon the clinical interview and standardized questionnaires, the patient was diagnosed with OCD with depressive features and Skin Picking Disorder. In addition to symptom severity scales, quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) was also applied. Paroxetine treatment was started (titrated from 5 to 40 mg/day) and doubled each week. After four-week paroxetine monotherapy, OCD symptoms were diminished, and skin lesions were completely regressed leaving solely post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Post-treatment qEEG assessment also showed a normalization of frontal alpha power and amplitude asymmetry. It can be concluded that if OCD includes SPD with abnormal EEG patterns; then the treatment success using paroxetine will be very high.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Muazzez Ç Oba
- 567570Sancaktepe Şehit Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Research and Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Reyhan İlhan
- Kemal Arıkan Psychiatry Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey
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23
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Labonte AK, Kafashan M, Huels ER, Blain-Moraes S, Basner M, Kelz MB, Mashour GA, Avidan MS, Palanca BJA. The posterior dominant rhythm: an electroencephalographic biomarker for cognitive recovery after general anaesthesia. Br J Anaesth 2023; 130:e233-e242. [PMID: 35183346 PMCID: PMC9900730 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2022.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2021] [Revised: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The posterior dominant rhythm (PDR) was the first oscillatory pattern noted in the EEG. Evoked by wakeful eyelid closure, these oscillations dissipate over seconds during loss of arousal. The peak frequency of the PDR maintains stability over years, suggesting utility as a state biomarker in the surveillance of acute cognitive impairments. This EEG signature has not been systematically investigated for tracking cognitive dysfunction after anaesthetic-induced loss of consciousness. METHODS This substudy of Reconstructing Consciousness and Cognition (NCT01911195) investigated the PDR and cognitive function in 60 adult volunteers randomised to either 3 h of isoflurane general anaesthesia or resting wakefulness. Serial measurements of EEG power and cognitive task performance were assessed relative to pre-intervention baseline. Mixed-effects models allowed quantification of PDR and neurocognitive trajectories after return of responsiveness (ROR). RESULTS Individuals in the control group showed stability in the PDR peak frequency over several hours (median difference/inter-quartile range [IQR] of 0.02/0.20 Hz, P=0.39). After isoflurane general anaesthesia, the PDR peak frequency was initially reduced at ROR (median difference/IQR of 0.88/0.65 Hz, P<0.001). PDR peak frequency recovered at a rate of 0.20 Hz h-1. After ROR, the PDR peak frequency correlated with reaction time and accuracy on multiple cognitive tasks (P<0.001). CONCLUSION The temporal trajectory of the PDR peak frequency could be a useful perioperative marker for tracking cognitive dysfunction on the order of hours after surgery, particularly for cognitive domains of working memory, visuomotor speed, and executive function. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT01911195.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa K Labonte
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - MohammadMehdi Kafashan
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Center on Biological Rhythms and Sleep, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri
| | - Emma R Huels
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Center for Consciousness Science and Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Stefanie Blain-Moraes
- School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Mathias Basner
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Max B Kelz
- Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - George A Mashour
- Department of Anesthesiology, Center for Consciousness Science and Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Michael S Avidan
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Center on Biological Rhythms and Sleep, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Ben Julian A Palanca
- Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Center on Biological Rhythms and Sleep, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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24
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Chen Y, Lu X, Hu L. Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Facilitates Cortical Arousal and Alertness. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2023; 20:1402. [PMID: 36674156 PMCID: PMC9859411 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20021402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a promising noninvasive technique with potential beneficial effects on human emotion and cognition, including cortical arousal and alertness. However, it remains unclear how taVNS could improve cortical arousal and alertness, which are crucial for consciousness and daily task performance. Here, we aimed to estimate the modulatory effect of taVNS on cortical arousal and alertness and to reveal its underlying neural mechanisms. Sixty subjects were recruited and randomly assigned to either the taVNS group (receiving taVNS for 20 min) or the control group (receiving taVNS for 30 s). The effects of taVNS were evaluated behaviorally using a cue-target pattern task, and neurologically using a resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG). We found that taVNS facilitated the reaction time for the targets requiring right-hand responses and attenuated high-frequency alpha oscillations under the close-eye resting state. Importantly, taVNS-modulated alpha oscillations were positively correlated with the facilitated target detection performance, i.e., reduced reaction time. Furthermore, microstate analysis of the resting-state EEG when the eyes were closed illustrated that taVNS reduced the mean duration of microstate C, which has been proven to be associated with alertness. Altogether, this work provided novel evidence suggesting that taVNS could be an enhancer of both cortical arousal and alertness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxin Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xuejing Lu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Li Hu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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25
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Hardy SM, Jensen O, Wheeldon L, Mazaheri A, Segaert K. Modulation in alpha band activity reflects syntax composition: an MEG study of minimal syntactic binding. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:497-511. [PMID: 35311899 PMCID: PMC9890467 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Successful sentence comprehension requires the binding, or composition, of multiple words into larger structures to establish meaning. Using magnetoencephalography, we investigated the neural mechanisms involved in binding at the syntax level, in a task where contributions from semantics were minimized. Participants were auditorily presented with minimal sentences that required binding (pronoun and pseudo-verb with the corresponding morphological inflection; "she grushes") and pseudo-verb wordlists that did not require binding ("cugged grushes"). Relative to no binding, we found that syntactic binding was associated with a modulation in alpha band (8-12 Hz) activity in left-lateralized language regions. First, we observed a significantly smaller increase in alpha power around the presentation of the target word ("grushes") that required binding (-0.05 to 0.1 s), which we suggest reflects an expectation of binding to occur. Second, during binding of the target word (0.15-0.25 s), we observed significantly decreased alpha phase-locking between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left middle/inferior temporal cortex, which we suggest reflects alpha-driven cortical disinhibition serving to strengthen communication within the syntax composition neural network. Altogether, our findings highlight the critical role of rapid spatial-temporal alpha band activity in controlling the allocation, transfer, and coordination of the brain's resources during syntax composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie M Hardy
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
| | - Ole Jensen
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Linda Wheeldon
- Department of Foreign Languages and Translations, University of Agder, Kristiansand 4630, Norway
| | - Ali Mazaheri
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Katrien Segaert
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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26
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Christensen J, Slavik L, Nicol JJ, Loehr JD. Alpha oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction during live orchestral performance: A naturalistic case study. Psychol Music 2023; 51:295-315. [PMID: 36532616 PMCID: PMC9751440 DOI: 10.1177/03057356221091313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Ensemble music performance requires musicians to achieve precise interpersonal coordination while maintaining autonomous control over their own actions. To do so, musicians dynamically shift between integrating other performers' actions into their own action plans and maintaining a distinction between their own and others' actions. Research in laboratory settings has shown that this dynamic process of self-other integration and distinction is indexed by sensorimotor alpha oscillations. The purpose of the current descriptive case study was to examine oscillations related to self-other integration and distinction in a naturalistic performance context. We measured alpha activity from four violinists during a concert hall performance of a 60-musician orchestra. We selected a musical piece from the orchestra's repertoire and, before analyzing alpha activity, performed a score analysis to divide the piece into sections that were expected to strongly promote self-other integration and distinction. In line with previous laboratory findings, performers showed suppressed and enhanced alpha activity during musical sections that promoted self-other integration and distinction, respectively. The current study thus provides preliminary evidence that findings from carefully controlled laboratory experiments generalize to complex real-world performance. Its findings also suggest directions for future research and potential applications of interest to musicians, music educators, and music therapists.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lauren Slavik
- Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
| | - Jennifer J Nicol
- Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
| | - Janeen D Loehr
- Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
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27
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Ippolito G, Bertaccini R, Tarasi L, Di Gregorio F, Trajkovic J, Battaglia S, Romei V. The Role of Alpha Oscillations among the Main Neuropsychiatric Disorders in the Adult and Developing Human Brain: Evidence from the Last 10 Years of Research. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10123189. [PMID: 36551945 PMCID: PMC9775381 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10123189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Revised: 12/03/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Alpha oscillations (7-13 Hz) are the dominant rhythm in both the resting and active brain. Accordingly, translational research has provided evidence for the involvement of aberrant alpha activity in the onset of symptomatological features underlying syndromes such as autism, schizophrenia, major depression, and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, findings on the matter are difficult to reconcile due to the variety of paradigms, analyses, and clinical phenotypes at play, not to mention recent technical and methodological advances in this domain. Herein, we seek to address this issue by reviewing the literature gathered on this topic over the last ten years. For each neuropsychiatric disorder, a dedicated section will be provided, containing a concise account of the current models proposing characteristic alterations of alpha rhythms as a core mechanism to trigger the associated symptomatology, as well as a summary of the most relevant studies and scientific contributions issued throughout the last decade. We conclude with some advice and recommendations that might improve future inquiries within this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Ippolito
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Riccardo Bertaccini
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Francesco Di Gregorio
- UO Medicina Riabilitativa e Neuroriabilitazione, Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale, 40133 Bologna, Italy
| | - Jelena Trajkovic
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Simone Battaglia
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Torino, 10124 Torino, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 47521 Cesena, Italy
- Correspondence:
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28
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Levy J, Influs M, Masalha S, Goldstein A, Feldman R. Dialogue intervention for youth amidst intractable conflict attenuates neural prejudice response and promotes adults' peacemaking. PNAS Nexus 2022; 1:pgac236. [PMID: 36712372 PMCID: PMC9802066 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Humans' dependence on group living has led to the formation of tenacious, often nonconscious negative perceptions of other social groups, a phenomenon termed "intergroup bias" that sustains one of the world's most imminent problem: intergroup conflicts. Adolescents' participation in intergroup conflicts has been continuously on the rise, rendering the need to devise interventions that can mitigate some of their deleterious effects on youth an urgent societal priority. Framed within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and targeting youth, we implemented a dialogue-enhancing intervention for adolescents (16 to 18 years) reared amidst intractable conflict that builds on social synchrony and the neurobiology of affiliation. Implementing a randomized controlled trial design, before and after the 8-week intervention adolescents underwent magnetoencephalography to assess a neural marker of implicit prejudice and interviewed on their attitudes toward the conflict. Adolescents who received the intervention showed attenuation of the neural prejudice response, as indexed by sustained occipital alpha that was significantly reduced at post-intervention and adopted attitudes of peacemaking. Change in the neural prejudice response predicted attitudes of compromise and support in peacebuilding 7 years later, when young adults can already engage in active civil duties and responsibilities. These results underscore adolescence as a window of opportunity for enhancing inter-group dialogue and demonstrate the long-term associations between the neural evaluation of prejudice and self-reported measures of proclivity for compromise and peace in the context of an intractable century-long conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Levy
- Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, 8 Ha'universita Street, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
| | - Moran Influs
- Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, 8 Ha'universita Street, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
| | | | - Abraham Goldstein
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center and Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
| | - Ruth Feldman
- Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, 8 Ha'universita Street, Herzliya 4610101, Israel
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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Enz N, Schmidt J, Nolan K, Mitchell M, Alvarez Gomez S, Alkayyali M, Cambay P, Gippert M, Whelan R, Ruddy K. Self-regulation of the brain's right frontal Beta rhythm using a brain-computer interface. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14115. [PMID: 35652562 PMCID: PMC9786254 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Neural oscillations, or brain rhythms, fluctuate in a manner reflecting ongoing behavior. Whether these fluctuations are instrumental or epiphenomenal to the behavior remains elusive. Attempts to experimentally manipulate neural oscillations exogenously using noninvasive brain stimulation have shown some promise, but difficulty with tailoring stimulation parameters to individuals has hindered progress in this field. We demonstrate here using electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback in a brain-computer interface that human participants (n = 44) learned over multiple sessions across a 6-day period to self-regulate their Beta rhythm (13-20 Hz), either up or down, over the right inferior frontal cortex. Training to downregulate Beta was more effective than training to upregulate Beta. The modulation was evident only during neurofeedback task performance but did not lead to offline alteration of Beta rhythm characteristics at rest, nor to changes in subsequent cognitive behavior. Likewise, a control group (n = 38) who underwent training to up or downregulate the Alpha rhythm (8-12 Hz) did not exhibit behavioral changes. Although the right frontal Beta rhythm has been repeatedly implicated as a key component of the brain's inhibitory control system, the present data suggest that its manipulation offline prior to cognitive task performance does not result in behavioral change in healthy individuals. Whether this form of neurofeedback training could serve as a useful therapeutic target for disorders with dysfunctional inhibitory control as their basis remains to be tested in a context where performance is abnormally poor and neural dynamics are different.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadja Enz
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Jemima Schmidt
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Kate Nolan
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Matthew Mitchell
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Sandra Alvarez Gomez
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Miryam Alkayyali
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Pierce Cambay
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Magdalena Gippert
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Robert Whelan
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
- Global Brain Health InstituteTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Kathy Ruddy
- School of Psychology, Institute of NeuroscienceTrinity College DublinDublinIreland
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30
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Chupina I, Sierpowska J, Zheng XY, Dewenter A, Piastra M, Piai V. Time course of right-hemisphere recruitment during word production following left-hemisphere damage: A single case of young stroke. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:5235-5259. [PMID: 36028218 PMCID: PMC9826534 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Our understanding of post-stroke language function is largely based on older age groups, who show increasing age-related brain pathology and neural reorganisation. To illustrate language outcomes in the young-adult brain, we present the case of J., a 23-year-old woman with chronic aphasia from a left-hemisphere stroke affecting the temporal lobe. Diffusion MRI-based tractography indicated that J.'s language-relevant white-matter structures were severely damaged. Employing magnetoencephalography (MEG), we explored J.'s conceptual preparation and word planning abilities using context-driven and bare picture-naming tasks. These revealed naming deficits, manifesting as word-finding difficulties and semantic paraphasias about half of the time. Naming was however facilitated by semantically constraining lead-in sentences. Altogether, this pattern indicates disrupted lexical-semantic and phonological retrieval abilities. MEG revealed that J.'s conceptual and naming-related neural responses were supported by the right hemisphere, compared to the typical left-lateralised brain response of a matched control. Differential recruitment of right-hemisphere structures (330-440 ms post-picture onset) was found concurrently during successful naming (right mid-to-posterior temporal lobe) and word-finding attempts (right inferior frontal gyrus). Disconnection of the temporal lobes via corpus callosum was not critical for recruitment of the right hemisphere in visually guided naming, possibly due to neural activity right lateralising from the outset. Although J.'s right hemisphere responded in a timely manner during word planning, its lexical and phonological retrieval abilities remained modest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Chupina
- Donders Centre for CognitionRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - Joanna Sierpowska
- Donders Centre for CognitionRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands,Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Department of Cognition, Development and Educational PsychologyInstitut de Neurociències, Universitat de BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
| | - Xiaochen Y. Zheng
- Donders Centre for Cognitive NeuroimagingRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - Anna Dewenter
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)University Hospital, LMU MunichMunichGermany
| | - Maria‐Carla Piastra
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and BehaviourRadboud University Medical CenterNijmegenThe Netherlands,Department of Neuroinformatics, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and BehaviourRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands,Clinical Neurophysiology, Technical Medical Centre, Faculty of Science and TechnologyUniversity of TwenteEnschedeThe Netherlands
| | - Vitória Piai
- Donders Centre for CognitionRadboud UniversityNijmegenThe Netherlands,Department of Medical Psychology, Donders Centre for Medical NeuroscienceRadboud University Medical CenterNijmegenThe Netherlands
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31
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Zhozhikashvili N, Zakharov I, Ismatullina V, Feklicheva I, Malykh S, Arsalidou M. Parietal Alpha Oscillations: Cognitive Load and Mental Toughness. Brain Sci 2022; 12. [PMID: 36138871 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12091135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive effort is intrinsically linked to task difficulty, intelligence, and mental toughness. Intelligence reflects an individual’s cognitive aptitude, whereas mental toughness (MT) reflects an individual’s resilience in pursuing success. Research shows that parietal alpha oscillations are associated with changes in task difficulty. Critically, it remains unclear whether parietal alpha oscillations are modulated by intelligence and MT as a personality trait. We examined event-related (de)synchronization (ERD/ERS) of alpha oscillations associated with encoding, retention, and recognition in the Sternberg task in relation to intelligence and mental toughness. Eighty participants completed the Sternberg task with 3, 4, 5 and 6 digits, Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test and an MT questionnaire. A positive dependence on difficulty was observed for all studied oscillatory effects (t = −8.497, p < 0.001; t = 2.806, p < 0.005; t = −2.103, p < 0.05). The influence of Raven intelligence was observed for encoding-related alpha ERD (t = −2.02, p = 0.049). The influence of MT was observed only for difficult conditions in recognition-related alpha ERD (t = −3.282, p < 0.005). Findings indicate that the modulation of alpha rhythm related to encoding, retention and recognition may be interpreted as correlates of cognitive effort modulation. Specifically, results suggest that effort related to encoding depends on intelligence, whereas recognition-related effort level depends on mental toughness.
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32
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Wang J, Wang J, Sun J, Li C, Tong S, Hong X. The effects of pre-cue posterior alpha on post-cue alpha activity and target processing in visual spatial attention tasks with instructional and probabilistic cues. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4056-4069. [PMID: 36005905 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The electroencephalography alpha-band (8-13 Hz) activity may represent a crucial neural substrate of visual spatial attention. However, factors likely contributing to alpha activity have not been adequately addressed, which impedes understanding its functional roles. We investigated whether pre-cue alpha power was associated with post-cue alpha activity in 2 independent experiments (n = 30 each) with different cueing strategies (instructional vs. probabilistic) by median-splitting subjects (between-subject) or trials (within-subject) according to pre-cue alpha. In both experiments, only subjects with higher pre-cue alpha showed significant post-cue alpha desynchronization and alpha lateralization, while whether trials had higher or lower pre-cue alpha affected post-cue alpha desynchronization but not alpha lateralization. Furthermore, significant attentional modulation of target processing indexed by N1 component was observed in subjects and trials regardless of higher or lower pre-cue alpha in the instructional cueing experiment. While in the probabilistic cueing experiment, N1 attentional modulation was only observed in higher pre-cue alpha subjects and lower pre-cue alpha trials. In summary, by demonstrating the effects of pre-cue alpha and cueing strategy on post-cue alpha activity and target processing, our results suggest the necessity of considering these 2 contributing factors when investigating the functional roles of alpha activity in visual spatial attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaqi Wang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Jianan Wang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Junfeng Sun
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Chunbo Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 200030, China.,Institute of Psychology and Behavioral Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China.,Brain Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
| | - Shanbao Tong
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Xiangfei Hong
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
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33
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Balestrieri E, Busch NA. Spontaneous Alpha-Band Oscillations Bias Subjective Contrast Perception. J Neurosci 2022; 42:5058-5069. [PMID: 35589392 PMCID: PMC9233438 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1972-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual decisions depend both on the features of the incoming stimulus and on the ongoing brain activity at the moment the stimulus is received. Specifically, trial-to-trial fluctuations in cortical excitability have been linked to fluctuations in the amplitude of prestimulus α oscillations (∼8-13 Hz), which are in turn are associated with fluctuations in subjects' tendency to report the detection of a stimulus. It is currently unknown whether α oscillations bias postperceptual decision-making, or even bias subjective perception itself. To answer this question, we used a contrast discrimination task in which both male and female human subjects reported which of two gratings (one in each hemifield) was perceived as having a stronger contrast. Our EEG analysis showed that subjective contrast was reduced for the stimulus in the hemifield represented in the hemisphere with relatively stronger prestimulus α amplitude, reflecting reduced cortical excitability. Furthermore, the strength of this spontaneous hemispheric lateralization was strongly correlated with the magnitude of individual subjects' biases, suggesting that the spontaneous patterns of α lateralization play a role in explaining the intersubject variability in contrast perception. These results indicate that spontaneous fluctuations in cortical excitability, indicated by patterns of prestimulus α amplitude, affect perceptual decisions by altering the phenomenological perception of the visual world.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Our moment-to-moment perception of the world is shaped by the features of the environment surrounding us, as much as by the constantly evolving states that characterize our brain activity. Previous research showed how the ongoing electrical activity of the brain can influence whether a stimulus has accessed conscious perception. However, evidence is currently missing on whether these electrical brain states can be associated to the subjective experience of a sensory input. Here we show that local changes in patterns of electrical brain activity preceding visual stimulation can bias our phenomenological perception. Importantly, we show that the strength of these variations can help explain the great interindividual variability in how we perceive the visual environment surrounding us.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elio Balestrieri
- Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany 48149
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany 48149
| | - Niko A Busch
- Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany 48149
- Otto-Creutzfeldt-Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany 48149
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34
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Millard SK, Furman AJ, Kerr A, Seminowicz DA, Gao F, Naidu BV, Mazaheri A. Predicting postoperative pain in lung cancer patients using preoperative peak alpha frequency. Br J Anaesth 2022; 128:e346-e348. [PMID: 35393099 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2022.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Samantha K Millard
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Faculty of Medicine, Wallace Wurth Building, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Kensington, NSW, Australia; Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Andrew J Furman
- Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center to Advance Chronic Pain Research, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Amy Kerr
- Birmingham Acute Care Research Group, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medicine and Dentistry Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Department of Thoracic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospitals of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - David A Seminowicz
- Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center to Advance Chronic Pain Research, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Fang Gao
- Birmingham Acute Care Research Group, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medicine and Dentistry Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Department of Anaesthesia, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospitals of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Babu V Naidu
- Birmingham Acute Care Research Group, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medicine and Dentistry Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Department of Thoracic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospitals of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Ali Mazaheri
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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35
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Arana L, Melcón M, Kessel D, Hoyos S, Albert J, Carretié L, Capilla A. Suppression of alpha-band power underlies exogenous attention to emotional distractors. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14051. [PMID: 35318692 PMCID: PMC9540775 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Alpha-band oscillations (8-14 Hz) are essential for attention and perception processes by facilitating the selection of relevant information. Directing visuospatial endogenous (voluntary) attention to a given location consistently results in a power suppression of alpha activity over occipito-parietal areas contralateral to the attended visual field. In contrast, the neural oscillatory dynamics underlying the involuntary capture of attention, or exogenous attention, are currently under debate. By exploiting the inherent capacity of emotionally salient visual stimuli to capture attention, we aimed to investigate whether exogenous attention is characterized by either a reduction or an increase in alpha-band activity. Electroencephalographic activity was recorded while participants completed a Posner visuospatial cueing task, in which a lateralized image with either positive, negative, or neutral emotional content competed with a target stimulus presented in the opposite hemifield. Compared with trials with no distractors, alpha power was reduced over occipital regions contralateral to distracting images. This reduction of alpha activity turned out to be functionally relevant, as it correlated with impaired behavioral performance on the ongoing task and was enhanced for distractors with negative valence. Taken together, our results demonstrate that visuospatial exogenous attention is characterized by a suppression of alpha-band activity contralateral to distractor location, similar to the oscillatory underpinnings of endogenous attention. Further, these results highlight the key role of exogenous attention as an adaptive mechanism for the efficient detection of biologically salient stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydia Arana
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Melcón
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Dominique Kessel
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sandra Hoyos
- Departamento de Neurociencia y Aprendizaje, Universidad Católica de Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Jacobo Albert
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Carretié
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Almudena Capilla
- Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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36
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Di Gregorio F, Trajkovic J, Roperti C, Marcantoni E, Di Luzio P, Avenanti A, Thut G, Romei V. Tuning alpha rhythms to shape conscious visual perception. Curr Biol 2022; 32:988-998.e6. [PMID: 35090592 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Revised: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
It is commonly held that what we see and what we believe we see are overlapping phenomena. However, dissociations between sensory events and their subjective interpretation occur in the general population and in clinical disorders, raising the question as to whether perceptual accuracy and its subjective interpretation represent mechanistically dissociable events. Here, we uncover the role that alpha oscillations play in shaping these two indices of human conscious experience. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure occipital alpha oscillations during a visual detection task, which were then entrained using rhythmic-TMS. We found that controlling prestimulus alpha frequency by rhythmic-TMS modulated perceptual accuracy, but not subjective confidence in it, whereas controlling poststimulus (but not prestimulus) alpha amplitude modulated how well subjective confidence judgments can distinguish between correct and incorrect decision, but not accuracy. These findings provide the first causal evidence of a double dissociation between alpha speed and alpha amplitude, linking alpha frequency to spatiotemporal sampling resources and alpha amplitude to the internal, subjective representation and interpretation of sensory events.
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37
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Tabarelli D, Brancaccio A, Zrenner C, Belardinelli P. Functional Connectivity States of Alpha Rhythm Sources in the Human Cortex at Rest: Implications for Real-Time Brain State Dependent EEG-TMS. Brain Sci 2022; 12:348. [PMID: 35326304 PMCID: PMC8946162 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12030348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Alpha is the predominant rhythm of the human electroencephalogram, but its function, multiple generators and functional coupling patterns are still relatively unknown. In this regard, alpha connectivity patterns can change between different cortical generators depending on the status of the brain. Therefore, in the light of the communication through coherence framework, an alpha functional network depends on the functional coupling patterns in a determined state. This notion has a relevance for brain-state dependent EEG-TMS because, beyond the local state, a network connectivity overview at rest could provide further and more comprehensive information for the definition of 'instantaneous state' at the stimulation moment, rather than just the local state around the stimulation site. For this reason, we studied functional coupling at rest in 203 healthy subjects with MEG data. Sensor signals were source localized and connectivity was studied at the Individual Alpha Frequency (IAF) between three different cortical areas (occipital, parietal and prefrontal). Two different and complementary phase-coherence metrices were used. Our results show a consistent connectivity between parietal and prefrontal regions whereas occipito-prefrontal connectivity is less marked and occipito-parietal connectivity is extremely low, despite physical closeness. We consider our results a relevant add-on for informed, individualized real-time brain state dependent stimulation, with possible contributions to novel, personalized non-invasive therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Tabarelli
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences—CIMeC, University of Trento, I-38123 Trento, Italy; (D.T.); (A.B.)
| | - Arianna Brancaccio
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences—CIMeC, University of Trento, I-38123 Trento, Italy; (D.T.); (A.B.)
| | - Christoph Zrenner
- Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M6J 1H4, Canada;
| | - Paolo Belardinelli
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences—CIMeC, University of Trento, I-38123 Trento, Italy; (D.T.); (A.B.)
- Department of Neurology & Stroke, University of Tübingen, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany
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38
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Giannopoulos AE, Zioga I, Kontoangelos K, Papageorgiou P, Kapsali F, Capsalis CN, Papageorgiou C. Deciding on Optical Illusions: Reduced Alpha Power in Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12020293. [PMID: 35204056 PMCID: PMC8870663 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12020293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with imagined defects in appearance. Optical illusions induce illusory effects that distort the presented stimulus, thus leading to ambiguous percepts. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated whether BDD is related to differentiated perception during illusory percepts. METHODS A total of 18 BDD patients and 18 controls were presented with 39 optical illusions together with a statement testing whether or not they perceived the illusion. After a delay period, they were prompted to answer whether the statement was right/wrong and their degree of confidence in their answer. We investigated differences of BDD patients on task performance and self-reported confidence and analyzed the brain oscillations during decision-making using nonparametric cluster statistics. RESULTS Behaviorally, the BDD group exhibited reduced confidence when responding incorrectly, potentially attributed to higher levels of doubt. Electrophysiologically, the BDD group showed significantly reduced alpha power at the fronto-central and parietal scalp areas, suggesting impaired allocation of attention. Interestingly, the lower the alpha power of the identified cluster, the higher the BDD severity, as assessed by BDD psychometrics. CONCLUSIONS Results evidenced that alpha power during illusory processing might serve as a quantitative EEG biomarker of BDD, potentially associated with reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasios E. Giannopoulos
- School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +30-6982045009
| | - Ioanna Zioga
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands;
- First Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Eginition Hospital, 11528 Athens, Greece;
| | - Konstantinos Kontoangelos
- First Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Eginition Hospital, 11528 Athens, Greece;
| | - Panos Papageorgiou
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Patras, 26334 Patras, Greece;
| | | | - Christos N. Capsalis
- School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Athens, Greece;
| | - Charalabos Papageorgiou
- Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute “Costas Stefanis”, University Mental Health, 11527 Athens, Greece;
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39
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Clancy KJ, Andrzejewski JA, You Y, Rosenberg JT, Ding M, Li W. Transcranial stimulation of alpha oscillations up-regulates the default mode network. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2110868119. [PMID: 34969856 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2110868119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN) is the most-prominent intrinsic connectivity network, serving as a key architecture of the brain's functional organization. Conversely, dysregulated DMN is characteristic of major neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the field still lacks mechanistic insights into the regulation of the DMN and effective interventions for DMN dysregulation. The current study approached this problem by manipulating neural synchrony, particularly alpha (8 to 12 Hz) oscillations, a dominant intrinsic oscillatory activity that has been increasingly associated with the DMN in both function and physiology. Using high-definition alpha-frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (α-tACS) to stimulate the cortical source of alpha oscillations, in combination with simultaneous electroencephalography and functional MRI (EEG-fMRI), we demonstrated that α-tACS (versus Sham control) not only augmented EEG alpha oscillations but also strengthened fMRI and (source-level) alpha connectivity within the core of the DMN. Importantly, increase in alpha oscillations mediated the DMN connectivity enhancement. These findings thus identify a mechanistic link between alpha oscillations and DMN functioning. That transcranial alpha modulation can up-regulate the DMN further highlights an effective noninvasive intervention to normalize DMN functioning in various disorders.
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40
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Ibarra-Lecue I, Haegens S, Harris AZ. Breaking Down a Rhythm: Dissecting the Mechanisms Underlying Task-Related Neural Oscillations. Front Neural Circuits 2022; 16:846905. [PMID: 35310550 PMCID: PMC8931663 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2022.846905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A century worth of research has linked multiple cognitive, perceptual and behavioral states to various brain oscillations. However, the mechanistic roles and circuit underpinnings of these oscillations remain an area of active study. In this review, we argue that the advent of optogenetic and related systems neuroscience techniques has shifted the field from correlational to causal observations regarding the role of oscillations in brain function. As a result, studying brain rhythms associated with behavior can provide insight at different levels, such as decoding task-relevant information, mapping relevant circuits or determining key proteins involved in rhythmicity. We summarize recent advances in this field, highlighting the methods that are being used for this purpose, and discussing their relative strengths and limitations. We conclude with promising future approaches that will help unravel the functional role of brain rhythms in orchestrating the repertoire of complex behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inés Ibarra-Lecue
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.,New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
| | - Saskia Haegens
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.,New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States.,Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Alexander Z Harris
- Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.,New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
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41
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Abstract
Recent studies from the field of interoception have highlighted the link between bodily and neural rhythms during action, perception, and cognition. The mechanisms underlying functional body-brain coupling, however, are poorly understood, as are the ways in which they modulate behavior. We acquired respiration and human magnetoencephalography data from a near-threshold spatial detection task to investigate the trivariate relationship between respiration, neural excitability, and performance. Respiration was found to significantly modulate perceptual sensitivity as well as posterior alpha power (8-13 Hz), a well-established proxy of cortical excitability. In turn, alpha suppression prior to detected versus undetected targets underscored the behavioral benefits of heightened excitability. Notably, respiration-locked excitability changes were maximized at a respiration phase lag of around -30° and thus temporally preceded performance changes. In line with interoceptive inference accounts, these results suggest that respiration actively aligns sampling of sensory information with transient cycles of heightened excitability to facilitate performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel S Kluger
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Elio Balestrieri
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
- Institute of Psychology, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Niko A Busch
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
- Institute of Psychology, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Joachim Gross
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of GlasgowGlasgowUnited Kingdom
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42
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Compton RJ, Jaskir M, Mu J. Effects of post-response arousal on cognitive control: Adaptive or maladaptive? Psychophysiology 2021; 59:e13988. [PMID: 34904230 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether detection of a performance mistake is followed by adaptive or detrimental effects on subsequent attention and performance. Using a Stroop task with spatial cueing, along with simultaneous EEG and pupillary measurements, we examined evidence bearing on two alternative hypotheses: maladaptive arousal and adaptive control. Error detection, indexed by the error-related negativity ERP component, was followed by pupil dilation and suppression of EEG oscillations in the alpha band, two indices of arousal that were associated with one another on a trial-by-trial basis. On the trials following errors, there was neural evidence of enhanced spatial cueing, manifested in greater hemispheric activation contralateral to the cued visual field. However, this post-error enhancement was not followed by changes in Stroop or spatial cueing effects in performance, nor by increased attentional cueing effects in ERP responses to targets. Rather, performance tended to be slower and less accurate following errors compared to correct trials, and higher post-response arousal, indexed by larger pupils, predicted next-trial slowing and decreased P2 amplitude to targets. Results favor the maladaptive arousal account of post-error cognitive control and offer only limited support for adaptive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J Compton
- Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Marc Jaskir
- Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jianing Mu
- Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
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43
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Drew A, Torralba M, Ruzzoli M, Morís Fernández L, Sabaté A, Pápai MS, Soto-Faraco S. Conflict monitoring and attentional adjustment during binocular rivalry. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 55:138-153. [PMID: 34872157 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
To make sense of ambiguous and, at times, fragmentary sensory input, the brain must rely on a process of active interpretation. At any given moment, only one of several possible perceptual representations prevails in our conscious experience. Our hypothesis is that the competition between alternative representations induces a pattern of neural activation resembling cognitive conflict, eventually leading to fluctuations between different perceptual outcomes in the case of steep competition. To test this hypothesis, we probed changes in perceptual awareness between competing images using binocular rivalry. We drew our predictions from the conflict monitoring theory, which holds that cognitive control is invoked by the detection of conflict during information processing. Our results show that fronto-medial theta oscillations (5-7 Hz), an established electroencephalography (EEG) marker of conflict, increases right before perceptual alternations and decreases thereafter, suggesting that conflict monitoring occurs during perceptual competition. Furthermore, to investigate conflict resolution via attentional engagement, we looked for a neural marker of perceptual switches as by parieto-occipital alpha oscillations (8-12 Hz). The power of parieto-occipital alpha displayed an inverse pattern to that of fronto-medial theta, reflecting periods of high interocular inhibition during stable perception, and low inhibition around moments of perceptual change. Our findings aim to elucidate the relationship between conflict monitoring mechanisms and perceptual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Drew
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mireia Torralba
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Manuela Ruzzoli
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.,BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.,Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Luis Morís Fernández
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.,Departamento de Psicología Básica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alba Sabaté
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Márta Szabina Pápai
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Soto-Faraco
- Multisensory Research Group, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.,Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
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44
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Jensen O, Pan Y, Frisson S, Wang L. An oscillatory pipelining mechanism supporting previewing during visual exploration and reading. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 25:1033-1044. [PMID: 34544653 PMCID: PMC7615059 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Humans have a remarkable ability to efficiently explore visual scenes and text using eye movements. Humans typically make eye movements (saccades) every ~250 ms. Since saccade initiation and execution take 100 ms, this leaves only ~150 ms to recognize the fixated object (or word) while simultaneously previewing candidates for the next saccade goal. We propose a pipelining mechanism where serial processing occurs within a specific brain region, whereas parallel processing occurs across different brain regions. The mechanism is timed by alpha oscillations that coordinate the saccades, visual recognition, and previewing in the cortical hierarchy. Consequently, the neuronal mechanism supporting natural vision and saccades must be studied in unison to uncover the brain mechanisms supporting visual exploration and reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ole Jensen
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
| | - Yali Pan
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Steven Frisson
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Lin Wang
- Department of Psychiatry and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
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45
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Ranasinghe KG, Petersen C, Kudo K, Mizuiri D, Rankin KP, Rabinovici GD, Gorno-Tempini ML, Seeley WW, Spina S, Miller BL, Vossel K, Grinberg LT, Nagarajan SS. Reduced synchrony in alpha oscillations during life predicts post mortem neurofibrillary tangle density in early-onset and atypical Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement 2021; 17:2009-2019. [PMID: 33884753 PMCID: PMC8528895 DOI: 10.1002/alz.12349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Neurophysiological manifestations selectively associated with amyloid beta and tau depositions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are useful network biomarkers to identify peptide specific pathological processes. The objective of this study was to validate the associations between reduced neuronal synchrony within alpha oscillations and neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) density in autopsy examination, in patients with AD. METHODS In a well-characterized clinicopathological cohort of AD patients (n = 13), we quantified neuronal synchrony within alpha (8-12 Hz) and delta-theta (2-8 Hz) oscillations, using magnetoencephalography during the disease course, within six selected neocortical and hippocampal regions, including angular gyrus, superior temporal gurus, middle frontal gyrus, primary motor cortex, CA1, and subiculum, and correlated these with regional NFT density quantified at histopathological examination. RESULTS Abnormal synchrony in alpha, but not in delta-theta, significantly predicted the NFT density at post mortem neuropathological examination. DISCUSSION Reduced alpha synchrony is a sensitive neurophysiological index associated with pathological tau, and a potential network biomarker for clinical trials, to gauge the extent of network dysfunction and the degree of rescue in treatments targeting tau pathways in AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamalini G. Ranasinghe
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Cathrine Petersen
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Kiwamu Kudo
- Department Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Medical Imaging Business Center, Ricoh Company, Ltd., Kanazawa, Japan
| | - Danielle Mizuiri
- Department Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Katherine P. Rankin
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Gil D. Rabinovici
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Department Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - William W. Seeley
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Salvatore Spina
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Bruce L. Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Keith Vossel
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Lea T. Grinberg
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA,Department of Pathology, LIM22, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Srikantan S. Nagarajan
- Department Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
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Pixa NH, Hübner L, Kutz DF, Voelcker-Rehage C. A Single Bout of High-Intensity Cardiovascular Exercise Does Not Enhance Motor Performance and Learning of a Visuomotor Force Modulation Task, but Triggers Ipsilateral Task-Related EEG Activity. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021; 18:12512. [PMID: 34886237 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182312512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Acute cardiovascular exercise (aCE) seems to be a promising strategy to improve motor performance and learning. However, results are heterogeneous, and the related neurophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. Oscillatory brain activitiy, such as task-related power (TRPow) in the alpha and beta frequencies, are known neural signatures of motor activity. Here, we tested the effects of aCE on motor performance and learning, along with corresponding modulations in EEG TRPow over the sensorimotor cortex. Forty-five right-handed participants (aged 18-34 years) practiced a visuomotor force-matching (FM) task after either high-intensity (HEG), low-intensity (LEG), or no exercise (control group, CG). Motor performance was assessed immediately, 15 min, 30 min, and 24 h after aCE/control. EEG was measured during the FM task. Results of frequentist and Bayesian statistics revealed that high- and low-intensity aCE had no effect at the behavioral level, adding to the previous mixed results. Interestingly, EEG analyses showed an effect of aCE on the ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex, with a stronger decrease in β-TRPow 15 min after exercise in both groups compared to the CG. Overall, aCE applied before motor practice increased ipsilateral sensorimotor activity, while motor learning was not affected; it remains to be seen whether aCE might affect motor learning in the long run.
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Zhou YJ, Iemi L, Schoffelen JM, de Lange FP, Haegens S. Alpha Oscillations Shape Sensory Representation and Perceptual Sensitivity. J Neurosci 2021; 41:9581-92. [PMID: 34593605 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1114-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Alpha activity (8-14 Hz) is the dominant rhythm in the awake brain and is thought to play an important role in setting the internal state of the brain. Previous work has associated states of decreased alpha power with enhanced neural excitability. However, evidence is mixed on whether and how such excitability enhancement modulates sensory signals of interest versus noise differently, and what, if any, are the consequences for subsequent perception. Here, human subjects (male and female) performed a visual detection task in which we manipulated their decision criteria in a blockwise manner. Although our manipulation led to substantial criterion shifts, these shifts were not reflected in prestimulus alpha band changes. Rather, lower prestimulus alpha power in occipital-parietal areas improved perceptual sensitivity and enhanced information content decodable from neural activity patterns. Additionally, oscillatory alpha phase immediately before stimulus presentation modulated accuracy. Together, our results suggest that alpha band dynamics modulate sensory signals of interest more strongly than noise.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The internal state of our brain fluctuates, giving rise to variability in perception and action. Neural oscillations, most prominently in the alpha band, have been suggested to play a role in setting this internal state. Here, we show that ongoing alpha band activity in occipital-parietal regions predicts the quality of visual information decodable in neural activity patterns and subsequently the human observer's sensitivity in a visual detection task. Our results provide comprehensive evidence that visual representation is modulated by ongoing alpha band activity and advance our understanding on how, when faced with unchanging external stimuli, internal neural fluctuations influence perception and behavior.
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48
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Markiewicz R, Segaert K, Mazaheri A. How the healthy ageing brain supports semantic binding during language comprehension. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:7899-7917. [PMID: 34779069 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Semantic binding refers to constructing complex meaning based on elementary building blocks. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated the age-related changes in modulations of oscillatory brain activity supporting lexical retrieval and semantic binding. Young and older adult participants were visually presented two-word phrases, which for the first word revealed a lexical retrieval signature (e.g., swift vs. swrfeq) and for the second word revealed a semantic binding signature (e.g., horse in a semantic binding "swift horse" vs. no binding "swrfeq horse" context). The oscillatory brain activity associated with lexical retrieval as well as semantic binding significantly differed between healthy older and young adults. Specifically for lexical retrieval, we found that different age groups exhibited opposite patterns of theta and alpha modulation, which as a combined picture suggest that lexical retrieval is associated with different and delayed signatures in older compared with young adults. For semantic binding, in young adults, we found a signature in the low-beta range centred around the target word onset (i.e., a smaller low-beta increase for binding relative to no binding), whereas in healthy older adults, we found an opposite binding signature about ~500 ms later in the low- and high-beta range (i.e., a smaller low- and high-beta decrease for binding relative to no binding). The novel finding of a different and delayed oscillatory signature for semantic binding in healthy older adults reflects that the integration of word meaning into the semantic context takes longer and relies on different mechanisms in healthy older compared with young adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roksana Markiewicz
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.,Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Katrien Segaert
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.,Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.,Centre for Developmental Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Ali Mazaheri
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.,Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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49
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Li LY, Schiffman J, Hu DK, Lopour BA, Martin EA. An Effortful Approach to Social Affiliation in Schizophrenia: Preliminary Evidence of Increased Theta and Alpha Connectivity during a Live Social Interaction. Brain Sci 2021; 11:1346. [PMID: 34679410 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11101346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
People with schizophrenia often experience a profound lack of motivation for social affiliation—a facet of negative symptoms that detrimentally impairs functioning. However, the mechanisms underlying social affiliative deficits remain poorly understood, particularly under realistic social contexts. Here, we investigated subjective reports and electroencephalography (EEG) functional connectivity in schizophrenia during a live social interaction. Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 29) completed a face-to-face interaction with a confederate while having EEG recorded. Participants were randomly assigned to either a Closeness condition designed to elicit feelings of closeness through self-disclosure or a Small-Talk condition with minimal disclosure. Compared to controls, patients reported lower positive emotional experiences and feelings of closeness across conditions, but they showed comparably greater subjective affiliative responses for the Closeness (vs. Small-Talk) condition. Additionally, patients in the Closeness (vs. Small-Talk) condition displayed a global increase in connectivity in theta and alpha frequency bands that was not observed for controls. Importantly, greater theta and alpha connectivity was associated with greater subjective affiliative responding, greater negative symptoms, and lower disorganized symptoms in patients. Collectively, findings indicate that patients, because of pronounced negative symptoms, utilized a less efficient, top-down mediated strategy to process social affiliation.
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50
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De Groote E, Eqlimi E, Bockstael A, Botteldooren D, Santens P, De Letter M. Parkinson's disease affects the neural alpha oscillations associated with speech-in-noise processing. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 54:7355-7376. [PMID: 34617350 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) has increasingly been associated with auditory dysfunction, including alterations regarding the control of auditory information processing. Although these alterations may interfere with the processing of speech in degraded listening conditions, behavioural studies have generally found preserved speech-in-noise recognition in PD. However, behavioural speech audiometry does not capture the neurophysiological mechanisms supporting speech-in-noise processing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the neural oscillatory mechanisms associated with speech-in-noise processing in PD. Twelve persons with PD and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. Persons with PD were studied in the medication off condition. All subjects underwent an audiometric screening and performed a sentence-in-noise recognition task under simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Behavioural speech recognition scores and self-reported ratings of effort, performance, and motivation were collected. Time-frequency analysis of EEG data revealed no significant difference between persons with PD and HCs regarding delta-theta (2-8 Hz) inter-trial phase coherence to noise and sentence onset. In contrast, significantly increased alpha (8-12 Hz) power was found in persons with PD compared with HCs during the sentence-in-noise recognition task. Behaviourally, persons with PD demonstrated significantly decreased speech recognition scores, whereas no significant differences were found regarding effort, performance, and motivation ratings. These results suggest that persons with PD allocate more cognitive resources to support speech-in-noise processing. The interpretation of this finding is discussed in the context of a top-down mediated compensation mechanism for inefficient filtering and degradation of auditory input in PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelien De Groote
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, BrainComm Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Ehsan Eqlimi
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Annelies Bockstael
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dick Botteldooren
- Department of Information Technology, WAVES Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Patrick Santens
- Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Miet De Letter
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, BrainComm Research Group, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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