Beta oscillations and reward processing: Coupling oscillatory activity and hemodynamic responses

AbstractBeta oscillatory activity (13-30Hz) is pervasive within the cortico-basal ganglia (CBG) network. Studies in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and animal models suggested that beta-power increases with dopamine depletion. However, the exact relationship between oscillatory power, frequency and dopamine-tone remains unclear. We recorded neural activity in the CBG network of non-human-primates (NHP) while acutely up- and down-modulating dopamine levels. Further, we assessed changes in beta oscillations of PD patients following acute and chronic changes in dopamine-tone. Beta oscillation frequency was strongly coupled with dopamine-tone in both NHPs and human patients. In contrast, power, coherence between single-units and LFP, and spike-LFP phase-locking were not systematically regulated by dopamine levels. These results demonstrate via causal manipulations that frequency, rather than other properties, is the key property of pathological oscillations in the CBG networks. These insights can lead to improvements in understanding of CBG physiology, PD progression tracking and patient care.

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Brain Networks Related to Beta Oscillatory Activity during Episodic Memory Retrieval

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01194 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 174-187 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Erika Nyhus

Keyword(s):

Frontal Cortex ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Episodic Retrieval ◽

Beta Oscillations ◽

New Words ◽

Memory Suppression ◽

Frontoparietal Network ◽

Beta Power ◽

Place Task ◽

The Right

Evidence from fMRI has consistently located a widespread network of frontal, parietal, and temporal lobe regions during episodic retrieval. However, the temporal limitations of the fMRI methodology have made it difficult to assess the transient network dynamics by which these distributed regions coordinate activity. Recent evidence suggests that beta oscillations (17–20 Hz) are important for top–down control for memory suppression. However, the spatial limitations of the EEG methodology make it difficult to assess the relationship between these oscillatory signals and the distributed networks identified with fMRI. This study used simultaneous EEG/fMRI to identify networks related to beta oscillations during episodic retrieval. Participants studied adjectives and either imagined a scene (Place Task) or judged its pleasantness (Pleasant Task). During the recognition test, participants decided which task was performed with each word (“Old Place Task” or “Old Pleasant Task”) or “New.” EEG results revealed that posterior beta power was greater for new than old words. fMRI results revealed activity in a frontal, parietal network that was greater for old than new words, consistent with prior studies. Although overall beta power increases correlated with decreased activity within a predominantly parietal network, within the right dorsolateral and ventrolateral pFC, beta power correlated with BOLD activity more under conditions requiring more cognitive control and EEG/fMRI effects in the right frontal cortex correlated with BOLD activity in a frontoparietal network. Therefore, using simultaneous EEG and fMRI, the present results suggest that beta oscillations are related to postretrieval control operations in the right frontal cortex and act within a broader postretrieval control network.

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Beta band oscillations in motor cortex reflect neural population signals that delay movement onset

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.24573 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Preeya Khanna ◽

Jose M Carmena

Keyword(s):

Motor Cortex ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Neural Population ◽

Beta Band ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Movement Onset ◽

Beta Oscillations ◽

Beta Power ◽

Oscillatory Power

Motor cortical beta oscillations have been reported for decades, yet their behavioral correlates remain unresolved. Some studies link beta oscillations to changes in underlying neural activity, but the specific behavioral manifestations of these reported changes remain elusive. To investigate how changes in population neural activity, beta oscillations, and behavior are linked, we recorded multi-scale neural activity from motor cortex while three macaques performed a novel neurofeedback task. Subjects volitionally brought their beta oscillatory power to an instructed state and subsequently executed an arm reach. Reaches preceded by a reduction in beta power exhibited significantly faster movement onset times than reaches preceded by an increase in beta power. Further, population neural activity was found to shift farther from a movement onset state during beta oscillations that were neurofeedback-induced or naturally occurring during reaching tasks. This finding establishes a population neural basis for slowed movement onset following periods of beta oscillatory activity.

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The Effect of Brand on EEG Modulation

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185/a000088 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 71 (4) ◽

pp. 199-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Claudio Lucchiari ◽

Gabriella Pravettoni

Keyword(s):

Healthy Subjects ◽

Mineral Water ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Beta Activity ◽

Brand Attachment ◽

Time Frequency ◽

Brand Evaluation ◽

Brain Responses ◽

The Impact

Consumers often develop close relationships with their preferred brands and goods. To achieve marketing goals, companies need to develop in customers a positive brand attachment. When they succeed, the brand is immediately recognized, it elicits specific responses, and it becomes more difficult to be replaced by competitors. Previous studies have suggested the existence of a relationship between brand evaluation and a reward-related functional circuit. The present study measured brain responses to different brands of mineral water. In particular, we were interested in analyzing the impact of brand attachment on brain modulation. We hypothesized that brand evaluation would be associated with reward processing, and that brain oscillatory activity would be modulated by different expectations based on previous experience. Time-frequency analyses of EEG oscillatory activity were performed on 26 healthy subjects (13 males and 13 females) during water intake of differently labeled glasses of mineral water. Our results confirmed that brand processing is related to activity of the frontocentral reward-related network. Beta activity seems to be modulated by the experience of pleasure associated with a favorite brand, while theta modulation seems to reflect the lack of this experience. In conclusion, our study showed how exposure to a brand can affect EEG modulation. Additionally, we confirmed a possible relationship between brand evaluation and reward processing.

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#3097 Temporal and spectral dynamics of reward and risk processing in the amygdala revealed with stereo-EEG recordings in epilepsy

Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry ◽

10.1136/jnnp-2021-bnpa.12 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 92 (8) ◽

pp. A4.2-A5

Author(s):

Luis Manssuer ◽

Ding Qiong ◽

Yijie Zhao ◽

Rocky Yang ◽

ChenCheng Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Spectral Characteristics ◽

Learning Task ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Subsequent Response ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Monetary Incentive Delay ◽

Eeg Recordings

Objectives/AimsTo examine the temporal and spectral characteristics of local field potentials recorded from the amygdala in epilepsy in the context of the anticipation and receipt of rewards and losses using an incentive learning task and a risky decision-making task.Methods16 Epilepsy patients completed two tasks. In the monetary incentive delay (MID) task, patients saw reward and loss cues which indicated whether money could be won or lost depending on whether a subsequent response was or was not quick/accurate enough, respectively. This was compared with neutral cues where responses were neither rewarded nor punished regardless of response.In the risk task, patients were presented with two face down cards with values ranging from 1 to 10. When the first card is revealed, patients have to choose whether to bet or not bet that the second card is higher. After the card is revealed, patients receive a monetary reward if it is higher and a loss if it is lower. If patients do not bet, they receive nothing.ResultsIn both tasks, patients showed larger left amygdala theta band oscillatory activity to the receipt of monetary rewards compared to no money. In contrast, there were no significant responses to monetary losses. During the decision phase of the risk task, there was increased theta activity when patients chose to bet instead of not betting and when the decision had low risk (card <= 5) compared to high risk (card above 5). There were no effects of uncertainty.ConclusionsThe combined results of these two studies embellish our understanding of the role of the amygdala in motivation and decision-making processes and lend further support for its role in reward related processes rather than its often cited fear-related functions (Baxter & Murray, 2002; Murray, 2007). Theta activation is linked to cognitive processes in frontal cortices and coupled to MTL activity (Helfrich & Knight, 2016). As left amygdala theta activation was only recruited when patients were making their bet and not just anticipating reward, the pattern of results lend support to its role in cognition-emotion interactions specific to risk and reward but not uncertainty. Indeed, the hemispheric asymmetry is highly consistent with EEG studies showing left prefrontal dominance in reward processing (Manssuer et al., 2021).

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Basal ganglia beta oscillations during sleep underlie Parkinsonian insomnia

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2001560117 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (29) ◽

pp. 17359-17368

Author(s):

Aviv D. Mizrahi-Kliger ◽

Alexander Kaplan ◽

Zvi Israel ◽

Marc Deffains ◽

Hagai Bergman

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Sleep Onset ◽

Nrem Sleep ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Beta Activity ◽

Beta Oscillations ◽

Multiple Electrodes ◽

Normal Sleep ◽

Delayed Sleep ◽

Beta Oscillation

Sleep disorders are among the most debilitating comorbidities of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and affect the majority of patients. Of these, the most common is insomnia, the difficulty to initiate and maintain sleep. The degree of insomnia correlates with PD severity and it responds to treatments that decrease pathological basal ganglia (BG) beta oscillations (10–17 Hz in primates), suggesting that beta activity in the BG may contribute to insomnia. We used multiple electrodes to record BG spiking and field potentials during normal sleep and in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinsonism in nonhuman primates. MPTP intoxication resulted in severe insomnia with delayed sleep onset, sleep fragmentation, and increased wakefulness. Insomnia was accompanied by the onset of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep beta oscillations that were synchronized across the BG and cerebral cortex. The BG beta oscillatory activity was associated with a decrease in slow oscillations (0.1–2 Hz) throughout the cortex, and spontaneous awakenings were preceded by an increase in BG beta activity and cortico-BG beta coherence. Finally, the increase in beta oscillations in the basal ganglia during sleep paralleled decreased NREM sleep, increased wakefulness, and more frequent awakenings. These results identify NREM sleep beta oscillation in the BG as a neural correlate of PD insomnia and suggest a mechanism by which this disorder could emerge.

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Modulation of dopamine tone induces frequency shifts in cortico-basal ganglia beta oscillations

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-27375-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

L. Iskhakova ◽

P. Rappel ◽

M. Deffains ◽

G. Fonar ◽

O. Marmor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Phase Locking ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Dopamine Depletion ◽

Beta Oscillations ◽

Strongly Coupled ◽

Beta Power ◽

Oscillatory Power ◽

Phase Amplitude ◽

Beta Frequency

AbstractΒeta oscillatory activity (human: 13–35 Hz; primate: 8–24 Hz) is pervasive within the cortex and basal ganglia. Studies in Parkinson’s disease patients and animal models suggest that beta-power increases with dopamine depletion. However, the exact relationship between oscillatory power, frequency and dopamine tone remains unclear. We recorded neural activity in the cortex and basal ganglia of healthy non-human primates while acutely and chronically up- and down-modulating dopamine levels. We assessed changes in beta oscillations in patients with Parkinson’s following acute and chronic changes in dopamine tone. Here we show beta oscillation frequency is strongly coupled with dopamine tone in both monkeys and humans. Power, coherence between single-units and local field potentials (LFP), spike-LFP phase-locking, and phase-amplitude coupling are not systematically regulated by dopamine levels. These results demonstrate that beta frequency is a key property of pathological oscillations in cortical and basal ganglia networks.

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