Changes in spontaneous neural activity immediately after an acoustic trauma: implications for neural correlates of tinnitus

2003 ◽  
Vol 183 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Noreña ◽  
J.J. Eggermont
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soren Wainio-Theberge ◽  
Annemarie Wolff ◽  
Georg Northoff

AbstractSpontaneous neural activity fluctuations have been shown to influence trial-by-trial variation in perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. However, the complex electrophysiological mechanisms by which these fluctuations shape stimulus-evoked neural activity remain largely to be explored. Employing a large-scale magnetoencephalographic dataset and an electroencephalographic replication dataset, we investigate the relationship between spontaneous and evoked neural activity across a range of electrophysiological variables. We observe that for high-frequency activity, high pre-stimulus amplitudes lead to greater evoked desynchronization, while for low frequencies, high pre-stimulus amplitudes induce larger degrees of event-related synchronization. We further decompose electrophysiological power into oscillatory and scale-free components, demonstrating different patterns of spontaneous-evoked correlation for each component. Finally, we find correlations between spontaneous and evoked time-domain electrophysiological signals. Overall, we demonstrate that the dynamics of multiple electrophysiological variables exhibit distinct relationships between their spontaneous and evoked activity, a result which carries implications for experimental design and analysis in non-invasive electrophysiology.


2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1641) ◽  
pp. 20130211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Blake ◽  
Jan Brascamp ◽  
David J. Heeger

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry's impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256791
Author(s):  
Daichi Konno ◽  
Shinji Nishimoto ◽  
Takafumi Suzuki ◽  
Yuji Ikegaya ◽  
Nobuyoshi Matsumoto

The brain continuously produces internal activity in the absence of afferently salient sensory input. Spontaneous neural activity is intrinsically defined by circuit structures and associated with the mode of information processing and behavioral responses. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of spontaneous activity in the visual cortices of behaving animals remain almost elusive. Using a custom-made electrode array, we recorded 32-site electrocorticograms in the primary and secondary visual cortex of freely behaving rats and determined the propagation patterns of spontaneous neural activity. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction and unsupervised clustering revealed multiple discrete states of the activity patterns. The activity remained stable in one state and suddenly jumped to another state. The diversity and dynamics of the internally switching cortical states would imply flexibility of neural responses to various external inputs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yashar Zeighami ◽  
Sylvain Iceta ◽  
Mahsa Dadar ◽  
Mélissa Pelletier ◽  
Mélanie Nadeau ◽  
...  

1.AbstractBackgroundMetabolic disorders associated with obesity could lead to alterations in brain structure and function. Whether these changes can be reversed after weight loss is unclear. Bariatric surgery provides a unique opportunity to address these questions because it induces marked weight loss and metabolic improvements which in turn may impact the brain in a longitudinal fashion. Previous studies found widespread changes in grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) after bariatric surgery. However, findings regarding changes in spontaneous neural activity following surgery, as assessed with the fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and regional homogeneity of neural activity (ReHo), are scarce and heterogenous. In this study, we used a longitudinal design to examine the changes in spontaneous neural activity after bariatric surgery (comparing pre- to post-surgery), and to determine whether these changes are related to cardiometabolic variables.MethodsThe study included 57 participants with severe obesity (mean BMI=43.1±4.3kg/m2) who underwent sleeve gastrectomy (SG), biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch (BPD), or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), scanned prior to bariatric surgery and at follow-up visits of 4 months (N=36), 12 months (N=29), and 24 months (N=14) after surgery. We examined fALFF and ReHo measures across 1022 cortical and subcortical regions (based on combined Schaeffer-Xiao parcellations) using a linear mixed effect model. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based on T1-weighted images was also used to measure GM density in the same regions. We also used an independent sample from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to assess regional differences between individuals who had normal-weight (N=46) or severe obesity (N=46).ResultsWe found a global increase in the fALFF signal with greater increase within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, precuneus, inferior temporal gyrus, and visual cortex. This effect was more significant 4 months after surgery. The increase within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, temporal gyrus, and visual cortex was more limited after 12 months and only present in the visual cortex after 24 months. These increases in neural activity measured by fALFF were also significantly associated with the increase in GM density following surgery. Furthermore, the increase in neural activity was significantly related to post-surgery weight loss and improvement in cardiometabolic variables, such as insulin resistance index and blood pressure. In the independent HCP sample, normal-weight participants had higher global and regional fALFF signals, mainly in dorsolateral/medial frontal cortex, precuneus and middle/inferior temporal gyrus compared to the obese participants. These BMI-related differences in fALFF were associated with the increase in fALFF 4 months post-surgery especially in regions involved in control, default mode and dorsal attention networks.ConclusionsBariatric surgery-induced weight loss and improvement in metabolic factors are associated with widespread global and regional increases in neural activity, as measured by fALFF signal. These findings alongside the higher fALFF signal in normal-weight participants compared to participants with severe obesity in an independent dataset suggest an early recovery in the neural activity signal level after the surgery.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chisa Ota ◽  
Tamami Nakano

AbstractBeauty filters, while often employed for retouching photos to appear more attractive on social media, when used in excess cause images to give a distorted impression. The neural mechanisms underlying this change in facial attractiveness according to beauty retouching level remain unknown. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in women as they viewed photos of their own face or unknown faces that had been retouched at three levels: no, mild, and extreme. The activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA) exhibited a positive correlation with facial attractiveness, whereas amygdala activity showed a negative correlation with attractiveness. Even though the participants rated others’ faces as more attractive than their own, the NA showed increased activity only for their mildly retouched own face and the amygdala exhibited greater activation in the others’ faces condition than the own face condition. Moreover, amygdala activity was greater for extremely retouched faces than for unretouched or mildly retouched faces for both conditions. Frontotemporal and cortical midline areas showed greater activation for one’s own than others’ faces, but such self-related activation was absent when extremely retouched. These results suggest that neural activity dynamically switches between the NA and amygdala according to perceived attractiveness of one’s face.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxian Zhang ◽  
Huayun Li ◽  
Qinyan Xu ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives In this study, we aimed to investigate the spontaneous neural activity in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz) and two sub-frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz, and slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz) in tension-type headache (TTH) patients with regional homogeneity (ReHo) analyses. Methods Thirty-eight TTH patients and thirty-eight healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) scanning to investigate abnormal spontaneous neural activity using ReHo analysis in conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz) and two sub-frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz and slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz). Results In comparison with the HC group, patients with TTH exhibited ReHo increases in the right medial superior frontal gyrus in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz). The between group differences in the slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz) highly resembled the differences in the conventional frequency band (0.01−0.08 Hz); even the voxels with increased ReHo were spatially more extensive, including the right medial superior frontal gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus. In contrast, no region showed significant between-group differences in the slow-4 band (0.027–0.073 Hz). The correlation analyses showed no correlation between the ReHo values in TTH patients and VAS scores, course of disease and number of seizures per month in conventional band (0.01−0.08 Hz), slow-4 band (0.027–0.073 Hz), as well as in slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz). Conclusions The results showed that the superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus were involved in the integration and processing of pain signals. In addition, the abnormal spontaneous neural activity in TTH patients was frequency-specific. Namely, slow-5 band (0.01–0.027 Hz) might contain additional useful information in comparison to slow-4 band (0.027−0.073 Hz). This preliminary exploration might provide an objective imaging basis for the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanism of TTH.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Chen ◽  
Qian Wu ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Jiang Zhou ◽  
Huan-Huan Chen ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to investigate the brain functional alteration in patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) by evaluating the spontaneous neural activity changes using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) with the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method.Materials and MethodsThe rs-fMRI data of 30 TAO patients (15 active and 15 inactive) and 15 healthy controls (HCs) were included for analyses. The ALFF values were calculated and compared among groups. Correlations between ALFF values and clinical metrics were assessed.ResultsCompared with HCs, active TAOs showed significantly decreased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, and cuneus. Compared with inactive TAOs, active TAOs showed significantly increased ALFF values in the bilateral precuneus. Additionally, inactive TAOs showed significantly decreased ALFF values in the left middle occipital gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, cuneus, and bilateral precuneus than HCs. The ALFF value in the right precuneus of TAOs was positively correlated with clinical activity score (r = 0.583, P < 0.001) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (r = 0.377, P = 0.040), and negatively correlated with disease duration (r = −0.382, P = 0.037). Moreover, the ALFF value in the left middle occipital gyrus of TAOs was positively correlated with visual acuity (r = 0.441, P = 0.015).ConclusionTAO patients had altered spontaneous brain activities in the left occipital lobe and bilateral precuneus. The neuropsychological aspect of the disease should be noticed during clinical diagnosis and treatment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Judith Reinhard ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley

Sensory information is initially registered within anatomically and functionally segregated brain networks but is also integrated across modalities in higher cortical areas. Although considerable research has focused on uncovering the neural correlates of multisensory integration for the modalities of vision, audition, and touch, much less attention has been devoted to understanding interactions between vision and olfaction in humans. In this study, we asked how odors affect neural activity evoked by images of familiar visual objects associated with characteristic smells. We employed scalp-recorded EEG to measure visual ERPs evoked by briefly presented pictures of familiar objects, such as an orange, mint leaves, or a rose. During presentation of each visual stimulus, participants inhaled either a matching odor, a nonmatching odor, or plain air. The N1 component of the visual ERP was significantly enhanced for matching odors in women, but not in men. This is consistent with evidence that women are superior in detecting, discriminating, and identifying odors and that they have a higher gray matter concentration in olfactory areas of the OFC. We conclude that early visual processing is influenced by olfactory cues because of associations between odors and the objects that emit them, and that these associations are stronger in women than in men.


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