Brain networks underlying the processing of sound symbolism related to softness perception

AbstractUnlike the assumption of modern linguistics, there is non-arbitrary association between sound and meaning in sound symbolic words. Neuroimaging studies have suggested the unique contribution of the superior temporal sulcus to the processing of sound symbolism. However, because these findings are limited to the mapping between sound symbolism and visually presented objects, the processing of sound symbolic information may also involve the sensory-modality dependent mechanisms. Here, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment to test whether the brain regions engaged in the tactile processing of object properties are also involved in mapping sound symbolic information with tactually perceived object properties. Thirty-two healthy subjects conducted a matching task in which they judged the congruency between softness perceived by touch and softness associated with sound symbolic words. Congruency effect was observed in the orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, medial superior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and cerebellum. This effect in the insula and medial superior frontal gyri was overlapped with softness-related activity that was separately measured in the same subjects in the tactile experiment. These results indicate that the insula and medial superior frontal gyrus play a role in processing sound symbolic information and relating it to the tactile softness information.

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Differential Influences of Emotion, Task, and Novelty on Brain Regions Underlying the Processing of Speech Melody

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21099 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (7) ◽

pp. 1255-1268 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

Thomas Ethofer ◽

Benjamin Kreifelts ◽

Sarah Wiethoff ◽

Jonathan Wolf ◽

Wolfgang Grodd ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Critical Role ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Emotional Information ◽

Imaging Experiment ◽

Word Classification ◽

The Right ◽

Speech Melody

We investigated the functional characteristics of brain regions implicated in processing of speech melody by presenting words spoken in either neutral or angry prosody during a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment using a factorial habituation design. Subjects judged either affective prosody or word class for these vocal stimuli, which could be heard for either the first, second, or third time. Voice-sensitive temporal cortices, as well as the amygdala, insula, and mediodorsal thalami, reacted stronger to angry than to neutral prosody. These stimulus-driven effects were not influenced by the task, suggesting that these brain structures are automatically engaged during processing of emotional information in the voice and operate relatively independent of cognitive demands. By contrast, the right middle temporal gyrus and the bilateral orbito-frontal cortices (OFC) responded stronger during emotion than word classification, but were also sensitive to anger expressed by the voices, suggesting that some perceptual aspects of prosody are also encoded within these regions subserving explicit processing of vocal emotion. The bilateral OFC showed a selective modulation by emotion and repetition, with particularly pronounced responses to angry prosody during the first presentation only, indicating a critical role of the OFC in detection of vocal information that is both novel and behaviorally relevant. These results converge with previous findings obtained for angry faces and suggest a general involvement of the OFC for recognition of anger irrespective of the sensory modality. Taken together, our study reveals that different aspects of voice stimuli and perceptual demands modulate distinct areas involved in the processing of emotional prosody.

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Altered spontaneous activity in the frontal gyrus in dry eye: a resting-state functional MRI study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-92199-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kang Yu ◽

Yu Guo ◽

Qian-Ming Ge ◽

Ting Su ◽

Wen-Qing Shi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dry Eye ◽

Roc Analysis ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Characteristic Curve ◽

Depressive Mood ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Middle Frontal Gyrus ◽

Superior Frontal Gyrus ◽

The Relationship

AbstractThis study investigated neurologic changes in patients with dry eye (DE) by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and to used regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis to clarify the relationship between these changes and clinical features of DE. A total of 28 patients with DE and 28 matched healthy control (HC) subjects (10 males and 18 females in each group) were enrolled. fMRI scans were performed in both groups. We carried out ReHo analysis to assess differences in neural activity between the 2 groups, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the performance of ReHo values of specific brain areas in distinguishing DE patients from HCs. The relationship between average ReHo values and clinical characteristics was assessed by correlation analysis. ReHo values of the middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus were significantly lower in DE patients compared to HCs. The ROC analysis showed that ReHo value had high accuracy in distinguishing between DE patients and HCs (P < 0.0001). The ReHo values of the middle frontal gyrus and dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus were correlated to disease duration (P < 0.05). Symptoms of ocular surface injury in DE patients are associated with dysfunction in specific brain regions, which may underlie the cognitive impairment, psychiatric symptoms, and depressive mood observed in DE patients. The decreased ReHo values of some brain gyri in this study may provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and determination of treatment efficacy.

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The Cortical Organization of Writing Sequence: Evidence From Observing Chinese Characters in Motion

10.21203/rs.3.rs-285417/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zhaoqi Zhang ◽

Qiming Yuan ◽

Zeping Liu ◽

Man Zhang ◽

Junjie Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Chinese Character ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Hierarchical Control ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Brain Network ◽

Equation Model ◽

Chinese Characters ◽

General Motor ◽

The Right

Abstract Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model (euSEM). We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.

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Framing and Self-Responsibility Modulate Brain Activities in Decision Escalation

10.21203/rs.2.24818/v4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ting-Peng Liang ◽

Yuwen Li ◽

Nai-Shing Yen ◽

Ofir Turel ◽

Sen-Mou Hsu

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Two Factors ◽

Human Decision

Abstract Background: Escalation of commitment is a common bias in human decision making. The present study examined (1) differences in neural recruitment for escalation and de-escalation decisions of prior investments, and (2) how the activations of these brain networks are modulated by two factors that are often argued to modulate the behavior: (i) self-responsibility, and (ii) framing of the success probabilities. Results: Imaging data were obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applied to 29 participants. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare brain activations between conditions. ROI analysis, then, was used to examine if these significant activations were modulated by two contextual factors. Finally, mediation analysis was applied to explore how the contextual factors affect escalation decisions through brain activations. The findings showed that (1) escalation decisions are faster than de-escalation decisions, (2) the corresponding network of brain regions recruited for escalation (anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precuneus) decisions differs from this recruited for de-escalation decisions (inferior and superior frontal gyri), (3) the switch from escalation to de-escalation is primarily frontal gyri dependent, and (4) activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precuneus were further increased in escalation decisions, when the outcome probabilities of the follow-up investment were positively framed; and activation in the inferior and superior frontal gyri in de-escalation decisions were increased when the outcome probabilities were negatively framed. Conclusions: Escalation and de-escalation decisions recruit different brain regions. Framing of possible outcomes as negative leads to escalation decisions through recruitment of the inferior frontal gyrus. Responsibility for decisions affects escalation decisions through recruitment of the superior (inferior) gyrus, when the decision is framed positively (negatively).

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Abnormal Degree Centrality in the Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus During Urine Holding in Children With Primary Monosymptomatic Nocturnal Enuresis

10.21203/rs.3.rs-153738/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mengxing Wang ◽

Xiangyu Zheng ◽

Zhaoxia Qin ◽

Jun Ma ◽

Xiaoxia Du

Keyword(s):

Nocturnal Enuresis ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Degree Centrality ◽

Healthy Children ◽

Bladder Control ◽

Monosymptomatic Nocturnal Enuresis ◽

Urine Storage ◽

The Right ◽

Primary Monosymptomatic Nocturnal Enuresis

Abstract Background: Primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE) is a common disorder among school-age children. Previous research has suggested that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential to maintain urine storage in bladder control. We hypothesized that children with PMNE have functional deficits in several brain regions, especially the PFC, during urine storage. In this work, we investigated 30 children with PMNE and 28 controls in a state of natural urine holding to evaluate dysfunction in the bladder control network by applying degree centrality (DC) analysis methods based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. And seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis was used to investigate whether the dysfunctional areas exhibited altered FC with other brain regions.Results: Compared with the typical healthy children, the children with PMNE showed increased DC in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Also, the right IFG showed increased connectivity with the left middle and inferior frontal gyri and the right precuneus extending to the cuneus in the children with PMNE.Conclusion: The children with PMNE showed abnormal neural activity during urine storage and exhibited increased DC in the right IFG and increased connectivity with the left PFC and right precuneus during urine storage. These results suggest that compensatory effects may be associated with the right IFG combined with the precuneus and left PFC working together to maintain high vigilance and improve micturition's inhibition function to preserve the state of urine holding in children with PMNE.

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Linking the association between circRNAs and Alzheimer’s disease progression by multi-tissue circular RNA characterization

10.1101/2019.12.31.892026 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

IJu Lo ◽

Jamie Hill ◽

Bjarni J. Vilhjálmsson ◽

Jørgen Kjems

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Circular Rna ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽

Circular Rnas ◽

Cognitive Disability ◽

Anterior Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Progressive Course

AbstractAlzheimer’s Disease (AD) has devastating consequences for patients during its slow, progressive course. It is important to understand the pathology of AD onset. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been found to participate in many human diseases including cancers and neurodegenerative conditions. In this study, we mined the published dataset on the AMP-AD Knowledge Portal from the Mount Sinai Brain Bank (MSBB) to describe the circRNA profiles at different AD stage in brain samples from four AD patients brain regions, anterior prefrontal cortex, superior temporal lobe, parahippocampal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus. We found in total 147 circRNAs to be differentially expressed (DE) during AD progression in the four regions. We also characterized the mRNA-circRNA co-expression network and annotated the potential function of circRNAs based on the co-expressed modules. Based on our results, we propose that parahippocampal gyrus is the most circRNA-regulated region during the AD progression. The strongest negatively AD stage-correlated module in parahippocampal gyrus were enriched in cognitive disability and pathological-associated pathways such as synapse organization and regulation of membrane potential. Finally, the regression model based on the expression pattern of DE circRNAs in the module could help to distinguish the disease severity of patients, further supported the importance of circRNAs in AD pathology. In conclusion, our finding indicates that circRNAs in parahippocampal gyrus are possible regulators of AD progression and potentially be a therapeutic target or of AD.

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Brain Activation of College Students in China With Premenstrual Syndrome Localized by BOLD-fMRI

10.21203/rs.3.rs-568217/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dongmei Gao ◽

Mingzhou Gao ◽

Li An ◽

Yanhong Yu ◽

Jieqiong Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Premenstrual Syndrome ◽

Brain Area ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Anterior Lobe ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Cerebellar Tonsil ◽

Bold Fmri ◽

Significant Difference

Abstract Background: Most studies on the mechanism behind premenstrual syndrome (PMS) have focused on fluctuating hormones, but little evidence exists regarding functional abnormalities in the affected brain regions of college students. Thus, the aim of this study is to localize PMS's abnormal brain regions by BOLD-fMRI in college students.Methods: Thirteen PMS patients and fifteen healthy control (HC) subjects underwent a BOLD-fMRI scan during the luteal phase induced by depressive emotion pictures. The BOLD-fMRI data were processed by SPM 8 software and rest software based on MATLAB platform. Each cluster volume threshold (cluster) was greater than 389 continuous voxels, and the brain area with single voxel threshold P < 0.05 (after correction) was defined as the area with a significant difference. The emotion report form and the instruction implementation checklist were used to evaluate the emotion induced by picture.Results: Compared to the HC, right inferior occipital gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, right lingual gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, cerebelum_crus1_R，cerebelum_6_R, culmen, the cerebellum anterior lobe, tuber, cerebellar tonsil of PMS patients were enhanced activation. Sub-lobar，sub-gyral，extra-nuclear，right orbit part of superior frontal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, right Orbit part of inferior frontal gyrus, limbic lobe, right insula, bilateral anterior and adjacent cingulate gyrus, bilateral caudate, caudate head, bilateral putamen, left globus pallidus were decreased activation.Conclusion: Our findings may improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in PMS.

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Choosing to view morbid information involves reward circuitry

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-71662-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Suzanne Oosterwijk ◽

Lukas Snoek ◽

Jurriaan Tekoppele ◽

Lara H. Engelbert ◽

H. Steven Scholte

Keyword(s):

Neural Circuits ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Viewing Condition ◽

Verbal Cues ◽

Negative Image ◽

Reward Circuitry ◽

Starting Point ◽

Passive Viewing

Abstract People often seek out stories, videos or images that detail death, violence or harm. Considering the ubiquity of this behavior, it is surprising that we know very little about the neural circuits involved in choosing negative information. Using fMRI, the present study shows that choosing intensely negative stimuli engages similar brain regions as those that support extrinsic incentives and “regular” curiosity. Participants made choices to view negative and positive images, based on negative (e.g., a soldier kicks a civilian against his head) and positive (e.g., children throw flower petals at a wedding) verbal cues. We hypothesized that the conflicting, but relatively informative act of choosing to view a negative image, resulted in stronger activation of reward circuitry as opposed to the relatively uncomplicated act of choosing to view a positive stimulus. Indeed, as preregistered, we found that choosing negative cues was associated with activation of the striatum, inferior frontal gyrus, anterior insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, both when contrasting against a passive viewing condition, and when contrasting against positive cues. These findings nuance models of decision-making, valuation and curiosity, and are an important starting point when considering the value of seeking out negative content.

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Computational framework for detection of subtypes of neuropsychiatric disorders based on DTI-derived anatomical connectivity

The Neuroradiology Journal ◽

10.1177/1971400920950694 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 393-399

Author(s):

Rong Chen ◽

Kyunghun Lee ◽

Edward H Herskovits

Keyword(s):

Diffusion Tensor ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Impulsive Behavior ◽

Cingulate Gyrus ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Anatomical Connectivity ◽

Computational Framework ◽

Data Set ◽

Superior Frontal Gyrus

Many brain disorders – such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and autism – are heterogeneous, that is, they may have several subtypes. Traditionally, clinicians have identified subtypes, such as subtypes of psychosis, using clinical criteria. Neuroimaging has the potential to detect subtypes based on objective biomarker-based criteria; however, there are no studies that evaluate the application of combining unsupervised machine learning and anatomical connectivity analysis to accomplish this goal. We propose a computational framework to detect subtypes based on anatomical connectivity computed from diffusion tensor imaging data, in a data-driven and fully automated way. The proposed method exhibits excellent performance on simulated data. We also applied this approach to a real-world dataset: the Nathan Kline Institute data set. The Nathan Kline Institute study consists of 137 normal adult subjects (mean age 41 years (standard deviation 18), male/female 85/52). We examined the association between detected subtypes and the impulsive behavior scale. We found that a subtype characterized by lower connectivity scores was associated with a higher positive urgency score; positive urgency is a vulnerability marker for drug addiction. The top-ranked connections characterizing subtypes involve several brain regions, including the anterior cingulate gyrus, median cingulate gyrus, thalamus, superior frontal gyrus (medial), middle frontal gyrus (orbital part), inferior frontal gyrus (triangular part), superior frontal gyrus, precuneus and putamen. The proposed framework is extendable, and can be used to detect subtypes from other features, including clinical and genomic biomarkers.

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Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus Integrates Multisensory Information in Category Learning

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa029 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (8) ◽

pp. 4410-4423

Author(s):

You Li ◽

Carol Seger ◽

Qi Chen ◽

Lei Mo

Keyword(s):

Category Learning ◽

Information Integration ◽

Multisensory Processing ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

General Network ◽

Multisensory Information ◽

First Time

Abstract Humans are able to categorize things they encounter in the world (e.g., a cat) by integrating multisensory information from the auditory and visual modalities with ease and speed. However, how the brain learns multisensory categories remains elusive. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate, for the first time, the neural mechanisms underpinning multisensory information-integration (II) category learning. A sensory-modality-general network, including the left insula, right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), supplementary motor area, left precentral gyrus, bilateral parietal cortex, and right caudate and globus pallidus, was recruited for II categorization, regardless of whether the information came from a single modality or from multiple modalities. Putamen activity was higher in correct categorization than incorrect categorization. Critically, the left IFG and left body and tail of the caudate were activated in multisensory II categorization but not in unisensory II categorization, which suggests this network plays a specific role in integrating multisensory information during category learning. The present results extend our understanding of the role of the left IFG in multisensory processing from the linguistic domain to a broader role in audiovisual learning.

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