scholarly journals Differential functional connectivity underlying asymmetric reward-related activity in human and nonhuman primates

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 28452-28462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alizée Lopez-Persem ◽  
Léa Roumazeilles ◽  
Davide Folloni ◽  
Kévin Marche ◽  
Elsa F. Fouragnan ◽  
...  

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a key brain region involved in complex cognitive functions such as reward processing and decision making. Neuroimaging studies have reported unilateral OFC response to reward-related variables; however, those studies rarely discussed this observation. Nevertheless, some lesion studies suggest that the left and right OFC contribute differently to cognitive processes. We hypothesized that the OFC asymmetrical response to reward could reflect underlying hemispherical difference in OFC functional connectivity. Using resting-state and reward-related functional MRI data from humans and from rhesus macaques, we first identified an asymmetrical response of the lateral OFC to reward in both species. Crucially, the subregion showing the highest reward-related asymmetry (RRA) overlapped with the region showing the highest functional connectivity asymmetry (FCA). Furthermore, the two types of asymmetries were found to be significantly correlated across individuals. In both species, the right lateral OFC was more connected to the default mode network compared to the left lateral OFC. Altogether, our results suggest a functional specialization of the left and right lateral OFC in primates.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alizée Lopez-Persem ◽  
Léa Roumazeilles ◽  
Davide Folloni ◽  
Kévin Marche ◽  
Elsa F. Fouragnan ◽  
...  

AbstractThe orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a key brain region involved in complex cognitive functions such as reward processing and decision-making. Neuroimaging studies have shown unilateral OFC response to reward-related variables, however, those studies rarely discussed the lateralization of this effect. Yet, some lesion studies suggest that the left and right OFC contribute differently to cognitive processes. We hypothesized that the OFC asymmetrical response to reward could reflect underlying hemispherical difference in OFC functional connectivity. Using restingstate and reward-related MRI data from humans and from rhesus macaques, we first identified a specific asymmetrical response of the lateral OFC to reward in both species. Crucially, the subregion showing the highest reward-related asymmetry (RRA) overlapped with the region showing the highest functional connectivity asymmetry (FCA). Furthermore, the two types of functional asymmetries were found to be significantly correlated across humans. Altogether, our results suggest a similar pattern of functional specialization between the left and right OFC is present in two primate species.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Johannes C. Michaelian ◽  
Shantel L. Duffy ◽  
Loren Mowszowski ◽  
Adam J. Guastella ◽  
Donna McCade ◽  
...  

Background: Older adults living with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) not only demonstrate impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM), relative to adults with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), but are also at a higher risk of developing dementia. Objective: Our primary objective was to ascertain whether default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity was differentially associated with ToM abilities between MCI subgroups. Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated alterations in resting-state functional connectivity within the brain’s DMN in a sample of 43 older adults with aMCI (n = 19) and naMCI (n = 24), previously reported to demonstrate poorer ToM abilities. Results: Compared to naMCI, the aMCI subgroup revealed a significant association between poorer ToM performance and reduced functional connectivity between the bilateral temporal pole (TempP) and the left lateral temporal cortex (LTC) (LTC_L-TempP_L: b = –0.06, t(33) = –3.53, p = 0.02; LTC_L-TempP_R: b = –0.07,t(33) = –3.20, p = 0.03); between the right TempP and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) (b = –0.04, t(33) = –3.02, p = 0.03) and between the left and right TempP (b = –0.05, t(33) = –3.26, p = 0.03). In the naMCI subgroup, the opposite relationship was present between the bilateral TempP and the left LTC (Combined correlation: r = –0.47, p = 0.02), however, not between the right TempP and the dMPFC (r = –0.14, p = 0.51) or the left and right TempP (r = –0.31, p = 0.14). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that alterations in functional connectivity within the DMN involving temporal and frontal lobe regions are associated with ToM deficits in aMCI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Yunhui Chen ◽  
Yangpan Ou ◽  
Dan Lv ◽  
Jidong Ma ◽  
Chuang Zhan ◽  
...  

Background. Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) experience deficiencies in reward processing. The investigation of the reward circuit and its essential connectivity may further clarify the pathogenesis of OCD. Methods. The current research was designed to analyze the nucleus accumbens (NAc) functional connectivity at rest in medicine-free patients with OCD. Forty medication-free patients and 38 gender-, education-, and age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited for resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Seed-based functional connectivity (FC) was used to analyze the data. LIBSVM (library for support vector machines) was designed to identify whether altered FC could be applied to differentiate OCD. Results. Patients with OCD showed remarkably decreased FC values between the left NAc and the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and between the right NAc and the left OFC at rest in the reward circuit. Moreover, decreased left NAc-bilateral MPFC connectivity can be deemed as a potential biomarker to differentiate OCD from HCs with a sensitivity of 80.00% and a specificity of 76.32%. Conclusion. The current results emphasize the importance of the reward circuit in the pathogenesis of OCD.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nate Kornell ◽  
Lisa K. Son ◽  
Herbert S. Terrace

Metacognition is knowledge that can be expressed as confidence judgments about what one knows (monitoring) and by strategies for learning what one does not know (control). Although there is a substantial literature on cognitive processes in animals, little is known about their metacognitive abilities. Here we show that rhesus macaques, trained previously to make retrospective confidence judgments about their performance on perceptual tasks, transferred that ability immediately to a new perceptual task and to a working memory task. We also show that monkeys can learn to request “hints” when they are given problems that they would otherwise have to solve by trial and error. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that nonhuman primates share with humans the ability to monitor and transfer their metacognitive ability both within and between different cognitive tasks, and to seek new knowledge on a need-to-know basis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Gonçalves ◽  
Paulo Bazan ◽  
Maria da Graça Martins ◽  
Geraldo Busatto Filho ◽  
Artur Coutinho ◽  
...  

Background: According to the recent NIA-AA, a probable predictor of Alzheimer’s disease convertor in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the Aβ protein deposit in PET PIB exam. However, there is a lack of studies investigating functional connectivity in PIB +/- MCI patients. Objectives: to investigate differences in functional connectivity during resting state in MCI patients with PET PIB+ and - biomarkers. Methods: PET PIB+ (N=12 and PIB- (N=12) MCI patients underwent fMRI during resting state using 3 ROIS related to memory (posterior cingulate and bilateral hippocampus). Results: there were significant connectivity differences (p <0.05) between PIB+ and PIB- patients above 80% for right temporal region connectivity regarding left and right temporal region. Conclusions The results suggest that PET PIB+ MCI patients show significant difference in functional connectivity on the right temporal region in relation to left and right hippocampus ROI during the resting state possibly related to functional compensation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Robinson ◽  
Xinyu Zhou ◽  
Ryan T. Bird ◽  
Mackenzie J. Leavitt ◽  
Steven J. Nichols ◽  
...  

The hippocampus is one of the most phylogenetically preserved structures in the mammalian brain. Engaged in a host of diverse cognitive processes, there has been increasing interest in understanding how the hippocampus dynamically supports these functions. One of the lingering questions is how to reconcile the seemingly disparate cytoarchitectonic organization, which favors a dorsal-ventral layering, with the neurofunctional topography, which has strong support for longitudinal axis (anterior-posterior) and medial-lateral orientation. More recently, meta-analytically driven (e.g., big data) approaches have been employed, however, the question remains whether they are sensitive to important task-specific features such as context, cognitive processes recruited, or the type of stimulus being presented. Here, we used hierarchical clustering on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquired from healthy individuals at 7T using a battery of tasks that engage the hippocampus to determine whether stimulus or task features influence cluster profiles in the left and right hippocampus. Our data suggest that resting state clustering appears to favor the cytoarchitectonic organization, while task-based clustering favors the neurofunctional clustering. Furthermore, encoding tasks were more sensitive to stimulus type than were recognition tasks. Interestingly, a face-name paired associate task had nearly identical clustering profiles for both the encoding and recognition conditions of the task, which were qualitatively morphometrically different than simple encoding of words or faces. Finally, corroborating previous research, the left hippocampus had more stable cluster profiles compared to the right hippocampus. Together, our data suggest that task-based and resting state cluster profiles are different and may account for the disparity or inconsistency in results across studies.


Author(s):  
O. I. Admakin ◽  
I. A. Solop ◽  
A. D. Oksentyuk

Relevance. The narrowing of the maxilla is one of the most common pathologies in orthodontics. Recent studies show that the narrowing is always asymmetric which is connected to the rotation of the maxilla. To choose the treatment correctly one need a calculation that reveals the asymmetry, which is impossible with using standard indexes.Purpose – to compare efficiency of indexes of Pont and Korkhause with the Kernott's method in patients with narrowing of the maxilla.Materials and methods. The study involved 35 children aged from 8 to 12 years old undergoing dental treatment in the University Children's Clinical Hospital of the First Moscow State Medical University with no comorbidities. For every patient a gypsum model was prepared and after that to carry out the biometrical calculation. In this study two indexes were used: Pont's index and Korkhause's; using this standard analysis the narrowing of the maxilla was revealed. After using Pont's Index and Korkhaus analysis all the models were calculated by the method of Kernott with Kernott's dynamic pentagon.Results. As a result of the analysis of the control diagnostic models a narrowing of the maxilla in 69% of cases (n = 24) was revealed in all cases, the deviation of the size of the dentition was asymmetric. Thus, 65% of the surveyed models showed a narrowing on the right. This narrowing was of a different severity and averaged 15 control models.Conclusions. This shows that for the biometrics of diagnostic models it is necessary to use methods that allow to estimate the width of the dentition rows on the left and on the right separately. To correct the asymmetric narrowing of the dentition, it is preferable to use non-classical expanding devices that act equally on the left and right sides separetly.


Author(s):  
Lisa Bartha-Doering ◽  
Ernst Schwartz ◽  
Kathrin Kollndorfer ◽  
Florian Ph. S. Fischmeister ◽  
Astrid Novak ◽  
...  

AbstractThe present study is interested in the role of the corpus callosum in the development of the language network. We, therefore, investigated language abilities and the language network using task-based fMRI in three cases of complete agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), three cases of partial ACC and six controls. Although the children with complete ACC revealed impaired functions in specific language domains, no child with partial ACC showed a test score below average. As a group, ACC children performed significantly worse than healthy controls in verbal fluency and naming. Furthermore, whole-brain ROI-to-ROI connectivity analyses revealed reduced intrahemispheric and right intrahemispheric functional connectivity in ACC patients as compared to controls. In addition, stronger functional connectivity between left and right temporal areas was associated with better language abilities in the ACC group. In healthy controls, no association between language abilities and connectivity was found. Our results show that ACC is associated not only with less interhemispheric, but also with less right intrahemispheric language network connectivity in line with reduced verbal abilities. The present study, thus, supports the excitatory role of the corpus callosum in functional language network connectivity and language abilities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262110302
Author(s):  
M. Justin Kim ◽  
Maxwell L. Elliott ◽  
Annchen R. Knodt ◽  
Ahmad R. Hariri

Past research on the brain correlates of trait anger has been limited by small sample sizes, a focus on relatively few regions of interest, and poor test–retest reliability of functional brain measures. To address these limitations, we conducted a data-driven analysis of variability in connectome-wide functional connectivity in a sample of 1,048 young adult volunteers. Multidimensional matrix regression analysis showed that self-reported trait anger maps onto variability in the whole-brain functional connectivity patterns of three brain regions that serve action-related functions: bilateral supplementary motor areas and the right lateral frontal pole. We then demonstrate that trait anger modulates the functional connectivity of these regions with canonical brain networks supporting somatomotor, affective, self-referential, and visual information processes. Our findings offer novel neuroimaging evidence for interpreting trait anger as a greater propensity to provoked action, which supports ongoing efforts to understand its utility as a potential transdiagnostic marker for disordered states characterized by aggressive behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanda Iacobas ◽  
Bogdan Amuzescu ◽  
Dumitru A. Iacobas

AbstractMyocardium transcriptomes of left and right atria and ventricles from four adult male C57Bl/6j mice were profiled with Agilent microarrays to identify the differences responsible for the distinct functional roles of the four heart chambers. Female mice were not investigated owing to their transcriptome dependence on the estrous cycle phase. Out of the quantified 16,886 unigenes, 15.76% on the left side and 16.5% on the right side exhibited differential expression between the atrium and the ventricle, while 5.8% of genes were differently expressed between the two atria and only 1.2% between the two ventricles. The study revealed also chamber differences in gene expression control and coordination. We analyzed ion channels and transporters, and genes within the cardiac muscle contraction, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, calcium and adrenergic signaling pathways. Interestingly, while expression of Ank2 oscillates in phase with all 27 quantified binding partners in the left ventricle, the percentage of in-phase oscillating partners of Ank2 is 15% and 37% in the left and right atria and 74% in the right ventricle. The analysis indicated high interventricular synchrony of the ion channels expressions and the substantially lower synchrony between the two atria and between the atrium and the ventricle from the same side.


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