scholarly journals Characterizing the Theory of Mind Network in Schizophrenia Reveals a Sparser Network Structure

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Bitsch ◽  
Philipp Berger ◽  
Arne Nagels ◽  
Irina Falkenberg ◽  
Benjamin Straube
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Functional Integration ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Interpersonal Behavior ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
The Right

AbstractImpaired social functioning is a hallmark of schizophrenia and altered functional integration between distant brain regions are expected to account for signs and symptoms of the disorder. The functional neuroarchitecture of a network relevant for social functioning, the mentalizing network, is however poorly understood. In this study we examined dysfunctions of the mentalizing network in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls via dynamic causal modelling and an interactive social decision-making game. Network characteristics were analyzed on a single subject basis whereas graph theoretic metrics such as in-degree, out-degree and edge-connectivity per network node were compared between the groups. The results point to a sparser network structure in patients with schizophrenia and highlight the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex as a disconnected network hub receiving significantly less input from other brain regions in the network. Further analyses suggest that integrating pathways from the right and the left temporo-parietal junction into the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex were less frequently found in patients with schizophrenia. Brain and behavior analyses further suggest that the connectivity-intactness within the entire network is associated with functional interpersonal behavior during the task. Thus, the neurobiological alterations within the mentalizing network in patients with schizophrenia point to a specific integration deficit between core brain regions underlying the generation of higher-order representations and thereby provide a potential treatment target.

scholarly journals Optical Mapping of Brain Activity Underlying Directionality and Its Modulation by Expertise in Mandarin/English Interpreting

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan He ◽  
Yinying Hu ◽  
Yaxi Yang ◽  
Defeng Li ◽  
Yi Hu
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
The Right

Recent neuroimaging research has suggested that unequal cognitive efforts exist between interpreting from language 1 (L1) to language 2 (L2) compared with interpreting from L2 to L1. However, the neural substrates that underlie this directionality effect are not yet well understood. Whether directionality is modulated by interpreting expertise also remains unknown. In this study, we recruited two groups of Mandarin (L1)/English (L2) bilingual speakers with varying levels of interpreting expertise and asked them to perform interpreting and reading tasks. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to collect cortical brain data for participants during each task, using 68 channels that covered the prefrontal cortex and the bilateral perisylvian regions. The interpreting-related neuroimaging data was normalized by using both L1 and L2 reading tasks, to control the function of reading and vocalization respectively. Our findings revealed the directionality effect in both groups, with forward interpreting (from L1 to L2) produced more pronounced brain activity, when normalized for reading. We also found that directionality was modulated by interpreting expertise in both normalizations. For the group with relatively high expertise, the activated brain regions included the right Broca’s area and the left premotor and supplementary motor cortex; whereas for the group with relatively low expertise, the activated brain areas covered the superior temporal gyrus, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the Broca’s area, and visual area 3 in the right hemisphere. These findings indicated that interpreting expertise modulated brain activation, possibly because of more developed cognitive skills associated with executive functions in experienced interpreters.

scholarly journals Reforming Sectarian Beliefs in Iraq: Winning the Peace

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. p8
Author(s):  
Michael Oler ◽  
Anthony Johnson ◽  
Anna McCulloh ◽  
Munqith Dagher ◽  
Anita Day ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Frontal Pole ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Imaging Device ◽  
Neural Imaging ◽  
The Right

Sectarian violence continues in Iraq affecting regional and world security. Neuroscience techniques are used to assess the mentalizing process and counter-arguing in response to videos designed to prevent extremist radicalization. Measurement of neural activity in brain Regions of Interest (ROI) assists identification of messages which can promote favorable behavior. Activation of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) is associated with message adoption and behavior change. Public Service Announcements (PSAs) have not been effective in reducing violence in Iraq. This study demonstrates that the four PSAs investigated in this study do not activate the MPFC. The RLPFC is a brain ROI associated with counter-arguing and message resistance. This study demonstrates that reduction in activity in the Right Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (RLPFC) is associated with decreased sectarianism. Engagement was measured and is associated with activity in the frontal pole regions.We introduce Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the neural activity of highly sectarian Iraqis in response to these anti-sectarian messages. Neural activity was measured while viewing three PSAs and a fourth unpublished video. All four videos are intended to reduce sectarianism. A novel sectarianism scale is introduced to measure sectarian beliefs before and after the messages. This sectarian scale has high internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Measured activation of brain ROIs are correlated with changes in the sectarian scale. Twelve Sunni and twelve Shi’a Iraqis participated in the study. Subjects were shown the four videos in randomized order, while equipped with a fNIRS neural imaging device. All four videos produced significant engagement. None of the videos reduced sectarianism nor caused brain activation of adoption. This is consistent with the widely held Iraqi public perception that the PSAs are ineffective. Only one video, which was un-published, caused reduced sectarian beliefs. This un-published fourth video was associated with decreased counter-arguing. Counter-arguing is associated with message resistance.

scholarly journals Functional Connectivity of Nucleus Accumbens and Medial Prefrontal Cortex With Other Brain Regions During Early-Abstinence Is Associated With Alcohol Dependence and Relapse: A Resting-Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Yang ◽  
Ya-jing Meng ◽  
Yu-jie Tao ◽  
Ren-hao Deng ◽  
Hui-yao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Anterior Cortex ◽  
The Right

Background: Alcohol dependence (AD) is a chronic recurrent brain disease that causes a heavy disease burden worldwide, partly due to high relapse rates after detoxification. Verified biomarkers are not available for AD and its relapse, although the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) may play important roles in the mechanism of addiction. This study investigated AD- and relapse-associated functional connectivity (FC) of the NAc and mPFC with other brain regions during early abstinence.Methods: Sixty-eight hospitalized early-abstinence AD male patients and 68 age- and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-functional magnetic resonance imaging (r-fMRI). Using the NAc and mPFC as seeds, we calculated changes in FC between the seeds and other brain regions. Over a follow-up period of 6 months, patients were measured with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) scale to identify relapse outcomes (AUDIT ≥ 8).Results: Thirty-five (52.24%) of the AD patients relapsed during the follow-up period. AD displayed lower FC of the left fusiform, bilateral temporal superior and right postcentral regions with the NAc and lower FC of the right temporal inferior, bilateral temporal superior, and left cingulate anterior regions with the mPFC compared to controls. Among these FC changes, lower FC between the NAc and left fusiform, lower FC between the mPFC and left cingulate anterior cortex, and smoking status were independently associated with AD. Subjects in relapse exhibited lower FC of the right cingulate anterior cortex with NAc and of the left calcarine sulcus with mPFC compared to non-relapsed subjects; both of these reductions in FC independently predicted relapse. Additionally, FC between the mPFC and right frontal superior gyrus, as well as years of education, independently predicted relapse severity.Conclusion: This study found that values of FC between selected seeds (i.e., the NAc and the mPFC) and some other reward- and/or impulse-control-related brain regions were associated with AD and relapse; these FC values could be potential biomarkers of AD or for prediction of relapse. These findings may help to guide further research on the neurobiology of AD and other addictive disorders.

scholarly journals Widespread decrease of cerebral vimentin-immunoreactive astrocytes in depressed suicides

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Anuj O’Leary ◽  
Claudia Belliveau ◽  
Maria Antonietta Davoli ◽  
Jie Christopher Ma ◽  
Arnaud Tanti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Postmortem Brain ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Morphometric Features ◽  
Fine Morphology

1AbstractPostmortem investigations have implicated cerebral astrocytes immunoreactive (-IR) for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the etiopathology of depression and suicide. However, it remains unclear whether astrocytic subpopulations IR for other astrocytic markers are similarly affected. Astrocytes IR to vimentin (VIM) display different regional densities than GFAP-IR astrocytes in the healthy brain, and so may be differently altered in depression and suicide. To investigate this, we compared the densities of GFAP-IR astrocytes and VIM-IR astrocytes in postmortem brain samples from depressed suicides and matched non-psychiatric controls in three brain regions (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal caudate nucleus and mediodorsal thalamus). A quantitative comparison of the fine morphology of VIM-IR astrocytes was also performed in the same regions and subjects. Finally, given the close association between astrocytes and blood vessels, we also assessed densities of CD31-IR blood vessels. Like for GFAP-IR astrocytes, VIM-IR astrocyte densities were found to be globally reduced in depressed suicide relative to controls. By contrast, CD31-IR blood vessel density and VIM-IR astrocyte morphometric features in these regions were similar between groups, except in prefrontal white matter, in which vascularization was increased and astrocytes displayed fewer primary processes. By revealing a widespread reduction of cerebral VIM-IR astrocytes in cases vs. controls, these findings further implicate astrocytic dysfunctions in depression and suicide.

scholarly journals Dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex track distinct properties of dynamic social behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-393
Author(s):  
Kelsey R McDonald ◽  
John M Pearson ◽  
Scott A Huettel
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Strategic Action ◽  
General Role ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Decision Neuroscience ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

Abstract Understanding how humans make competitive decisions in complex environments is a key goal of decision neuroscience. Typical experimental paradigms constrain behavioral complexity (e.g. choices in discrete-play games), and thus, the underlying neural mechanisms of dynamic social interactions remain incompletely understood. Here, we collected fMRI data while humans played a competitive real-time video game against both human and computer opponents, and then, we used Bayesian non-parametric methods to link behavior to neural mechanisms. Two key cognitive processes characterized behavior in our task: (i) the coupling of one’s actions to another’s actions (i.e. opponent sensitivity) and (ii) the advantageous timing of a given strategic action. We found that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex displayed selective activation when the subject’s actions were highly sensitive to the opponent’s actions, whereas activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex increased proportionally to the advantageous timing of actions to defeat one’s opponent. Moreover, the temporoparietal junction tracked both of these behavioral quantities as well as opponent social identity, indicating a more general role in monitoring other social agents. These results suggest that brain regions that are frequently implicated in social cognition and value-based decision-making also contribute to the strategic tracking of the value of social actions in dynamic, multi-agent contexts.

scholarly journals Cortical Regions Involved in the Generation of Musical Structures during Improvisation in Pianists

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 830-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara L. Bengtsson ◽  
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi ◽  
Fredrik Ullén
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Musical Creation

Studies on simple pseudorandom motor and cognitive tasks have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and rostral premotor areas are involved in free response selection. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether these brain regions are also involved in free generation of responses in a more complex creative behavior: musical improvisation. Eleven professional pianists participated in the study. In one condition, Improvise, the pianist improvised on the basis of a visually displayed melody. In the control condition, Reproduce, the participant reproduced his previous improvisation from memory. Participants were able to reproduce their improvisations with a high level of accuracy, and the contrast Improvise versus Reproduce was thus essentially matched in terms of motor output and sensory feedback. However, the Improvise condition required storage in memory of the improvisation. We therefore also included a condition FreeImp, where the pianist improvised but was instructed not to memorize his performance. To locate brain regions involved in musical creation, we investigated the activations in the Improvise-Reproduce contrast that were also present in FreeImp contrasted with a baseline rest condition. Activated brain regions included the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the presupplementary motor area, the rostral portion of the dorsal premotor cortex, and the left posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus. We suggest that these regions are part of a network involved in musical creation, and discuss their possible functional roles.

scholarly journals Functional connectivity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex predicts cocaine relapse

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianye Zhai ◽  
Betty Jo Salmeron ◽  
Hong Gu ◽  
Bryon Adinoff ◽  
Elliot A. Stein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Addiction Treatment ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Psychosocial Treatment ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

AbstractBackgroundRelapse is one of the most perplexing problems of addiction. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is crucially involved in numerous cognitive and affective processes that are implicated in phenotypes of addiction, and is one of the most frequently reported brain regions with aberrant functionality in substance use disorders. However, the DLPFC is an anatomically large and functionally heterogeneous region, and the specific DLPFC-based circuits that contribute to drug relapse remain unknown.MethodsWe systematically investigated the relationship of cocaine relapse with 98 DLPFC functional circuits defined by evenly sampling the entire bilateral DLPFC in a cohort of cocaine dependent patients (n=43, 5F) following a psychosocial treatment intervention. A Cox regression model was utilized to predict relapse likelihood based on DLPFC functional connectivity strength.ResultsFunctional connectivity from 3 of the 98 DLPFC loci, one on the left and two on the right hemisphere, significantly predicted cocaine relapse with an accuracy of 83.9%, 84.7% and 85.4%, respectively. Combining all three significantly improved prediction validity to 87.5%. Protective and risk circuits related to these DLPFC loci were identified that are known to support “bottom up” drive to use drug and “top down” control over behavior together with social emotional, learning and memory processing.ConclusionThree DLPFC-centric circuits were identified that predict relapse to cocaine use with high accuracy. These functionally distinct DLPFC-based circuits provide insights into the multiple roles played by the DLPFC in cognitive and affective functioning that affects treatment outcome. The identified DLPFC loci may serve as potential neuromodulation targets for addiction treatment and as clinically relevant biomarkers of its efficacy.

scholarly journals Widespread Decrease of Cerebral Vimentin-Immunoreactive Astrocytes in Depressed Suicides

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Anuj O'Leary ◽  
Claudia Belliveau ◽  
Maria Antonietta Davoli ◽  
Jie Christopher Ma ◽  
Arnaud Tanti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Post Mortem Brain ◽  
Morphometric Features ◽  
Fine Morphology

Post-mortem investigations have implicated cerebral astrocytes immunoreactive (-IR) for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the etiopathology of depression and suicide. However, it remains unclear whether astrocytic subpopulations IR for other astrocytic markers are similarly affected. Astrocytes IR to vimentin (VIM) display different regional densities than GFAP-IR astrocytes in the healthy brain, and so may be differently altered in depression and suicide. To investigate this, we compared the densities of GFAP-IR astrocytes and VIM-IR astrocytes in post-mortem brain samples from depressed suicides and matched non-psychiatric controls in three brain regions (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal caudate nucleus and mediodorsal thalamus). A quantitative comparison of the fine morphology of VIM-IR astrocytes was also performed in the same regions and subjects. Finally, given the close association between astrocytes and blood vessels, we also assessed densities of CD31-IR blood vessels. Like for GFAP-IR astrocytes, VIM-IR astrocyte densities were found to be globally reduced in depressed suicides relative to controls. By contrast, CD31-IR blood vessel density and VIM-IR astrocyte morphometric features in these regions were similar between groups, except in prefrontal white matter, in which vascularization was increased and astrocytes displayed fewer primary processes. By revealing a widespread reduction of cerebral VIM-IR astrocytes in cases vs. controls, these findings further implicate astrocytic dysfunctions in depression and suicide.

scholarly journals Tracking prototype and exemplar representations in the brain across learning

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin R Bowman ◽  
Takako Iwashita ◽  
Dagmar Zeithamova
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Central Tendency ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

There is a long-standing debate about whether categories are represented by individual category members (exemplars) or by the central tendency abstracted from individual members (prototypes). Neuroimaging studies have shown neural evidence for either exemplar representations or prototype representations, but not both. Presently, we asked whether it is possible for multiple types of category representations to exist within a single task. We designed a categorization task to promote both exemplar and prototype representations and tracked their formation across learning. We found only prototype correlates during the final test. However, interim tests interspersed throughout learning showed prototype and exemplar representations across distinct brain regions that aligned with previous studies: prototypes in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior hippocampus and exemplars in inferior frontal gyrus and lateral parietal cortex. These findings indicate that, under the right circumstances, individuals may form representations at multiple levels of specificity, potentially facilitating a broad range of future decisions.

The Key Locus of Common Response Inhibition Network for No-go and Stop Signals

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1434-1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongming Zheng ◽  
Tatsuro Oka ◽  
Hirokazu Bokura ◽  
Shuhei Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Error Detection ◽  
Response Competition ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Stop Signal ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
The Right

Response inhibition is one of the highest evolved executive functions of human beings. Previous studies revealed a wide variety of brain regions related to response inhibition, although some of them may not be directly related to inhibition but to task-specific effects or noninhibitory cognitive functions such as attention, response competition, or error detection. Here, we conducted event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in which all subjects performed both stop-signal and go/no-go tasks in order to explore key neural correlates within the response inhibition network irrelevant to task designs and other cognitive processes. The successful inhibition in the stop-signal and go/no-go tasks, respectively, activated a set of predominantly right-lateralized hemispheric cortices. The common inhibitory regions across the two tasks included the right middle prefrontal cortex in addition to the right middle occipital cortex. Correlation analysis was carried out within these areas between intensity of activation and behavioral performance in the two tasks. Only the region located in the middle prefrontal cortex showed significant correlations in both tasks. We believe this region is the key locus for execution of response inhibition in the distributed inhibitory neural network.

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