Cognitive and Emotional Modulation of Brain Default Operation

Goal-directed behavior lowers activity in brain areas that include the medial frontal cortex, the medial and lateral parietal cortex, and limbic and paralimbic brain regions, commonly referred to as the “default network.” These activity decreases are believed to reflect the interruption of processes that are ongoing when the mind is in a restful state. Previously, the nature of these processes was probed by varying cognitive task parameters, but the presence of emotional processes, while often assumed, was little investigated. With fMRI, we studied the effect of systematic variations of both cognitive load and emotional stimulus connotation on task-related decreases in the default network by employing an auditory working memory (WM) task with musical sounds. The performance of the WM task, compared to passive listening, lowered the activity in medial and lateral, prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and limbic regions. In a subset of these regions, the magnitude of decrease depended on the memory load; the greater the cognitive load, the larger the magnitude of the observed decrease. Furthermore, in the right amygdala and the left precuneus, areas previously associated with processing of unpleasant dissonant musical sounds, there was an interaction between the experimental condition and the stimulus type. The current results are consistent with the previously reported effect of task difficulty on task-related brain activation decreases. The results also indicate that task-related decreases may be further modulated by the emotional stimulus connotation.

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Individual alpha power predicts language comprehension

10.1101/2021.10.12.464065 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peng Wang ◽

Yifei He ◽

Burkhard Maess ◽

Jinxing Yue ◽

Luyao Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Individual Performance ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Alpha Power ◽

The Individual ◽

The Right

Alpha power attenuation during cognitive task performing has been suggested to reflect a process of release of inhibition, increase of excitability, and thereby benefit the improvement of performance. Here, we hypothesized that changes in individual alpha power during the execution of a complex language comprehension task may correlate with the individual performance in that task. We tested this using magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded during comprehension of German sentences of different syntactic complexity. Results showed that neither the frequency nor the power of the spontaneous oscillatory activity at rest were associated with the individual performance. However, during the execution of a sentences processing task, the individual alpha power attenuation did correlate with individual language comprehension performance. Source reconstruction localized effects in temporal-parietal regions of both hemispheres. While the effect of increased task difficulty is localized in the right hemisphere, the difference in power attenuation between tasks of different complexity exhibiting a correlation with performance was localized in left temporal-parietal brain regions known to be associated with language processing. From our results, we conclude that in-task attenuation of individual alpha power is related to the essential mechanisms of the underlying cognitive processes, rather than merely to general phenomena like attention or vigilance.

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Influence of cognitive load on the expression of the emotional stroop effect

Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Series Biology ◽

10.17721/1728_2748.2020.80.30-34 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 80 (1) ◽

pp. 30-34

Author(s):

T. Kutsenko

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Load ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Emotional Reactions ◽

Functional Asymmetry ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Emotional Stroop Effect ◽

The Right ◽

Hemispheric Interaction

The Emotional Stroop Effect (ESE) is the result of a greater delay in naming colors of written emotional words than colors of written neutral words, because of shifting attention to emotionally meaningful information. ESE is mainly used in psychopathology surveys, but its application is also promising for solving applied psychophysiological problems, from professional screening and neuromarketing to detecting lies and detecting threats from emotionally unstable individuals. Because the ESE is sensitive to testing conditions, various modifications to the Emotional Stroop Test (EST) have been investigated. Within the subtests, neutral and emotional (negatively coloured) words were presented. The inclusion of distractors in subtests (target words, names of plants and animals that were not required to be answered by keystrokes) complicates the task, which manifests itself in a considerable extension of the reaction time. When performing a task with significant cognitive load, the left hand responds to emotional stimuli longer than the right. The results obtained may indicate the formation of a special system for processing emotional information in the right hemisphere, while the left hemisphere focuses on the cognitive task. It is likely that in the case of increased cognitive load, the subsystems for processing emotional and cognitive information operate relatively autonomously, inter-hemispheric interaction is enhanced, and functional asymmetry is reduced. As cognitive pressure decreases, functional asymmetry is likely to increase inter-hemispheric interaction, and ESE is not detected. The obtained values of latent periods of reaction to emotionally significant and neutral stimuli can be used to develop scales and criteria for evaluating a person's emotional reactions when it is needed.

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Multivariate pattern connectivity

10.1101/046151 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stefano Anzellotti ◽

Alfonso Caramazza ◽

Rebecca Saxe

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Seed Region ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Face Area ◽

The Right ◽

Multivariate Pattern ◽

Differential Connectivity ◽

Over Time

AbstractWhen we perform a cognitive task, multiple brain regions are engaged. Understanding how these regions interact is a fundamental step to uncover the neural bases of behavior. Most research on the interactions between brain regions has focused on the univariate responses in the regions. However, fine grained patterns of response encode important information, as shown by multivariate pattern analysis. In the present article, we introduce and apply multivariate pattern connectivity (MVPC): a technique to study the dependence between brain regions in humans in terms of the multivariate relations between their patterns of responses. MVPC characterizes the responses in each brain region as trajectories in region-specific multidimensional spaces, and models the multivariate relationship between these trajectories. Considering the fusiform face area (FFA) as a seed region, we used searchlight-based MVPC to reveal interactions between regions undetected by univariate functional connectivity analyses. MVPC (but not functional connectivity) identified significant interactions between right FFA and the right anterior temporal lobe, the right superior temporal sulcus, and the dorsal visual stream. Additionally, MVPC outperformed univariate connectivity in its ability to explain independent variance in the responses of individual voxels. In the end, MVPC uncovered different connectivity profiles associated with different representational subspaces of FFA: the first principal component of FFA shows differential connectivity with occipital and parietal regions implicated in the processing of low-level properties of faces, while the second and third components show differential connectivity with anterior temporal regions implicated in the processing of invariant representations of face identity.Author SummaryHuman behavior is supported by systems of brain regions that exchange infor-mation to complete a task. This exchange of information between brain regions leads to statistical relationships between their responses over time. Most likely, these relationships do not link only the mean responses in two brain regions, but also their finer spatial patterns. Analyzing finer response patterns has been a key advance in the study of responses within individual regions, and can be leveraged to study between-region interactions. To capture the overall statistical relationship between two brain regions, we need to describe each region’s responses with respect to dimensions that best account for the variation in that region over time. These dimensions can be different from region to region. We introduce an approach in which each region’s responses are characterized in terms of region-specific dimensions that best account for its responses, and the relationships between regions are modeled with multivariate linear models. We demonstrate that this approach provides a better account of the data as compared to standard functional connectivity, and we use it to discover multiple dimensions within the fusiform face area that have different connectivity profiles with the rest of the brain.

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Neural Underpinnings of Numerical and Spatial Cognition: An fMRI Meta-Analysis of Brain Regions Associated with Symbolic Number, Arithmetic, and Mental Rotation

10.31234/osf.io/dyqrx ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Zachary Hawes ◽

H Moriah Sokolowski ◽

Chuka Bosah Ononye ◽

Daniel Ansari

Keyword(s):

Mental Rotation ◽

Parietal Lobe ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Likelihood Estimation ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Number Representation ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

The Right ◽

Symbolic Number

Where and under what conditions do spatial and numerical skills converge and diverge in the brain? To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of brain regions associated with basic symbolic number processing, arithmetic, and mental rotation. We used Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to construct quantitative meta-analytic maps synthesizing results from 86 neuroimaging papers (~ 30 studies/cognitive process). All three cognitive processes were found to activate bilateral parietal regions in and around the intraparietal sulcus (IPS); a finding consistent with shared processing accounts. Numerical and arithmetic processing were associated with overlap in the left angular gyrus, whereas mental rotation and arithmetic both showed activity in the middle frontal gyri. These patterns suggest regions of cortex potentially more specialized for symbolic number representation and domain-general mental manipulation, respectively. Additionally, arithmetic was associated with unique activity throughout the fronto-parietal network and mental rotation was associated with unique activity in the right superior parietal lobe. Overall, these results provide new insights into the intersection of numerical and spatial thought in the human brain.

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CYBERCHONDRIA INFORMATION CLINIC: Internet's Impact on your Health (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.14507 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Valentina Escotet Espinoza

Keyword(s):

Human Life ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Physical Symptoms ◽

Digital Design ◽

Somatization Disorder ◽

The Internet ◽

Cultural Aspects ◽

Starting Point ◽

The Right ◽

The Relationship

UNSTRUCTURED Over half of Americans report looking up health-related questions on the internet, including questions regarding their own ailments. The internet, in its vastness of information, provides a platform for patients to understand how to seek help and understand their condition. In most cases, this search for knowledge serves as a starting point to gather evidence that leads to a doctor’s appointment. However, in some cases, the person looking for information ends up tangled in an information web that perpetuates anxiety and further searches, without leading to a doctor’s appointment. The Internet can provide helpful and useful information; however, it can also be a tool for self-misdiagnosis. Said person craves the instant gratification the Internet provides when ‘googling’ – something one does not receive when having to wait for a doctor’s appointment or test results. Nevertheless, the Internet gives that instant response we demand in those moments of desperation. Cyberchondria, a term that has entered the medical lexicon in the 21st century after the advent of the internet, refers to the unfounded escalation of people’s concerns about their symptomatology based on search results and literature online. ‘Cyberchondriacs’ experience mistrust of medical experts, compulsion, reassurance seeking, and excessiveness. Their excessive online research about health can also be associated with unnecessary medical expenses, which primarily arise from anxiety, increased psychological distress, and worry. This vicious cycle of searching information and trying to explain current ailments derives into a quest for associating symptoms to diseases and further experiencing the other symptoms of said disease. This psychiatric disorder, known as somatization, was first introduced to the DSM-III in the 1980s. Somatization is a psycho-biological disorder where physical symptoms occur without any palpable organic cause. It is a disorder that has been renamed, discounted, and misdiagnosed from the beginning of the DSMs. Somatization triggers span many mental, emotional, and cultural aspects of human life. Our environment and social experiences can lay the blueprint for disorders to develop over time; an idea that is widely accepted for underlying psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. The research is going in the right direction by exploring brain regions but needs to be expanded on from a sociocultural perspective. In this work, we explore the relationship between somatization disorder and the condition known as cyberchondria. First, we provide a background on each of the disorders, including their history and psychological perspective. Second, we proceed to explain the relationship between the two disorders, followed by a discussion on how this relationship has been studied in the scientific literature. Thirdly, we explain the problem that the relationship between these two disorders creates in society. Lastly, we propose a set of intervention aids and helpful resource prototypes that aim at resolving the problem. The proposed solutions ranged from a site-specific clinic teaching about cyberchondria to a digital design-coded chrome extension available to the public.

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Eye Movements in Response to Pain-Related Feelings in the Presence of Low and High Cognitive Loads

Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.3390/bs10050092 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 92

Author(s):

Ramtin Zargari Marandi ◽

Camilla Ann Fjelsted ◽

Iris Hrustanovic ◽

Rikke Dan Olesen ◽

Parisa Gazerani

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Eye Movement ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Pain Perception ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Load Level ◽

Task Load ◽

Pupillary Responses ◽

Movement Characteristics

The affective dimension of pain contributes to pain perception. Cognitive load may influence pain-related feelings. Eye tracking has proven useful for detecting cognitive load effects objectively by using relevant eye movement characteristics. In this study, we investigated whether eye movement characteristics differ in response to pain-related feelings in the presence of low and high cognitive loads. A set of validated, control, and pain-related sounds were applied to provoke pain-related feelings. Twelve healthy young participants (six females) performed a cognitive task at two load levels, once with the control and once with pain-related sounds in a randomized order. During the tasks, eye movements and task performance were recorded. Afterwards, the participants were asked to fill out questionnaires on their pain perception in response to the applied cognitive loads. Our findings indicate that an increased cognitive load was associated with a decreased saccade peak velocity, saccade frequency, and fixation frequency, as well as an increased fixation duration and pupil dilation range. Among the oculometrics, pain-related feelings were reflected only in the pupillary responses to a low cognitive load. The performance and perceived cognitive load decreased and increased, respectively, with the task load level and were not influenced by the pain-related sounds. Pain-related feelings were lower when performing the task compared with when no task was being performed in an independent group of participants. This might be due to the cognitive engagement during the task. This study demonstrated that cognitive processing could moderate the feelings associated with pain perception.

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Growth of prefrontal and limbic brain regions and anxiety disorders in children born very preterm

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291721002105 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Courtney P. Gilchrist ◽

Deanne K. Thompson ◽

Bonnie Alexander ◽

Claire E. Kelly ◽

Karli Treyvaud ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽

Developmental Trajectories ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Social Risk ◽

Intracranial Volume ◽

Total Brain Volume ◽

Very Preterm ◽

The Right

Abstract Background Children born very preterm (VP) display altered growth in corticolimbic structures compared with full-term peers. Given the association between the cortiocolimbic system and anxiety, this study aimed to compare developmental trajectories of corticolimbic regions in VP children with and without anxiety diagnosis at 13 years. Methods MRI data from 124 VP children were used to calculate whole brain and corticolimbic region volumes at term-equivalent age (TEA), 7 and 13 years. The presence of an anxiety disorder was assessed at 13 years using a structured clinical interview. Results VP children who met criteria for an anxiety disorder at 13 years (n = 16) displayed altered trajectories for intracranial volume (ICV, p < 0.0001), total brain volume (TBV, p = 0.029), the right amygdala (p = 0.0009) and left hippocampus (p = 0.029) compared with VP children without anxiety (n = 108), with trends in the right hippocampus (p = 0.062) and left medial orbitofrontal cortex (p = 0.079). Altered trajectories predominantly reflected slower growth in early childhood (0–7 years) for ICV (β = −0.461, p = 0.020), TBV (β = −0.503, p = 0.021), left (β = −0.518, p = 0.020) and right hippocampi (β = −0.469, p = 0.020) and left medial orbitofrontal cortex (β = −0.761, p = 0.020) and did not persist after adjusting for TBV and social risk. Conclusions Region- and time-specific alterations in the development of the corticolimbic system in children born VP may help to explain an increase in anxiety disorders observed in this population.

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Functional network topology of the right insula affects emotion dysregulation in hyperactive-impulsive attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-94426-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tammo Viering ◽

Pieter J. Hoekstra ◽

Alexandra Philipsen ◽

Jilly Naaijen ◽

Andrea Dietrich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Network Topology ◽

Resting State ◽

Latent Variable ◽

Emotion Dysregulation ◽

Adult Adhd ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Graph Analysis ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

The Right

AbstractEmotion dysregulation is common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is highly prevalent in young adult ADHD and related to reduced well-being and social impairments. Neuroimaging studies reported neural activity changes in ADHD in brain regions associated with emotion processing and regulation. It is however unknown whether deficits in emotion regulation relate to changes in functional brain network topology in these regions. We used a combination of graph analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyze resting-state functional connectivity in 147 well-characterized young adults with ADHD and age-matched healthy controls from the NeuroIMAGE database. Emotion dysregulation was gauged with four scales obtained from questionnaires and operationalized through a latent variable derived from SEM. Graph analysis was applied to resting-state data and network topology measures were entered into SEM models to identify brain regions whose local network integration and connectedness differed between subjects and was associated with emotion dysregulation. The latent variable of emotion dysregulation was characterized by scales gauging emotional distress, emotional symptoms, conduct symptoms, and emotional lability. In individuals with ADHD characterized by prominent hyperactivity-impulsivity, the latent emotion dysregulation variable was related to an increased clustering and local efficiency of the right insula. Thus, in the presence of hyperactivity-impulsivity, clustered network formation of the right insula may underpin emotion dysregulation in young adult ADHD.

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A Connectome-Wide Functional Signature of Trait Anger

Clinical Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/21677026211030240 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 216770262110302

Author(s):

M. Justin Kim ◽

Maxwell L. Elliott ◽

Annchen R. Knodt ◽

Ahmad R. Hariri

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Visual Information ◽

Past Research ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Small Sample ◽

Trait Anger ◽

Frontal Pole ◽

Brain Correlates ◽

Small Sample Sizes ◽

The Right

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.

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Comparison of Activation in the Prefrontal Cortex of Native Speakers of Mandarin by Ability of Japanese as a Second Language Using a Novel Speaking Task

Healthcare ◽

10.3390/healthcare9040412 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 412

Author(s):

Li Cong ◽

Hideki Miyaguchi ◽

Chinami Ishizuki

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Brain Activation ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Strong Inhibition ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

High Level

Evidence shows that second language (L2) learning affects cognitive function. Here in this work, we compared brain activation in native speakers of Mandarin (L1) who speak Japanese (L2) between and within two groups (high and low L2 ability) to determine the effect of L2 ability in L1 and L2 speaking tasks, and to map brain regions involved in both tasks. The brain activation during task performance was determined using prefrontal cortex blood flow as a proxy, measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). People with low L2 ability showed much more brain activation when speaking L2 than when speaking L1. People with high L2 ability showed high-level brain activation when speaking either L2 or L1. Almost the same high-level brain activation was observed in both ability groups when speaking L2. The high level of activation in people with high L2 ability when speaking either L2 or L1 suggested strong inhibition of the non-spoken language. A wider area of brain activation in people with low compared with high L2 ability when speaking L2 is considered to be attributed to the cognitive load involved in code-switching L1 to L2 with strong inhibition of L1 and the cognitive load involved in using L2.

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