Changes in prefrontal cortex near infrared spectroscopy activity as a function of difficulty in a visual P300 paradigm

The P300 event-related potential is an index of attentional resources related to target detection. Source localization and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has indicated that, among other regions, the prefrontal cortex contributes to the generation of the P300. Similar to fMRI, near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy measures change in blood oxygen levels, but offers several advantages including portability, low expense, and superior temporal resolution. No studies to date have examined the extent to which prefrontal cortex NIR spectroscopy measures are active during the P300 paradigm. To address this knowledge gap, participants completed a two-difficulty visual oddball task in which NIR spectroscopy and P300 data were collected in a counterbalanced order. Confirmatory results indicate that the P300 event-related potential is attenuated as a function of task difficulty. Similarly, NIR spectroscopy measures of oxygenated hemoglobin in the right medial prefrontal cortex are attenuated as a function of task difficulty. The results suggest that prefrontal cortex NIR spectroscopy measures are sensitive to task difficulty in a visual P300 oddball task.

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P300 Amplitude and Topography in an Autobiographical Oddball Paradigm Involving Simulated Amnesia

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027//0269-8803.16.1.1 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Antoinette R. Miller ◽

J. Peter Rosenfeld ◽

Matthew Soskins ◽

Marianne Jhee

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

P300 Amplitude ◽

Oddball Paradigm ◽

Amplitude Difference ◽

P300 Component ◽

Oddball Task

Abstract The P300 component of the event-related potential was recorded during two blocks of an autobiographical oddball task. All participants performed honestly during the first block (Phone), i.e., the oddball stimuli were phone numbers. During the second block (Birthday), in which the oddball stimuli were participants' birthdays, a Truth group (N = 13) performed honestly and a Malinger group (N = 14) simulated amnesia. Amnesia simulation significantly reduced P300 amplitudes, both between groups and within the Malinger group (Phone vs. Birthday), possibly because of an increase in task difficulty in the Malinger condition. Analysis of scaled amplitudes also indicated a trend for a feigning-related alteration in P300 topography. Bootstrapping of peak-to-peak amplitudes detected significantly more (93%) Malinger individuals than bootstrapping of baseline-to-peak amplitudes (64%). Bootstrapping also provided evidence of a feigning-related amplitude difference between oddball stimuli (i.e., Phone > Birthday) in 71% of Malinger group individuals. In this comparison, the peak-to-peak measure also performed significantly better in intraindividual diagnostics.

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Brief Relaxation Practice Induces Significantly More Prefrontal Cortex Activation during Arithmetic Tasks Comparing to Viewing Greenery Images as Revealed by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17228366 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (22) ◽

pp. 8366

Author(s):

Zhisong Zhang ◽

Agnieszka Olszewska-Guizzo ◽

Syeda Fabeha Husain ◽

Jessica Bose ◽

Jongkwan Choi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Control Task ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Frontopolar Cortex ◽

Before And After ◽

Relaxation Practice ◽

The Right ◽

And Control

Background: There is little understanding on how brief relaxation practice and viewing greenery images would affect brain responses during cognitive tasks. In the present study, we examined the variation in brain activation of the prefrontal cortex during arithmetic tasks before and after viewing greenery images, brief relaxation practice, and control task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Method: This randomized controlled study examined the activation patterns of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in three groups of research participants who were exposed to viewing greenery images (n = 10), brief relaxation practice (n = 10), and control task (n = 11). The activation pattern of the PFC was measured pre- and post-intervention using a portable fNIRS device and reported as mean total oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO μm). Primary outcome of the study is the difference in HbO μm between post- and pre-intervention readings during a cognitive task that required the research participants to perform arithmetic calculation. Results: In terms of intervention-related differences, there was significant difference in average HbO μm when performing arithmetic tasks before and after brief relaxation practice (p < 0.05). There were significant increases in average HbO μm in the right frontopolar cortex (p = 0.029), the left frontopolar cortex (p = 0.01), and the left orbitofrontal cortex (p = 0.033) during arithmetic tasks after brief relaxation practice. In contrast, there were no significant differences in average HbO μm when performing arithmetic tasks before and after viewing greenery images (p > 0.05) and the control task (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our preliminary findings show that brief relaxation practice but not viewing greenery images led to significant frontal lobe activation during arithmetic tasks. The present study demonstrated, for the first time, that there was an increase in activation in neuroanatomical areas including the combined effort of allocation of attentional resources, exploration, and memory performance after the brief relaxation practice. Our findings suggest the possibility that the right frontopolar cortex, the left frontopolar cortex, and the left orbitofrontal cortex may be specifically associated with the benefits of brief relaxation on the brain.

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Prefrontal dysfunction associated with a history of suicide attempts among patients with recent onset schizophrenia

npj Schizophrenia ◽

10.1038/s41537-020-00118-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jun Matsuoka ◽

Shinsuke Koike ◽

Yoshihiro Satomura ◽

Naohiro Okada ◽

Yukika Nishimura ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Block Design ◽

Disease Onset ◽

Recent Onset ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

History Of ◽

The Right

Abstract Suicide is a major cause of death in patients with schizophrenia, particularly among those with recent disease onset. Although brain imaging studies have identified the neuroanatomical correlates of suicidal behavior, functional brain activity correlates particularly in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ) remain unknown. Using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recording with a high-density coverage of the prefrontal area, we investigated whether prefrontal activity is altered in patients with ROSZ having a history of suicide attempts. A 52-channel NIRS system was used to examine hemodynamic changes in patients with ROSZ that had a history of suicide attempts (n = 24) or that lacked such a history (n = 62), and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 119), during a block-design letter fluency task (LFT). Patients with a history of suicide attempts exhibited decreased activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared with those without such a history. Our findings indicate that specific regions of the prefrontal cortex may be associated with suicidal attempts, which may have implications for early intervention for psychosis.

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The Contribution of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Full and Divided Encoding: A Paired-Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Behavioural Neurology ◽

10.1155/2010/928436 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 107-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sophie Blanchet ◽

Geneviève Gagnon ◽

Cyril Schneider

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Verbal Material ◽

Paired Pulse ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Sham Condition ◽

Left Dlpfc ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

Episodic Encoding ◽

The Right

This research investigated the contribution of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the attentional resources in episodic encoding for both verbal and non-verbal material. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) were used to interfere transiently with either the left or right DLPFC during encoding under full attention (FA) or under divided attention (DA) in a recognition paradigm using words and random shapes. Participants recognized fewer items after TMS over the left DLPFC than over the right DLPFC during FA encoding. However, TMS over the left DLPFC did not impair performance when compared to sham condition. Conversely, participants produced fewer items after TMS over the right DLPFC in DA encoding compared to sham condition, but not compared to TMS over the left DLPFC. These effects were found for both words and random shapes. These results suggest that the right DLPFC play an important role in successful encoding with a concomitant task regardless of the type of material.

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Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Reveals Abnormal Hemodynamics in the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex of Menopausal Depression Patients

Disease Markers ◽

10.1155/2017/1695930 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Xiang-Yun Ma ◽

Yong-Jun Wang ◽

Bo Xu ◽

Kun Feng ◽

Gao-Xiang Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Verbal Fluency Task ◽

Left Dlpfc ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

The Right ◽

Menopausal Depression

Background/Objective. Menopausal depression (MD) is characterized by depressive symptoms along with hormonal fluctuations. We investigate brain function alteration between major depressive disorder (MDD) and MD.Methods. The difference in oxygenated hemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) for the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was compared retrospectively among 90 females presented with 30 MDD, 30 MD, and 30 healthy controls (HCs) using verbal fluency task (VFT) with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).Results. We observed a significant difference in Oxy-Hb alteration in the left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) using VFT with NIRS (channel 18,P=0.007) between the MD and MDD groups. A significant difference in Oxy-Hb levels was observed among the three groups in the bilateral DLPFC (channels 18, 27, 33, 39, 41, and 45;P<0.05). Compared to the HCs, the MD group presented lower Oxy-Hb activation in the right DLPFC (channel 41;P=0.048) and the left DLPFC (channels 18, 39, and 45;P<0.05), and the MDD group presented lower Oxy-Hb activation in the right DLPFC (channels 27, 33, and 41;P<0.05) and the left DLPFC (channels 39 and 45;P<0.05).Conclusion. Abnormal hemodynamics of the left DLPFC can differentiate MD from MDD by NIRS.

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Influence of task difficulty on the features of event-related potential during visual oddball task

Neuroscience Letters ◽

10.1016/j.neulet.2008.09.004 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 445 (2) ◽

pp. 179-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Kyung Hwan Kim ◽

Ja Hyun Kim ◽

Jin Yoon ◽

Ki-Young Jung

Keyword(s):

Task Difficulty ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Oddball Task ◽

Visual Oddball

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P300 Event-Related Potentials in Stutterers and Nonstutterers

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jslhr.4006.1334 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 40 (6) ◽

pp. 1334-1340 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Michael D. Morgan ◽

Jerry L. Cranford ◽

Kenneth Burk

Keyword(s):

Left Hemisphere ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Related Potentials ◽

The Right ◽

Tonal Stimuli ◽

P300 Event Related Potential

This study investigated possible differences between adult stutterers and nonstutterers in the P300 event-related potential. Responses to tonal stimuli were recorded from electrodes placed over the left (C3) and right (C4) hemispheres. The two groups exhibited different patterns of interhemispheric activity. Although all 8 participants in the fluent group exhibited P300s that were higher in amplitude over the right hemisphere, 5 of the 8 disfluent participants had higher amplitude activity over the left hemisphere. These results provide evidence that stutterers and nonstutterers may exhibit differences between hemispheres in the processing of some types of nonlinguistic (tonal) stimuli.

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

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnhum.2021.649578 ◽

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.

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Reforming Sectarian Beliefs in Iraq: Winning the Peace

Communication Society and Media ◽

10.22158/csm.v4n1p8 ◽

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.

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