Functional Connectivity and Speech Entrainment Speech Entrainment Improves Connectivity Between Anterior and Posterior Cortical Speech Areas in Non-fluent Aphasia

Background Speech entrainment (SE), the online mimicking of an audio-visual speech model, has been shown to increase speech fluency in individuals with non-fluent aphasia. One theory that may explain why SE improves speech output is that it synchronizes functional connectivity between anterior and posterior language regions to be more similar to that of neurotypical speakers. Objectives The present study tested this by measuring functional connectivity between 2 regions shown to be necessary for speech production, and their right hemisphere homologues, in 24 persons with aphasia compared to 20 controls during both free (spontaneous) speech and SE. Methods Regional functional connectivity in participants with aphasia were normalized to the control data. Two analyses were then carried out: (1) normalized functional connectivity was compared between persons with aphasia and controls during free speech and SE and (2) stepwise linear models with leave-one-out cross-validation including normed functional connectivity during both tasks and proportion damage to the left hemisphere as independent variables were created for each language score. Results Left anterior–posterior functional connectivity and left posterior to right anterior functional connectivity were significantly more similar to connectivity of the control group during SE compared to free speech. Additionally, connectivity during free speech was more associated with language measures than connectivity during SE. Conclusions Overall, these results suggest that SE promotes normalization of functional connectivity (i.e., return to patterns observed in neurotypical controls), which may explain why individuals with non-fluent aphasia produce more fluent speech during SE compared to spontaneous speech.

Download Full-text

Motor Symptom Lateralization Influences Cortico-Striatal Functional Connectivity in Parkinson's Disease

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2021.619631 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Wen Su ◽

Kai Li ◽

Chun-Mei Li ◽

Xin-Xin Ma ◽

Hong Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽

Resting State ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Motor Symptom ◽

Control Group ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Right

Objective: The striatum is unevenly impaired bilaterally in Parkinson's disease (PD). Because the striatum plays a key role in cortico-striatal circuits, we assume that lateralization affects cortico-striatal functional connectivity in PD. The present study sought to evaluate the effect of lateralization on various cortico-striatal circuits through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods: Thirty left-onset Parkinson's disease (LPD) patients, 27 right-onset Parkinson's disease (RPD) patients, and 32 normal controls with satisfactory data were recruited. Their demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological information was collected. Resting-state fMRI was performed, and functional connectivity changes of seven subdivisions of the striatum were explored in the two PD groups. In addition, the associations between altered functional connectivity and various clinical and neuropsychological characteristics were analyzed by Pearson's or Spearman's correlation.Results: Directly comparing the LPD and RPD patients demonstrated that the LPD patients had lower FC between the left dorsal rostral putamen and the left orbitofrontal cortex than the RPD patients. In addition, the LPD patients showed aberrant functional connectivity involving several striatal subdivisions in the right hemisphere. The right dorsal caudate, ventral rostral putamen, and superior ventral striatum had decreased functional connectivity with the cerebellum and parietal and occipital lobes relative to the normal control group. The comparison between RPD patients and the controls did not obtain significant difference in functional connectivity. The functional connectivity between the left dorsal rostral putamen and the left orbitofrontal cortex was associated with contralateral motor symptom severity in PD patients.Conclusions: Our findings provide new insights into the distinct characteristics of cortico-striatal circuits in LPD and RPD patients. Lateralization of motor symptoms is associated with lateralized striatal functional connectivity.

Download Full-text

Coherence parameters of cerebral bioelectric activity and blood serum levels of phosphorylated neurofilaments in comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorders

ZHurnal «Patologicheskaia fiziologiia i eksperimental`naia terapiia» ◽

10.25557/0031-2991.2021.01.5-11 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 5-11

Author(s):

С.А. Галкин ◽

О.В. Рощина ◽

Н.И. Кисель ◽

С.А. Иванова ◽

Н.А. Бохан

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Alcohol Dependence ◽

Blood Serum ◽

Affective Disorder ◽

Affective Disorders ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Control Group ◽

Bioelectric Activity ◽

The Right ◽

Phosphorylated Neurofilaments

Введение. Наряду со многими психическими расстройствами алкогольная зависимость и аффективные расстройства являются результатом взаимодействия генетических, социальных и экологических факторов, что сопровождается морфофункциональными изменениями в центральной нервной системе. Тем не менее, основные причины и механизмы развития коморбидности алкоголизма и аффективных расстройств остаются не до конца ясны. Цель исследования - определение функциональной связности и уровня фосфорилированных нейрофиламентов у пациентов с алкогольной зависимостью и коморбидностью алкогольной зависимости и аффективного расстройства. Методика. Обследовано 60 пациентов после детоксикации: 30 пациентов с алкогольной зависимостью и 30 пациентов с коморбидным течением алкогольной зависимости и аффективного расстройства. Контрольную группу составили 20 психически и соматически здоровых лиц, сопоставимых по полу и возрасту. Исследование биоэлектрической активности головного мозга проводилось при помощи 16-канального энцефалографа. Анализировались общие усредненные значения внутри - и межполушарной когерентности. В сыворотках крови определяли содержание фосфорилированных нейрофиламентов методом твердофазного иммуноферментного анализа на полистироловых планшетах, предварительно покрытых куриными пoликлональными антителами. Результаты. При межгрупповом анализе были выявлены статистически значимо более низкие значения когерентности в правой гемисфере у пациентов с коморбидностью алкогольной зависимости и аффективного расстройства по сравнению с пациентами, страдающими только алкогольной зависимостью. Были обнаружены также статистически значимо более высокие значения концентрации нейрофиламентов в группе пациентов с коморбидностью алкогольной зависимости и аффективного расстройства по сравнению со здоровой группой контроля. При сравнении групп пациентов между собой были обнаружены боле высокие значения концентрации нейрофиламентов у пациентов с коморбидностью алкогольной зависимости и аффективного расстройства на уровне тенденции. Заключение. Наличие коморбидности алкоголизма и аффективных расстройств приводят к нейрофизиологическим изменениям в виде снижения функциональной связности коры головного мозга, особенно в правой гемисфере, а также увеличению степени нейронального повреждения. Background. Similar to many mental disorders, alcohol dependence and affective disorders result from interaction of genetic, social, and environmental factors associated with morpho-functional alterations in the central nervous system. However, major causes and mechanisms of the development of comorbid alcoholism and affective disorders are not fully clear. The aim of this study was to determine the functional connectivity and levels of phosphorylated neurofilaments in patients with alcohol dependence and comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorder. Methods. 60 patients were evaluated after detoxification, including 30 patients with alcohol dependence and 30 patients with comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorder. The control group consisted of 20 sex- and age-matched, mentally and somatically healthy individuals. Brain bioelectric activity was recorded with a 16-channel encephalograph. Overall average values of intra- and inter-hemispheric coherence were analyzed. Blood serum concentration of phosphorylated neurofilaments was measured by solid-phase enzyme immunoassay on polystyrene plates pre-coated with chicken polyclonal antibodies. Results. The intergroup analysis showed that coherence values for the right hemisphere were significantly lower in patients with comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorder compared to patients with alcohol dependence alone (p=0.018). Also, concentrations of neurofilaments were significantly higher in the patient group with comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorder compared to the healthy control group (p=0.042). Comparison of patient groups showed that neurofilament concentrations had a tendency toward higher values in patients with comorbid alcohol dependence and affective disorder (p=0.092). Conclusion. The presence of comorbid alcoholism and affective disorders leads to neurophysiological alterations evident as reduced functional connectivity of the cerebral cortex, particularly in the right hemisphere, as well as to the increased degree of neuronal damage.

Download Full-text

Inter-hemispherical Investigations on the Functional Connectivity of Autistic Resting State fMRI

International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence ◽

10.4018/ijcini.2016040105 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 95-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Vidhusha S ◽

Kavitha Anandan

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Granger Causality ◽

Left Hemisphere ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Resting State Fmri ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Control Group ◽

Adults With Asd ◽

The Brain

Autism spectrum disorders are connected with disturbances of neural connectivity. Functional connectivity is typically examined during a cognitive task, but also exists in the absence of a task i.e., “rest.” Adults with ASD have been found to show weaker connectivity relative to controls. This work focuses on analyzing the brain activation for autistic subjects, measured by fMRI during rest, relative to the control group using interhemispherical analysis. Though both groups activated similarly in cortical areas, indications of under connectivity were exhibited by the autistic group measured by Granger Causality and Conditional Granger Causality. Results show that as connectivity decreases, GC and CGC values also get decreased. The left hemisphere exhibits depreciation in the connectivity in comparison to that of right hemisphere for the autistic individuals whose GC and CGC values keeps decreasing in the left hemisphere seed regions. Finally, the results provide an approach for analyzing the cortical underconnectivity, in clinical relevance for diagnosing autism in children.

Download Full-text

Maladaptive connectivity of broca’s area in schizophrenia during audiovisual speech perception: an FMRI study

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)73216-3 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 1512-1512

Author(s):

G.R. Szycik ◽

Z. Ye ◽

B. Mohammadi ◽

W. Dillo ◽

B.T. te Wildt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Visual Information ◽

Audiovisual Integration ◽

Visual Speech ◽

Control Group ◽

Broca’S Area ◽

Broca's Area ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Audiovisual Speech Perception

IntroductionNatural speech perception relies on both, auditory and visual information. Both sensory channels provide redundant and complementary information, such that speech perception is enhanced in healthy subjects, when both information channels are present.ObjectivesPatients with schizophrenia have been reported to have problems regarding this audiovisual integration process, but little is known about which neural processes are altered.AimsIn this study we investigated functional connectivity of Broca’s area in patients with schizophrenia.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in 15 schizophrenia patients and 15 healthy controls to study functional connectivity of Broca’s area during perception of videos of bisyllabic German nouns, in which audio and video either matched (congruent condition) or die not match (incongruent; e.g. video = hotel, audio = island).ResultsThere were differences in connectivity between experimental groups and between conditions. Broca’s area of the patient group showed connections to more brain areas than the control group. This difference was more prominent in the incongruent condition, for which only one connection between Broca's area and the supplementary motor area was found in control participants, whereas patients showed connections to 8 widely distributed brain areas.ConclusionsThe findings imply that audiovisual integration problems in schizophrenia result from maladaptive connectivity of Broca's area in particular when confronted with incongruent stimuli and are discussed in light of recent audio visual speech models.

Download Full-text

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy With Substance-Using Individuals

Research on Social Work Practice ◽

10.1177/1049731516650517 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 452-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Johnny S. Kim ◽

Jody Brook ◽

Becci A. Akin

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Linear Models ◽

Brief Therapy ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Addiction Severity Index ◽

Self Report ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Control Group ◽

Solution Focused Brief Therapy ◽

Solution Focused

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) intervention on substance abuse and trauma-related problems. Methods: A randomized controlled trial design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of SFBT in primary substance use treatment services for child welfare involved parents in outpatient treatment for substance use disorders. Mixed linear models were used to test within- and between-group changes using intent-to-treat analysis ( N = 64). Hedges’s g effect sizes were also calculated to examine magnitude of treatment effects. Results: Both groups decreased on the Addiction Severity Index-Self-Report and the Trauma Symptom Checklist-40. The between group effect sizes were not statistically significant on either measures, thus SFBT produced similar results as the research supported treatments the control group received. Conclusion: Results support the use of SFBT in treating substance use and trauma and provide an alternative approach that is more strengths based and less problem focused.

Download Full-text

High resolution structural and functional MRI of the hippocampus in young adults with Down syndrome

Brain Communications ◽

10.1093/braincomms/fcab088 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Katherine A Koenig ◽

Se-Hong Oh ◽

Melissa R Stasko ◽

Elizabeth C Roth ◽

H Gerry Taylor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Down Syndrome ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Drug Efficacy ◽

Structure And Function ◽

7 Tesla ◽

Whole Brain ◽

And Function

Abstract Down syndrome is the phenotypic consequence of trisomy 21, with clinical presentation including both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative components. Although the intellectual disability typically displayed by individuals with Down syndrome is generally global, it also involves disproportionate deficits in hippocampally-mediated cognitive processes. Hippocampal dysfunction may also relate to Alzheimer’s disease-type pathology, which can appear in as early as the first decade of life and becomes universal by age 40. Using 7-tesla MRI of the brain, we present an assessment of the structure and function of the hippocampus in 34 individuals with Down syndrome (mean age 24.5 years ± 6.5) and 27 age- and sex-matched typically developing healthy controls. In addition to increased whole-brain mean cortical thickness and lateral ventricle volumes (p < 1.0 × 10−4), individuals with Down syndrome showed selective volume reductions in bilateral hippocampal subfields CA1, dentate gyrus, and tail (p < 0.005). In the group with Down syndrome, bilateral hippocampi showed widespread reductions in the strength of functional connectivity, predominately to frontal regions (p < 0.02). Age was not related to hippocampal volumes or functional connectivity measures in either group, but both groups showed similar relationships of age to whole-brain volume measures (p < 0.05). Finally, we performed an exploratory analysis of a subgroup of individuals with Down syndrome with both imaging and neuropsychological assessments. This analysis indicated that measures of spatial memory were related to mean cortical thickness, total gray matter volume, and right hemisphere hippocampal subfield volumes (p < 0.02). This work provides a first demonstration of the usefulness of high-field MRI to detect subtle differences in structure and function of the hippocampus in individuals with Down syndrome, and suggests the potential for development of MRI-derived measures as surrogate markers of drug efficacy in pharmacological studies designed to investigate enhancement of cognitive function.

Download Full-text

EEG Data Quality: Determinants and Impact in a Multicenter Study of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11020214 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 214

Author(s):

Anna Kaiser ◽

Pascal-M. Aggensteiner ◽

Martin Holtmann ◽

Andreas Fallgatter ◽

Marcel Romanos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Quality ◽

Large Scale ◽

Linear Models ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Control Group ◽

Continuous Performance Task ◽

Related Data ◽

Eyes Closed ◽

Eeg Data ◽

Eyes Open

Electroencephalography (EEG) represents a widely established method for assessing altered and typically developing brain function. However, systematic studies on EEG data quality, its correlates, and consequences are scarce. To address this research gap, the current study focused on the percentage of artifact-free segments after standard EEG pre-processing as a data quality index. We analyzed participant-related and methodological influences, and validity by replicating landmark EEG effects. Further, effects of data quality on spectral power analyses beyond participant-related characteristics were explored. EEG data from a multicenter ADHD-cohort (age range 6 to 45 years), and a non-ADHD school-age control group were analyzed (ntotal = 305). Resting-state data during eyes open, and eyes closed conditions, and task-related data during a cued Continuous Performance Task (CPT) were collected. After pre-processing, general linear models, and stepwise regression models were fitted to the data. We found that EEG data quality was strongly related to demographic characteristics, but not to methodological factors. We were able to replicate maturational, task, and ADHD effects reported in the EEG literature, establishing a link with EEG-landmark effects. Furthermore, we showed that poor data quality significantly increases spectral power beyond effects of maturation and symptom severity. Taken together, the current results indicate that with a careful design and systematic quality control, informative large-scale multicenter trials characterizing neurophysiological mechanisms in neurodevelopmental disorders across the lifespan are feasible. Nevertheless, results are restricted to the limitations reported. Future work will clarify predictive value.

Download Full-text

Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Correlate with Psychosocial Development in Contemplative Practitioners and Controls

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11060728 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 728

Author(s):

Omar Singleton ◽

Max Newlon ◽

Andres Fossas ◽

Beena Sharma ◽

Susanne R. Cook-Greuter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Adult Development ◽

Psychosocial Development ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Control Group ◽

Contemplative Practice ◽

Temporoparietal Junction ◽

Posterior Cingulate

Jane Loevinger’s theory of adult development, termed ego development (1966) and more recently maturity development, provides a useful framework for understanding the development of the self throughout the lifespan. However, few studies have investigated its neural correlates. In the present study, we use structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the neural correlates of maturity development in contemplative practitioners and controls. Since traits possessed by individuals with higher levels of maturity development are similar to those attributed to individuals at advanced stages of contemplative practice, we chose to investigate levels of maturity development in meditation practitioners as well as matched controls. We used the Maturity Assessment Profile (MAP) to measure maturity development in a mixed sample of participants composed of 14 long-term meditators, 16 long-term yoga practitioners, and 16 demographically matched controls. We investigated the relationship between contemplative practice and maturity development with behavioral, seed-based resting state functional connectivity, and cortical thickness analyses. The results of this study indicate that contemplative practitioners possess higher maturity development compared to a matched control group, and in addition, maturity development correlates with cortical thickness in the posterior cingulate. Furthermore, we identify a brain network implicated in theory of mind, narrative, and self-referential processing, comprising the posterior cingulate cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and inferior frontal cortex, as a primary neural correlate.

Download Full-text

Right hemisphere damage: Communication processing in adults evaluated by the Brazilian Protocole MEC - Bateria MAC

Dementia & Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1590/s1980-57642008dn10300008 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 266-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rochele Paz Fonseca ◽

Jandyra Maria Guimarães Fachel ◽

Márcia Lorena Fagundes Chaves ◽

Francéia Veiga Liedtke ◽

Maria Alice de Mattos Pimenta Parente

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Damage Effect ◽

Control Group ◽

Clinical Group ◽

Conversational Discourse ◽

Lexical Semantic ◽

Right Hemisphere Damage ◽

Right Brain ◽

Communication Processes ◽

Brazilian Version

Abstract Right-brain-damaged individuals may present discursive, pragmatic, lexical-semantic and/or prosodic disorders. Objective: To verify the effect of right hemisphere damage on communication processing evaluated by the Brazilian version of the Protocole Montréal d'Évaluation de la Communication (Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery) - Bateria Montreal de Avaliação da Comunicação, Bateria MAC, in Portuguese. Methods: A clinical group of 29 right-brain-damaged participants and a control group of 58 non-brain-damaged adults formed the sample. A questionnaire on sociocultural and health aspects, together with the Brazilian MAC Battery was administered. Results: Significant differences between the clinical and control groups were observed in the following MAC Battery tasks: conversational discourse, unconstrained, semantic and orthographic verbal fluency, linguistic prosody repetition, emotional prosody comprehension, repetition and production. Moreover, the clinical group was less homogeneous than the control group. Conclusions: A right-brain-damage effect was identified directly, on three communication processes: discursive, lexical-semantic and prosodic processes, and indirectly, on pragmatic process.

Download Full-text