Degree Centrality of a Brain Network Is Altered by Stereotype Threat: Evidences From a Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Previous studies have found the effects of stereotype threat (ST) on cognitive processes, emotions, and motivations which could account for the underperformance in domain tasks. Efficient brain function does not require the function of different brain regions during specific tasks, but it does require the brain networks on which information is transported. Based on these, the effects of ST on the degree centrality under the resting state of brain regions related to these processes were investigated under math-related ST. The results showed that RSDC was decreased in the left hippocampus and left middle occipital gyrus (MOC), while RSDC was increased in the left precuneus, the right angular gyrus (AG), and the right superior parietal gyrus (SPG) under ST. Interestingly, we also found that the right-left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the right hippocampus were negatively correlated with manipulation check (MC) score in the ST group, while the right-left ATL and the right hippocampus were positively correlated with MC score in the control group. These results might reflect those individuals who attempted to inhibit the negative emotions induced by the negative stereotypes under ST conditions while increasing the self-relevant processes by retrieving episodic memory or autobiographical memory.

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Altered brain network centrality in patients with trigeminal neuralgia: a resting-state fMRI study

Acta Radiologica ◽

10.1177/0284185119847678 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 67-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Pei-Wen Zhu ◽

You Chen ◽

Ying-Xin Gong ◽

Nan Jiang ◽

Wen-Feng Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trigeminal Neuralgia ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Characteristic Curve ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Brain Network ◽

Network Activity ◽

Degree Centrality ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Postcentral Gyrus ◽

The Right

Background Neuroimaging studies revealed that trigeminal neuralgia was related to alternations in brain anatomical function and regional function. However, the functional characteristics of network organization in the whole brain is unknown. Purpose The aim of the present study was to analyze potential functional network brain-activity changes and their relationships with clinical features in patients with trigeminal neuralgia via the voxel-wise degree centrality method. Material and Methods This study involved a total of 28 trigeminal neuralgia patients (12 men, 16 women) and 28 healthy controls matched in sex, age, and education. Spontaneous brain activity was evaluated by degree centrality. Correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations between behavioral performance and average degree centrality values in several brain regions. Results Compared with healthy controls, trigeminal neuralgia patients had significantly higher degree centrality values in the right lingual gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, left paracentral lobule, and bilateral inferior cerebellum. Receiver operative characteristic curve analysis of each brain region confirmed excellent accuracy of the areas under the curve. There was a positive correlation between the mean degree centrality value of the right postcentral gyrus and VAS score (r = 0.885, P < 0.001). Conclusions Trigeminal neuralgia causes abnormal brain network activity in multiple brain regions, which may be related to underlying disease mechanisms.

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Functional Disconnection of the Angular Gyrus Related to Cognitive Impairment in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnhum.2021.621080 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Fei Qi ◽

Dongsheng Zhang ◽

Jie Gao ◽

Min Tang ◽

Man Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Resting State ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Control Group ◽

Functional Connections

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is related to a variety of cognitive impairments that may even progress to dementia. Studies have found the angular gyrus (AG) is a cross-modal integration hub that is involved in a variety of cognitive processes. However, few studies have focused on the patterns of resting-state functional connections (rsFCs) of the AG in patients with T2DM. This study explored the functional connection (FC) between the AG and the whole brain and the relationship between the FC and clinical/cognitive variables in patients with T2DM. 44 patients with T2DM and 43 sex-, age-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI and received neuropsychological assessments. Compared with the control group, the T2DM group showed abnormal rsFCs between the AG and multiple brain regions. The FC between the left AG and the left medial temporal lobe in the T2DM group was positively correlated with scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, after a Bonferroni correction (r = 0.40, P = 0.009). Collectively, patients with T2DM have abnormal FCs between the AG and extensive brain regions that may be related to various cognitive processes.

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Impaired Effective Functional Connectivity of the Sensorimotor Network in Interictal Episodic Migraineurs Without Aura

10.21203/rs.3.rs-39331/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Heng-Le Wei ◽

Jing Chen ◽

Yu-Chen Chen ◽

Yu-Sheng Yu ◽

Xi Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Causality Analysis ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Sensorimotor Network ◽

The Right ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI) has confirmed sensorimotor network (SMN) dysfunction in migraine without aura (MwoA). However, the underlying mechanisms of SMN causal functional connectivity in MwoA remain unclear. We aimed to explore the association between clinical characteristics and effective functional connectivity in SMN, in interictal patients who have MwoA.Methods: We used Rs-fMRI to acquire imaging data in forty episodic patients with MwoA in the interictal phase and thirty-four healthy controls (HCs). Independent component analysis was used to profile the distribution of SMN and calculate the different SMN activity between the two groups. Subsequently, Granger causality analysis was used to analyze the effective causal connectivity between the SMN and other brain regions.Results: Compared to the HCs, MwoA patients showed higher activity in the bilateral postcentral gyri (PoCG) and supplementary motor areas, but lower activity in left Rolandic operculum/insula. Moreover, MwoA patients showed significantly causal connectivity from the SMN to the left calcarine sulcus, left middle temporal gyrus, right angular gyrus and right precuneus. There was also significant causal connectivity from the left calcarine sulcus, left inferior orbitofrontal cortex, right cuneus, right putamen and left inferior parietal lobule to the SMN. In the interictal period, there was positive correlation between the activity of the left PoCG and headache frequency (r = 0.410, p = 0.013), but negative correlation between the activity of the right PoCG and the impact of headache (r = -0.397, p = 0.016). In addition, the disease duration was directly proportional to the connectivity strength from the left PoCG to the right angular gyrus (r = 0.418, p = 0.011), and from the right PoCG to the left calcarine sulcus (r = 0.377, p = 0.023).Conclusions: These differential, resting-state functional activities of the SMN in episodic MwoA may contribute to the understanding of migraine-related intra- and internetwork imbalances associated with nociceptive regulation and chronification.

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Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity Patterns and Functional Connectivity in Adults With Intermittent Exotropia: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.746882 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Xueying He ◽

Jie Hong ◽

Qian Wang ◽

Yanan Guo ◽

Ting Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Intermittent Exotropia ◽

Parietal Lobule ◽

The Right ◽

Left Middle

The purpose of this study is to investigate brain functional changes in patients with intermittent exotropia (IXT) by analyzing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) of brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). There were 26 IXT patients and 22 age-, sex-, education-, and handedness-matched healthy controls (HCs) enrolled who underwent rs-fMRI. The ALFF, fractional ALFF (fALFF) values in the slow 4 and slow 5 bands, and FC values were calculated and compared. The correlations between ALFF/fALFF values in discrepant brain regions and clinical features were evaluated. Compared with HCs, ALFF/fALFF values were significantly increased in the right angular gyrus (ANG), supramarginal gyrus (SMG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), precentral gyrus (PreCG), and the bilateral inferior frontal gyri (IFG), and decreased in the right precuneus gyrus (PCUN), left middle occipital gyrus (MOG), and postcentral gyrus (PoCG) in IXT patients. The Newcastle Control Test score was negatively correlated with ALFF values in the right IFG (r = −0.738, p < 0.001). The duration of IXT was negatively correlated with ALFF values in the right ANG (r = −0.457, p = 0.049). Widespread increases in FC were observed between brain regions, mainly including the right cuneus (CUN), left superior parietal lobule (SPL), right rolandic operculum (ROL), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), left IFG, left median cingulate gyrus (DCG), left PoCG, right PreCG, and left paracentral gyrus (PCL) in patients with IXT. No decreased FC was observed. Patients with IXT exhibited aberrant intrinsic brain activities and FC in vision- and eye movement-related brain regions, which extend current understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms underlying visual and oculomotor impairments in IXT patients.

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Facial Expression Recognition and ReHo Analysis in Major Depressive Disorder

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.688376 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Sijia Liu ◽

Ruihua Ma ◽

Yang Luo ◽

Panqi Liu ◽

Ke Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Resting State ◽

Facial Expression Recognition ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Expression Recognition ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Superior Frontal Gyrus ◽

The Right

Objective: To explore the characteristics of expression recognition and spontaneous activity of the resting state brain in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients to find the neural basis of expression recognition and emotional processing.Methods: In this study, two of the six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, aversion, and surprise) were presented in quick succession using a short expression recognition test. The differences in facial expression recognition between MDD patients and healthy people were compared. Further, the differences in ReHo values between the two groups were compared using a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan to investigate the characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in the resting state and its relationship with clinical symptoms and the accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD.Results: (1) The accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD was lower than that of the HC group. There were differences in facial expression recognition between the two groups in sadness-anger (p = 0.026), surprise-aversion (p = 0.038), surprise-happiness (p = 0.014), surprise-sadness (p = 0.019), fear-happiness (p = 0.027), and fear-anger (p = 0.009). The reaction time for facial expression recognition in the patient group was significantly longer than that of the HC group. (2) Compared with the HC group, the ReHo values decreased in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left thalamus, right putamen, left putamen, and right angular gyrus, and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus in the patient group. (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed no statistical correlation between ReHo and HAMD-17 scores in MDD patients (p > 0.05). The ReHo value of the left putamen was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-surprise (r = −0.429, p = 0.016), the ReHo value of the right angular gyrus was positively correlated with the recognition of sadness-anger (r = 0.367, p = 0.042), and the ReHo value of the right medial superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-anger (r = −0.377, p = 0.037).Conclusion: In view of the different performance of patients with MDD in facial expression tasks, facial expression recognition may have some suggestive effect on the diagnosis of depression and has clinical guiding significance. Many brain regions, including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, striatum, hippocampus, and thalamus, in patients with MDD show extensive ReHo abnormalities in the resting state. These brain regions with abnormal spontaneous neural activity are important components of LCSPT and LTC circuits, and their dysfunctional functions cause disorder of emotion regulation. The changes in spontaneous activity in the left putamen, right angular gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus may represent the abnormal pattern of spontaneous brain activity in the neural circuits related to emotion perception and may be the neural basis of facial expression recognition.

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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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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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The Cortical Organization of Writing Sequence: Evidence From Observing Chinese Characters in Motion

10.21203/rs.3.rs-285417/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Zhaoqi Zhang ◽

Qiming Yuan ◽

Zeping Liu ◽

Man Zhang ◽

Junjie Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Chinese Character ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Hierarchical Control ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Brain Network ◽

Equation Model ◽

Chinese Characters ◽

General Motor ◽

The Right

Abstract Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model (euSEM). We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.

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Disentangling Mathematics from Executive Functions by Investigating Unique Functional Connectivity Patterns Predictive of Mathematics Ability

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01367 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 560-573 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kenny Skagerlund ◽

Taylor Bolt ◽

Jason S. Nomi ◽

Mikael Skagenholt ◽

Daniel Västfjäll ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Mathematical Ability ◽

Angular Gyrus ◽

Intraparietal Sulcus ◽

Supramarginal Gyrus ◽

Connectivity Patterns ◽

The Right

What are the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms that give rise to mathematical competence? This study investigated the relationship between tests of mathematical ability completed outside the scanner and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of cytoarchitectonically defined subdivisions of the parietal cortex in adults. These parietal areas are also involved in executive functions (EFs). Therefore, it remains unclear whether there are unique networks for mathematical processing. We investigate the neural networks for mathematical cognition and three measures of EF using resting-state fMRI data collected from 51 healthy adults. Using 10 ROIs in seed to whole-brain voxel-wise analyses, the results showed that arithmetical ability was correlated with FC between the right anterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP1) and the left supramarginal gyrus and between the right posterior intraparietal sulcus (hIP3) and the left middle frontal gyrus and the right premotor cortex. The connection between the posterior portion of the left angular gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus was also correlated with mathematical ability. Covariates of EF eliminated connectivity patterns with nodes in inferior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus, suggesting neural overlap. Controlling for EF, we found unique connections correlated with mathematical ability between the right hIP1 and the left supramarginal gyrus and between hIP3 bilaterally to premotor cortex bilaterally. This is partly in line with the “mapping hypothesis” of numerical cognition in which the right intraparietal sulcus subserves nonsymbolic number processing and connects to the left parietal cortex, responsible for calculation procedures. We show that FC within this circuitry is a significant predictor of math ability in adulthood.

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Changes in Degree Centrality of Network Nodes in Different Frequency Bands in Parkinson’s Disease With Depression and Without Depression

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.638554 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Haiyan Liao ◽

Jinyao Yi ◽

Sainan Cai ◽

Qin Shen ◽

Qinru Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

Frequency Band ◽

Limbic System ◽

Resting State ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Degree Centrality ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Frequency Bands ◽

Medial Frontal Gyrus

BackgroundDepression induces an early onset of Parkinson’s disease (PD), aggravates dyskinesia and cognitive impairment, and accelerates disease progression. However, it is very difficult to identify and diagnose PD with depression (PDD) in the early clinical stage. Few studies have suggested that the changes in neural networks are associated with PDD, while degree centrality (DC) has been documented to be effective in detecting brain network changes.ObjectivesThe objectives of this study are to explore DC changes between patients with PDD and without depression (PDND) and to find the key brain hubs involved with depression in PD patients.MethodsOne hundred and four PD patients and 54 healthy controls (HCs) underwent brain resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The Data Processing and Analysis of Brain Imaging and Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Data Analysis Toolkit were used for processing and statistical analysis. The DC value of each frequency band was calculated. One-way analysis of variance and a two-sample t-test for post hoc comparison were used to compare the differences of the DC values in different frequency bands among PDD, PDND, and healthy control group. Gaussian random field was used for multiple comparison correction. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between each individual’s DC map and clinical indicators.ResultsThe DC value of different brain regions changed in PDD and PDND in different frequency bands. The prefrontal lobe, limbic system, and basal ganglia were the main brain regions involved. PDD patients showed a wider range and more abnormal brain areas in the slow-4 frequency band (0.027–0.073 Hz) compared to the HCs. PDD showed a decreased DC value in the medial frontal gyrus, bilateral cuneus gyrus, right lingual gyrus, bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral superior frontal gyrus, and left paracentral lobule, but an increased DC value in the bilateral brainstem, midbrain, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, cerebellum, left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral insula, left fusiform gyrus, and left caudate nucleus in the traditional frequency band (0.01–0.08 Hz) compared to PDND patients. PDND patients displayed more abnormal functions in the basal ganglia in the slow-4 frequency band.ConclusionThe DC changes in PDD and PDND are frequency dependent and frequency specific. The medial frontal gyrus, SMA, and limbic system may be the key hubs for depression in PD.

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