Oscillatory EEG Signatures of Affective Processes during Interaction with Adaptive Computer Systems

Affect monitoring is being discussed as a novel strategy to make adaptive systems more user-oriented. Basic knowledge about oscillatory processes and functional connectivity underlying affect during naturalistic human–computer interactions (HCI) is, however, scarce. This study assessed local oscillatory power entrainment and distributed functional connectivity in a close-to-naturalistic HCI-paradigm. Sixteen participants interacted with a simulated assistance system which deliberately evoked positive (supporting goal-achievement) and negative (impeding goal-achievement) affective reactions. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to examine the reactivity of the cortical system during the interaction by studying both event-related (de-)synchronization (ERD/ERS) and event-related functional coupling of cortical networks towards system-initiated assistance. Significantly higher α-band and β-band ERD in centro-parietal and parieto-occipital regions and β-band ERD in bi-lateral fronto-central regions were observed during impeding system behavior. Supportive system behavior activated significantly higher γ-band ERS in bi-hemispheric parietal-occipital regions. This was accompanied by functional coupling of remote β-band and γ-band activity in the medial frontal, left fronto-central and parietal regions, respectively. Our findings identify oscillatory signatures of positive and negative affective processes as reactions to system-initiated assistance. The findings contribute to the development of EEG-based neuroadaptive assistance loops by suggesting a non-obtrusive method for monitoring affect in HCI.

Download Full-text

Reduced resting state functional connectivity with increasing age-related hearing loss and McGurk susceptibility

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-74012-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alina Schulte ◽

Christiane M. Thiel ◽

Anja Gieseler ◽

Maike Tahden ◽

Hans Colonius ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Mcgurk Effect ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Visual Integration ◽

Age Related ◽

Hearing Thresholds ◽

Age Related Hearing Loss

Abstract Age-related hearing loss has been related to a compensatory increase in audio-visual integration and neural reorganization including alterations in functional resting state connectivity. How these two changes are linked in elderly listeners is unclear. The current study explored modulatory effects of hearing thresholds and audio-visual integration on resting state functional connectivity. We analysed a large set of resting state data of 65 elderly participants with a widely varying degree of untreated hearing loss. Audio-visual integration, as gauged with the McGurk effect, increased with progressing hearing thresholds. On the neural level, McGurk illusions were negatively related to functional coupling between motor and auditory regions. Similarly, connectivity of the dorsal attention network to sensorimotor and primary motor cortices was reduced with increasing hearing loss. The same effect was obtained for connectivity between the salience network and visual cortex. Our findings suggest that with progressing untreated age-related hearing loss, functional coupling at rest declines, affecting connectivity of brain networks and areas associated with attentional, visual, sensorimotor and motor processes. Especially connectivity reductions between auditory and motor areas were related to stronger audio-visual integration found with increasing hearing loss.

Download Full-text

Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex intrinsic functional connectivity linked to electrocortical measures of error-monitoring

10.1101/2020.10.21.348649 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hayley Gilbertson ◽

Lin Fang ◽

Jeremy A. Andrzejewski ◽

Joshua M. Carlson

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Error Monitoring ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex

AbstractThe error-related negativity (ERN) is a response-locked event-related potential, occurring approximately 50 ms following an erroneous response at frontocentral electrode sites. Source localization and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research indicate that the ERN is likely generated by activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The dACC is thought to be a part of a broader network of brain regions that collectively comprise an error-monitoring network. However, little is known about how intrinsic connectivity within the dACC-based error-monitoring network contributes to variability in ERN amplitude. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between dACC functional connectivity and ERN amplitude. In a sample of 53 highly trait-anxious individuals, the ERN was elicited in a flanker task and functional connectivity was assessed in a 10-minute resting-state fMRI scan. Results suggest that the strength of dACC seeded functional connectivity with the supplementary motor area is correlated with the ΔERN (i.e., incorrect – correct responses) amplitude such that greater ΔERN amplitude was accompanied by greater functional coupling between these regions. In addition to the dACC, exploratory analyses found that functional connectivity in the caudate, cerebellum, and a number of regions in the error-monitoring network were linked to variability in ΔERN amplitude. In sum, ERN amplitude appears to be related to the strength of functional connectivity between error-monitoring and motor control regions of the brain.

Download Full-text

Dynamic Alterations in Neural Networks Supporting Aversive Learning in Children Exposed to Trauma: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Psychopathology

10.31234/osf.io/pz9m5 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stephanie N. DeCross ◽

Kelly Sambrook ◽

Margaret Sheridan ◽

Nim Tottenham ◽

Katie A McLaughlin

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Longitudinal Design ◽

Region Of Interest ◽

Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Parahippocampal Gyrus ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Neural Activation ◽

Aversive Learning ◽

Frontal Pole

Altered aversive learning represents a potential mechanism through which childhood trauma (CT) might influence risk for psychopathology. This study examines the temporal dynamics of neural activation and patterns of functional connectivity during aversive learning in children with and without CT, and evaluates whether these neural patterns mediate the association of CT with psychopathology in a longitudinal design. 147 children (aged 8-16 years, 77 with CT) completed a fear conditioning procedure during an fMRI scan. Dynamic patterns of neural activation were examined in whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses; functional connectivity was assessed with generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses. We evaluated whether the associations between CT and psychopathology symptoms at baseline and two-year follow-up were mediated by neural activation and connectivity during aversive learning. Children exposed to trauma displayed blunted patterns of neural activation over time during CS+>CS- in right amygdala and during CS->CS+ in right hippocampus and frontal pole. Additionally, during CS+>CS-, CT was associated with elevated functional connectivity of right amygdala with fronto-parietal regions and reduced connectivity with hippocampus, posterior parahippocampal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex. The longitudinal association between CT and later externalizing symptoms was mediated by blunted activation in right amygdala and insula. Reduced amygdala-hippocampal connectivity mediated the association of CT with transdiagnostic anxiety symptoms. CT is associated with poor threat-safety discrimination and altered functional coupling between salience and default mode network regions during aversive learning. These altered neural dynamics during learning may be key mechanisms linking CT with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.

Download Full-text

Manifold Learning of Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reliably Identifies Functionally Consistent Coupling Patterns in Human Brains

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci9110309 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 309

Author(s):

Yuyuan Yang ◽

Lubin Wang ◽

Yu Lei ◽

Yuyang Zhu ◽

Hui Shen

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Sleep Deprivation ◽

Manifold Learning ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Dimensional Manifold ◽

Dynamic Functional Connectivity ◽

Local Linear Embedding ◽

Human Connectome Project ◽

Low Dimensional

Most previous work on dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) has focused on analyzing temporal traits of functional connectivity (similar coupling patterns at different timepoints), dividing them into functional connectivity states and detecting their between-group differences. However, the coherent functional connectivity of brain activity among the temporal dynamics of functional connectivity remains unknown. In the study, we applied manifold learning of local linear embedding to explore the consistent coupling patterns (CCPs) that reflect functionally homogeneous regions underlying dFC throughout the entire scanning period. By embedding the whole-brain functional connectivity in a low-dimensional manifold space based on the Human Connectome Project (HCP) resting-state data, we identified ten stable patterns of functional coupling across regions that underpin the temporal evolution of dFC. Moreover, some of these CCPs exhibited significant neurophysiological meaning. Furthermore, we apply this method to HCP rsfMR and tfMRI data as well as sleep-deprivation data and found that the topological organization of these low-dimensional structures has high potential for predicting sleep-deprivation states (classification accuracy of 92.3%) and task types (100% identification for all seven tasks).In summary, this work provides a methodology for distilling coherent low-dimensional functional connectivity structures in complex brain dynamics that play an important role in performing tasks or characterizing specific states of the brain.

Download Full-text

Acute and repeated intranasal oxytocin differentially modulate brain-wide functional connectivity

10.1101/798025 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Marco Pagani ◽

Alessia De Felice ◽

Caterina Montani ◽

Alberto Galbusera ◽

Francesco Papaleo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Cerebral Blood Volume ◽

Network Connectivity ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Clinical Findings ◽

Social Impairment ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Adult Mice ◽

Term Administration

AbstractCentral release of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) modulates neural substrates involved in socio-affective behavior. This property has prompted research into the use of intranasal OXT administration as an adjunctive therapy for brain conditions characterized by social impairment, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the neural circuitry and brain-wide functional networks recruited by intranasal OXT administration remain elusive. Moreover, little is known of the neuroadaptive cascade triggered by long-term administration of this peptide at the network level. To address these questions, we applied fMRI-based circuit mapping in adult mice upon acute and repeated (seven-day) intranasal dosing of OXT. We report that acute and chronic OXT administration elicit comparable fMRI activity as assessed with cerebral blood volume mapping, but entail largely different patterns of brain-wide functional connectivity. Specifically, acute OXT administration focally boosted connectivity within key limbic components of the rodent social brain, whereas repeated dosing led to a prominent and widespread increase in functional connectivity, involving a strong coupling between the amygdala and extended cortical territories. Importantly, this connectional reconfiguration was accompanied by a paradoxical reduction in social interaction and communication in wild-type mice. Our results identify the network substrates engaged by exogenous OXT administration, and show that repeated OXT dosing leads to a substantial reconfiguration of brain-wide connectivity, entailing an aberrant functional coupling between cortico-limbic structures involved in socio-communicative and affective functions. Such divergent patterns of network connectivity might contribute to discrepant clinical findings involving acute or long-term OXT dosing in clinical populations.

Download Full-text

Sustained upregulation of widespread hippocampal-neocortical coupling following memory encoding

10.1101/2022.01.07.475348 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Line Folvik ◽

Markus H Sneve ◽

Hedda Ness ◽

Didac Vidal-Pineiro ◽

Liisa Raud ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Spatial Configuration ◽

Memory Task ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Interaction Patterns ◽

Memory Encoding ◽

Systems Consolidation ◽

Episodic Memories ◽

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics

Systems consolidation of new experiences into lasting episodic memories involves interactions between hippocampus and the neocortex. Evidence of this process is seen already during early awake post-encoding rest periods. Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have demonstrated increased hippocampal coupling with task-relevant perceptual regions and reactivation of stimulus-specific encoding patterns following intensive encoding tasks. Here we investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of these hippocampally anchored post-encoding neocortical modulations. Eighty-nine adults participated in an experiment consisting of interleaved memory task- and resting-state periods. As expected, we observed increased post-encoding functional connectivity between hippocampus and individually localized neocortical regions responsive to stimulus categories encountered during memory encoding. Post-encoding modulations were however not restricted to stimulus-selective cortex, but manifested as a nearly system-wide upregulation in hippocampal coupling with all major functional networks. The spatial configuration of these extensive modulations resembled hippocampal-neocortical interaction patterns estimated from active encoding operations, suggesting hippocampal post-encoding involvement by far exceeds reactivation of perceptual aspects. This reinstatement of encoding patterns during immediate post-encoding rest was not observed in resting-state scans collected 12 hours later, nor in control analyses estimating post-encoding neocortical modulations in functional connectivity using other candidate seed regions. The broad similarity in hippocampal functional coupling between online memory encoding and offline post-encoding rest suggests reactivation in humans may involve a spectrum of cognitive processes engaged during experience of an event.

Download Full-text

Real-time functional connectivity-based neurofeedback of amygdala-frontal pathways reduces anxiety

10.1101/308924 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Zhiying Zhao ◽

Shuxia Yao ◽

Keshuang Li ◽

Cornelia Sindermann ◽

Feng Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Real Time ◽

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Anxiety Reduction ◽

Regulatory Control ◽

Individual Level ◽

Novel Strategy ◽

The Individual

AbstractDeficient emotion regulation and exaggerated anxiety represent a major transdiagnostic psychopathological marker. On the neural level these deficits have been closely linked to impaired, yet treatment-sensitive, prefrontal regulatory control over the amygdala. Gaining direct control over these pathways could therefore provide an innovative and promising strategy to regulate exaggerated anxiety. To this end the current proof-of-concept study evaluated the feasibility, functional relevance and maintenance of a novel connectivity-informed real-time fMRI neurofeedback training. In a randomized within-subject sham-controlled design high anxious subjects (n = 26) underwent real-time fMRI-guided training to enhance connectivity between the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and the amygdala (target pathway) during threat exposure. Maintenance of regulatory control was assessed after three days and in the absence of feedback. Training-induced changes in functional connectivity of the target pathway and anxiety ratings served as primary outcomes. Training of the target, yet not the sham-control, pathway significantly increased amygdala-vlPFC connectivity and decreased subjective anxiety levels. On the individual level stronger connectivity increases were significantly associated with anxiety reduction. At follow-up, volitional control over the target pathway and decreased anxiety level were maintained in the absence of feedback. The present results demonstrate for the first time that successful self-regulation of amygdala-prefrontal top-down regulatory circuits may represent a novel strategy to control anxiety. As such, the present findings underscore both the critical contribution of amygdala-prefrontal circuits to emotion regulation and the therapeutic potential of connectivity-informed real-time neurofeedback.

Download Full-text

The Aging Brain and Executive Functions Revisited: Implications from Meta-Analytic and Functional-Connectivity Evidence

10.1101/2020.07.15.204941 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marisa K. Heckner ◽

Edna C. Cieslik ◽

Simon B. Eickhoff ◽

Julia A. Camilleri ◽

Felix Hoffstaedter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Age Differences ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Attentional Focus ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

General Role ◽

Age Related ◽

Meta Analyses

AbstractHealthy aging is associated with changes in cognitive performance including executive functions (EFs) and their associated brain activation patterns. However, it has remained unclear which EF-related brain regions are affected consistently, because the results of pertinent neuroimaging studies and earlier meta-analyses vary considerably. We, therefore, conducted new rigorous meta-analyses of published age differences in EF-related brain activity. Out of a larger set of regions associated with EFs, only left inferior frontal junction (IFJ) and left anterior cuneus/precuneus (aC/PrC) were found to show consistent age differences. To further characterize these two age-sensitive regions, we performed seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RS-FC) analyses using fMRI data from a large adult sample with a wide age range. We also assessed associations of the two regions’ whole-brain RS-FC patterns with age and EF performance. Although functional profiling and RS-FC analyses point towards a domain-general role of left IFJ in EFs, the pattern of individual study contributions to the meta-analytic results suggests process-specific modulations by age. Our analyses further indicate that left aC/PrC is recruited differently by older (compared to younger) adults during EF tasks, potentially reflecting inefficiencies in switching the attentional focus. Overall, our findings question earlier meta-analytic results and suggest a larger heterogeneity of age-related differences in brain activity associated with EFs. Hence, they encourage future research that pays greater attention to replicability, investigates age-related differences in deactivation, and focuses on more narrowly defined EF subprocesses, combining multiple behavioral assessments with multi-modal imaging.Highlights- Healthy aging is linked to deterioration in executive functions (EFs)- ALE meta-analyses examined consistent age differences in brain activity linked to EFs- In a larger set of EF regions, only left IFJ and (pre)cuneus were sensitive to age- Advanced age was linked to weaker functional coupling within EF-related networks- Our findings question earlier meta-analytic findings

Download Full-text

A Dissociation in Effects of Risperidone Monotherapy on Functional and Anatomical Connectivity Within the Default Mode Network

Schizophrenia Bulletin ◽

10.1093/schbul/sby175 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 45 (6) ◽

pp. 1309-1318 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Xiaofen Zong ◽

Maolin Hu ◽

Spiro P Pantazatos ◽

J John Mann ◽

Gaohua Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Structure Function ◽

Healthy Volunteers ◽

Default Mode Network ◽

Diffusion Tensor ◽

Control Group ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Antipsychotic Treatment ◽

Positive Symptoms ◽

Default Mode

Abstract Respective changes in functional and anatomical connectivities of default mode network (DMN) after antipsychotic treatment have been reported. However, alterations in structure–function coupling after treatment remain unknown. We performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in 42 drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia patients (FESP) both at baseline and after 8-weeks risperidone monotherapy, and in 38 healthy volunteers. Independent component analysis was used to assess voxel-wise DMN synchrony. A 3-step procedure was used to trace fiber paths between DMN components. Structure–function couplings were assessed by Pearson’s correlations between mean fractional anisotropy and temporal correlation coefficients in major tracts of DMN. Pretreatment, FESP showed impaired functional connectivity in posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCUN) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but no abnormalities in fibers connecting DMN components. After treatment, there were significant increases in functional connectivities of PCC/PCUN. Increases in functional connectivity between PCC/PCUN and mPFC correlated with improvement in positive symptoms. The structure–function coupling in tracts connecting PCC/PCUN and bilateral medial temporal lobes decreased after treatment. No alterations in DMN fiber integrity were detected. This combination of functional and anatomical findings in FESP contributes novel evidence related to neurobehavioral treatment effects. Increased functional connectivities between PCC/PCUN and mPFC may be treatment response biomarkers for positive symptoms. Increases in functional connectivities, no alterations in fiber integrity, combined with decreases in structural–functional coupling, suggest that DMN connectivities may be dissociated by modality after 8-week treatment. Major limitations of this study, however, include lack of repeat scans in healthy volunteers and control group of patients taking placebo or comparator antipsychotics.

Download Full-text