scholarly journals Effective Connectivity Analysis of Brain Activated Regions during Distracted Driving

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 690
Author(s):  
Mi-Hyun Choi ◽  
Jin-Ju Jung ◽  
Je-Hyeop Lee ◽  
Ye-Jin Kim ◽  
Kyu-Beom Kim ◽  
...  

This study aims to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the effective connectivity between the regions of the brain activated when driving and performing a secondary task (addition task). The subjects used an MR-compatible driving simulator ㅊ to manipulate the driving wheel with both hands and control the pedals (accelerator and brake) with their right foot as if they were driving in an actual environment. Effective connectivity analysis was performed for three regions of the right and the left hemispheres with the highest z-scores, and six of the regions of the entire brain (right and left hemisphere) activated during driving by dynamic causal modeling (DCM). In the right hemisphere, a motor control pathway related to movement control for driving performance was discovered; in the left hemisphere, the pathways in the regions related to movement control for driving performance, starting with the region associated with the secondary task, were discovered. In the whole brain, connectivity was discovered in each of the right and left hemispheres. The motor network of declarative memory, which is the connectivity of the right thalamus, left lingual gyrus, and right precentral gyrus, was worth noting. These results seem meaningful, as they demonstrate the connectivity associated with the control of voluntary movement related to memory from human experience, although limited to driving tasks.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin V. Sale ◽  
Lee B. Reid ◽  
Luca Cocchi ◽  
Alex M. Pagnozzi ◽  
Stephen E. Rose ◽  
...  

AbstractAlthough different aspects of neuroplasticity can be quantified with behavioural probes, brain stimulation, and brain imaging assessments, no study to date has combined all these approaches into one comprehensive assessment of brain plasticity. Here, 24 healthy right-handed participants practised a sequence of finger-thumb opposition movements for 10 minutes each day with their left hand. After four weeks, performance for the practised sequence improved significantly (p < 0.05 FWE) relative to a matched control sequence, with both the left (mean increase: 53.0% practised, 6.5% control) and right (21.0%; 15.8%) hands. Training also induced significant (cluster p-FWE < 0.001) reductions in functional MRI activation for execution of the learned sequence, relative to the control sequence. These changes were observed as clusters in the premotor and supplementary motor cortices (right hemisphere, 301 voxel cluster; left hemisphere 700 voxel cluster), as well as sensorimotor cortices and superior parietal lobules (right hemisphere 864 voxel cluster; left hemisphere, 1947 voxel cluster). Transcranial magnetic stimulation over the right (‘trained’) primary motor cortex yielded a 58.6% mean increase in a measure of motor evoked potential amplitude, as recorded at the left abductor pollicis brevis muscle. Cortical thickness analyses based on structural MRI suggested changes in the right precentral gyrus, right post central gyrus, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and potentially the right supplementary motor area. Such findings are consistent with LTP-like neuroplastic changes in areas that were already responsible for finger sequence execution, rather than improved recruitment of previously non-utilised tissue.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 142-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Trochidis ◽  
Emmanuel Bigand

The combined interactions of mode and tempo on emotional responses to music were investigated using both self-reports and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. A musical excerpt was performed in three different modes and tempi. Participants rated the emotional content of the resulting nine stimuli and their EEG activity was recorded. Musical modes influence the valence of emotion with major mode being evaluated happier and more serene, than minor and locrian modes. In EEG frontal activity, major mode was associated with an increased alpha activation in the left hemisphere compared to minor and locrian modes, which, in turn, induced increased activation in the right hemisphere. The tempo modulates the arousal value of emotion with faster tempi associated with stronger feeling of happiness and anger and this effect is associated in EEG with an increase of frontal activation in the left hemisphere. By contrast, slow tempo induced decreased frontal activation in the left hemisphere. Some interactive effects were found between mode and tempo: An increase of tempo modulated the emotion differently depending on the mode of the piece.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Schechter

This chapter defends the 2-agents claim, according to which the two hemispheres of a split-brain subject are associated with distinct intentional agents. The empirical basis of this claim is that, while both hemispheres are the source or site of intentions, the capacity to integrate them in practical reasoning no longer operates interhemispherically after split-brain surgery. As a result, the right hemisphere-associated agent, R, and the left hemisphere-associated agent, L, enjoy intentional autonomy from each other. Although the positive case for the 2-agents claim is grounded mainly in experimental findings, the claim is not contradicted by what we know of split-brain subjects’ ordinary behavior, that is, the way they act outside of experimental conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 354
Author(s):  
Kyoung Lee ◽  
Sang Yoo ◽  
Eun Ji ◽  
Woo Hwang ◽  
Yeun Yoo ◽  
...  

Lateropulsion (pusher syndrome) is an important barrier to standing and gait after stroke. Although several studies have attempted to elucidate the relationship between brain lesions and lateropulsion, the effects of specific brain lesions on the development of lateropulsion remain unclear. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of stroke lesion location and size on lateropulsion in right hemisphere stroke patients. The present retrospective cross-sectional observational study assessed 50 right hemisphere stroke patients. Lateropulsion was diagnosed and evaluated using the Scale for Contraversive Pushing (SCP). Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) analysis with 3T-MRI was used to identify the culprit lesion for SCP. We also performed VLSM controlling for lesion volume as a nuisance covariate, in a multivariate model that also controlled for other factors contributing to pusher behavior. VLSM, combined with statistical non-parametric mapping (SnPM), identified the specific region with SCP. Lesion size was associated with lateropulsion. The precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula and subgyral parietal lobe of the right hemisphere seemed to be associated with the lateropulsion; however, after adjusting for lesion volume as a nuisance covariate, no lesion areas were associated with the SCP scores. The size of the right hemisphere lesion was the only factor most strongly associated with lateropulsion in patients with stroke. These results may be useful for planning rehabilitation strategies of restoring vertical posture and understanding the pathophysiology of lateropulsion in stroke patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii44-ii44
Author(s):  
A T J van der Boog ◽  
S David ◽  
A M M Steennis ◽  
T J Snijders ◽  
J W Dankbaar ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Surgical treatment of diffuse glioma is performed to reduce tumor mass effect and to pave the way for adjuvant (chemo)radiotherapy. As a complication of surgery, ischemic lesions are often found in the postoperative setting. Not only can these lesion induce neurological deficits, but their volume has also been associated with reduced survival time. Prior studies suggest areas with a singular vascular supply to be more prone to postoperative ischemic lesions, although the precise cause is yet unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the volumetric and spatial distributions of postoperative ischemic lesions and their relation to arterial territories in glioma patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS We accessed a retrospective database of 144 adult cases with WHO grade II-IV supratentorial gliomas, who received surgery and postoperative MRI within 3 days in 2012–2014. We identified 93 patients with postoperative ischemia, defined as new confluent diffusion restriction on DWI. Ischemic lesions were manually delineated and spatially normalized to stereotaxic MNI space. Voxel-based analysis (VBA) was performed to compare presence and absence of postoperative ischemia. False positive results were eliminated by family-wise error correction. Areas of ischemia were labeled using an arterial territory map, the Harvard-Oxford cortical and subcortical atlases and the XTRACT white matter atlas. RESULTS Median volume of confluent ischemia was 3.52cc (IQR 2.15–5.94). 23 cases had only ischemic lesion in the left hemisphere, 46 in the right hemisphere and 24 bilateral. Median volume was 3.08cc (IQR 1.35–5.72) in left-sided lesions and 2.47cc (1.01–4.24) in right-sided lesions. Volume of ischemic lesions was not associated with survival after 1, 2 or 5 years. A cluster of 125.18cc was found to be significantly associated with development of postoperative ischemia. 73% of this cluster was situated in the arterial territory of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA), limited by the border of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA), and the watershed area between the right MCA and the right anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Significant areas were located in the frontal lobes, spanning into the right temporo-occipital region, and predominantly included right and left thalamus, caudate nucleus, putamen, pallidum, as well as right temporal gyri and insular cortex, and parts of the right corticospinal tract, longitudinal fasciculi and superior thalamic radiation. CONCLUSION We found slightly more and larger ischemic lesions in the right than left hemisphere after glioma resection. A statistically significant cluster of voxels of postoperative ischemia was found in the territory of the right MCA and watershed area of the right ACA. Exploration of the spatial distribution of these lesions could help elucidate their etiology and form the basis for predicting clinically relevant postoperative ischemia.


Psihologija ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-211
Author(s):  
Jasmina Vuksanovic ◽  
Milena Djuric

Fluency tests are frequently used in clinical practice to asses executive functions. The literature data are not unequivocal although in a great number of papers is pointed out the importance of the left hemisphere, specially of the left frontal lobes in the mediation of phonological fluency and the right hemisphere in the mediation of nonverbal fluency. This paper considers the suitability of fluency tests for the detection of left versus right seizure laterality. The sample consisted of thirty-two epilepsy patients divided into two groups: LHF-participants with the seizure focus in the left hemisphere (n=16), and DHF-participants with the seizure focus in the right hemisphere (n=16), and K-the control group of t age-matched healthy children (n=50) aged 7-11 years. The qualitative and quantitative comparison of the phonological and nonverbal fluency performance was carried out in consideration of the seizure laterality as well as compared to the healthy controls. The results of phonological fluency performance revealed that the performance of the LHF group was significantly reduced as compared to both DHF and K group. The analysis of nonverbal fluency performance revealed that the performance of the DHF group was significantly reduced as compared to both LHF and K group The qualitative analysis obtained valuable data, which could additionally contribute to the neuropsychological evaluation of the left versus right seizure laterality.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilei Chen ◽  
Yingjie Kang ◽  
Shilei Luo ◽  
Shanshan Liu ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The underlying neurological mechanism of acupuncture treatment in migraine without aura (MwoA) remains unclear. Therefore, we explored the dynamic alterations of intrinsic brain activity and effective connectivity in patients with MwoA after acupuncture treatment.Methods:The fMRI scans were separately obtained at baseline, after the first and after the 12th acupuncture sessions in 40 patients with MwoA. The acupuncture treatments were finished within 6 weeks as twice a week. 36 matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and performed once fMRI scan. The dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) and dynamic granger causality analysis(GCA) were used to analyze the difference of different time points in patients with MwoA. The correlation analyses were performed in dALFF variability, dynamic effective connectivity (DEC) variability with clinical variables in patients with MwoA.Results:Compared with HCs, Patients with MwoA at baseline showed decreased dALFF variability in regions within rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), the superior lobe of left cerebellum (Cerebelum_Crus1_L), the right inferior frontal gyrus, triangular part (IFGtriang.R), the right median cingulate and paracingulate gyri (DCG.R), the right precuneus (PCUN.R), and the left inferior parietal, supramarginal and angular gyri (IPL.L), increased dALFF variability only in the left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG.L). After acupuncture treatment, the decreased dALFF variability of the RVM, Cerebelum_Crus1_L , and PCUN.R progressively recovered, the RVM revealed gradually increased DEC variability to the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG.R), the left insula (INS.L), the right precentral gyrus (PreCG.R), and the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG.R). And enhanced DEC variability from the right fusiform gyrus (FFG.R) to RVM. Furthermore, the increased DEC variability were found from Cerebelum_Crus1_L to the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG.L) and the left precentral gyrus (PreCG.L), from PCUN.R to the right thalamus (THA.R). These dALFF variabilities were significantly positive correlated with frequency of migraine attack and negative correlated with disease duration at baseline, dynamic GCA coefficients were significantly positive correlated with Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (MSQ) score, negative correlated with frequency of migraine attack and visual analog scale (VAS) score postacupuncture treatment.Conclusions:Our results provide insight into dynamic alterations from the perspective of dynamic local brain activity and effective connectivity for the understanding mechanisms of cumulative therapeutic effect of acupuncture in patients with MwoA.Trial registration: ChiCTR, ChiCTR1900023105. Registered 11 May 2019, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=36959.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charalabos Papageorgiou ◽  
Anastasios E. Giannopoulos ◽  
Athanasios S. Fokas ◽  
Paul M. Thompson ◽  
Nikolaos C. Kapsalis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHumans are equipped with the so-called Mental Time Travel (MTT) ability, which allows them to consciously construct and elaborate past or future scenes. The mechanisms underlying MTT remain elusive. This study focused on the late positive potential (LPP) and alpha oscillations, considering that LPP covaries with the temporal continuity whereas the alpha oscillations index the temporal organization of perception. To that end, subjects were asked to focus on performing two mental functions engaging working memory, which involved mental self-projection into either the present-past (PP) border or the present-future (PF) border. To evaluate underlying mechanisms, the evoked frontal late positive potentials (LPP) as well as their cortical sources were analyzed via the standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) technique. The LPP amplitudes - in the left lateral prefrontal areas that were elicited during PF tasks - were significantly higher than those associated with PP, whereas opposite patterns were observed in the central and right prefrontal areas. Crucially, the LPP activations of both the PP and PF self-projections overlapped with the brain’s default mode network and related interacting areas. Finally, we found enhanced alpha-related activation with respect to PP in comparison to PF, predominantly over the right hemisphere central brain regions (specifically, the precentral gyrus). These findings confirm that the two types of self-projection, as reflected by the frontally-distributed LPP, share common cortical resources that recruit different brain regions in a balanced way. This balanced distribution of brain activation might signify that biological time tends to behave in a homeostatic way.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selene Schintu ◽  
Elisa Martín-Arévalo ◽  
Michael Vesia ◽  
Yves Rossetti ◽  
Romeo Salemme ◽  
...  

Rightward prism adaptation ameliorates neglect symptoms while leftward prism adaptation (LPA) induces neglect-like biases in healthy individuals. Similarly, inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) induces neglect-like behavior, whereas on the left PPC it ameliorates neglect symptoms and normalizes hyperexcitability of left hemisphere parietal-motor (PPC-M1) connectivity. Based on this analogy we hypothesized that LPA increases PPC-M1 excitability in the left hemisphere and decreases it in the right one. In an attempt to shed some light on the mechanisms underlying LPA’s effects on cognition, we investigated this hypothesis in healthy individuals measuring PPC-M1 excitability with dual-site paired-pulse TMS (ppTMS). We found a left hemisphere increase and a right hemisphere decrease in the amplitude of motor evoked potentials elicited by paired as well as single pulses on M1. While this could indicate that LPA biases interhemispheric connectivity, it contradicts previous evidence that M1-only MEPs are unchanged after LPA. A control experiment showed that input-output curves were not affected by LPAper se. We conclude that LPA combined with ppTMS on PPC-M1 differentially alters the excitability of the left and right M1.


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