scholarly journals Taste Perception and Caffeine Consumption: An fMRI Study

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Gramling ◽  
Eleni Kapoulea ◽  
Claire Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Taste Perception ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Caffeine Consumption ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Hedonic Evaluation ◽  
Taste Processing ◽  
With Memory

Caffeine is ubiquitous, yet its impact on central taste processing is not well understood. Although there has been considerable research on caffeine’s physiological and cognitive effects, there is a paucity of research investigating the effects of caffeine on taste. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate group differences between caffeine consumers and non-consumers in blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) activation during hedonic evaluation of taste. We scanned 14 caffeine consumers and 14 caffeine non-consumers at 3 Tesla, while they rated three tastes: caffeine (bitter), sucrose (sweet), and saccharin (sweet with bitter after taste), in aqueous solutions. Differences in BOLD activation were analyzed using voxel wise independent samples t-tests within Analysis of Functional Neuroimage (AFNI). Results indicated that during the hedonic evaluation of caffeine or sucrose, caffeine non-consumers had significantly greater activation in neuronal areas associated with memory and reward. During the hedonic evaluation of saccharin, caffeine consumers had significantly greater activation in areas associated with memory and information processing. The findings suggest caffeine consumption is associated with differential activation in neuronal areas involved in reward, memory, and information processing. Further research on intensity and hedonics of bitter and sweet stimuli in caffeine consumers and non-consumers will be of great interest to better understand the nature of differences in taste perception between caffeine consumers and non-consumers.

scholarly journals An fMRI Study of Syntactic Adaptation

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 702-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Noppeney ◽  
C. J. Price
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Mri Study

It is easier to produce and comprehend a series of sentences when they have similar syntactic structures. This “syntactic priming” effect was investigated during silent sentence reading using (i) blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response as a physiological measure in an f MRI study and (ii) reading time as a behavioral measure in a complementary selfpaced reading paradigm. We found that reading time and left anterior temporal activation were decreased when subjects read sentences with similar relative to dissimilar syntactic forms. Thus, syntactic adaptation during sentence comprehension is demonstrated in a neural area that has previously been linked to both lexical semantic and sentence processing.

scholarly journals Static and Dynamic Functional Connectivity Analysis of Cerebrovascular Reactivity: An fMRI Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lewis ◽  
H. Lu ◽  
P. Liu ◽  
X. Hou ◽  
E. Damaraju ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vascular System ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Cerebrovascular Diseases ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Cerebrovascular Reactivity ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Intrinsic Connectivity Networks ◽  
The One ◽  
Cerebrovascular System

ABSTRACTThe human brain, as a finely-tuned system, needs a constant flow of oxygen to function properly. To accomplish this, the cerebrovascular system ensures a steady stream of oxygenation to brain cells. One tool that the cerebrovascular system uses is cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), which is the system’s ability to react to vasoactive stimuli. Understanding CVR can provide unique information about cerebrovascular diseases and general brain function. CVR can be evaluated by scanning subjects with blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they periodically inhale room air and CO2-enriched gas, a powerful and widely-used vasodilator. Our goal is to understand the effect of vasodilation on individual intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs), as well as how functional network connectivity (FNC) adapts to the same vasodilation. To achieve this goal, we first developed an innovative metric to measure the effect of CVR on ICNs, which contrasts to the commonly used voxel-wise CVR. Furthermore, for the first time, we studied static (sFNC) and dynamic (dFNC) FNC in the context of CVR. Our results show that network connectivity is generally weaker during vascular dilation, and these results are more pronounced in dFNC analysis. dFNC analysis reveals that participants did not return to the pre-CO2 inhalation state, suggesting that the one-minute period of room-air inhalation is not enough for the CO2 effect to fully dissipate in humans. Overall, we see new relationships between CVR and ICNs, as well as how FNC adapts to vascular system changes.

Absence of haemodynamic refractory effects in patients with migraine without aura – an interictal fMRI study

Cephalalgia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1220-1231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedicte Descamps ◽  
Pieter Vandemaele ◽  
Harmen Reyngoudt ◽  
Karel Deblaere ◽  
Luc Leybaert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Migraine Without Aura ◽  
Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Time To Peak ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Blood Oxygenation Level ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
The Face ◽  
Reference Situation ◽  
Face Stimuli

Background: In healthy controls, haemodynamic refractory effects are observed with blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI): the haemodynamic response function (HRF) to the second stimulus in a pair of stimuli with short interstimulus interval (ISI) shows a decreased amplitude and an increased time-to-peak. We hypothesize that there may be interictal haemodynamic abnormalities in migraineurs. Methods: An event-related fMRI design with paired face stimuli and varying ISIs was used to measure interictal HRFs in the face recognition area of patients with migraine without aura (MwoA) and controls. Net responses to the second stimulus in a pair were calculated and averaged per participant. Several characterizing parameters of the net responses were quantified and examined within each group. Results: Refractory effects were not observed in our patient group. There are no changes in the net responses compared with the reference situation in patients, irrespective of the ISI, whereas in controls all HRF parameters are decreased or delayed for an ISI of 1 second. Conclusion: This is the first fMRI study investigating the haemodynamic refractory effects in MwoA patients. Unlike in controls, these effects are not observed in migraineurs. Although currently unclear, it is tempting to speculate that this observation reflects the neurovascular correlate of lack of habituation measured with evoked potentials in migraineurs.

scholarly journals Validating Linear Systems Analysis for Laminar fMRI: Temporal Additivity for Stimulus Duration Manipulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelle A. van Dijk ◽  
Alessio Fracasso ◽  
Natalia Petridou ◽  
Serge O. Dumoulin
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Linear Systems ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Ultra High Field ◽  
Feedback Information ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractAdvancements in ultra-high field (7 T and higher) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners have made it possible to investigate both the structure and function of the human brain at a sub-millimeter scale. As neuronal feedforward and feedback information arrives in different layers, sub-millimeter functional MRI has the potential to uncover information processing between cortical micro-circuits across cortical depth, i.e. laminar fMRI. For nearly all conventional fMRI analyses, the main assumption is that the relationship between local neuronal activity and the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal adheres to the principles of linear systems theory. For laminar fMRI, however, directional blood pooling across cortical depth stemming from the anatomy of the cortical vasculature, potentially violates these linear system assumptions, thereby complicating analysis and interpretation. Here we assess whether the temporal additivity requirement of linear systems theory holds for laminar fMRI. We measured responses elicited by viewing stimuli presented for different durations and evaluated how well the responses to shorter durations predicted those elicited by longer durations. We find that BOLD response predictions are consistently good predictors for observed responses, across all cortical depths, and in all measured visual field maps (V1, V2, and V3). Our results suggest that the temporal additivity assumption for linear systems theory holds for laminar fMRI. We thus show that the temporal additivity assumption holds across cortical depth for sub-millimeter gradient-echo BOLD fMRI in early visual cortex.

Abnormal Emotional Responses to Pleasant and Unpleasant Visual Stimuli in First Episode Schizophrenia: f-MRI Investigation

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
M. Casacchia ◽  
M. Mazza ◽  
A. Catalucci ◽  
R. Pollice ◽  
M. Gallucci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Psychiatric Service ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenia ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Affective Deficits ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Mri Study

Aims:Affective deficits (flat affect, a diminished expression of emotion, anhedonia, and lowered ability to experience pleasure) are very common in schizophrenia. In emotion feeling, the crucial role of the insula, rather than of the primary somatosensory cortices, strongly suggests that the neural substrate for emotions is not merely sensorial. It is more likely that the activation of the insula representation of the viscero-motor activity is responsible for feeling of disgust. A recent MRI study demonstrated specific left anterior insular volume reduction in chronic schizophrenia patients: sustainable is the suggestion that emotion of disgust or of taste may be related to the experience of pleasure, which probably is compromise in schizophrenics.We investigated fMRI brain activations in first episode schizophrenic subjects with negative symptoms and in healthy subjects elicited by pleasant and unpleasant visual stimuli.Method:Ten first-episode schizophrenic subjects with normal IQ were recruited from the psychiatric service “SMILE” of San Salvatore Hospital and 10 healthy volunteers matched for age and education were scanned during observation of pleasant and unpleasant visual stimuli. Functional images were acquired with a 1.5T MRI scanner. Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast was obtained using EPI T2* weighted images.Results:The most important result of the study was the demonstration that anterior insula was activated by the exposure to disgusting stimula in normal subjects but not in schizophrenic subjects.Conclusion:This failure of the neural systems used to support emotional attribution is consistent with pervasive problems in experiencing emotions by schizophrenics.

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