scholarly journals Stimulus set meaningfulness and neurophysiological differentiation: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Boly ◽  
Shuntaro Sasai ◽  
Olivia Gosseries ◽  
Masafumi Oizumi ◽  
Adenauer Casali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Integration ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Stimulus Set ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cortical Regions

A meaningful set of stimuli, such as a sequence of frames from a movie, triggers a set of different experiences. By contrast, a meaningless set of stimuli, such as a sequence of 'TV noise' frames, triggers always the same experience – of seeing 'TV noise' – even though the stimuli themselves are as different from each other as the movie frames. We reasoned that the differentiation of cortical responses underlying the subject's experiences, as measured by Lempel-Ziv complexity (incompressibility) of functional MRI images, should reflect the overall meaningfulness of a set of stimuli for the subject, rather than differences among the stimuli. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the differentiation of brain activity patterns in response to a movie sequence, to the same movie scrambled in time, and to 'TV noise', where the pixels from each movie frame were scrambled in space. While overall cortical activation was strong and widespread in all conditions, the differentiation (Lempel-Ziv complexity) of brain activation patterns was correlated with the meaningfulness of the stimulus set, being highest in the movie condition, intermediate in the scrambled movie condition, and minimal for 'TV noise'. Stimulus set meaningfulness was also associated with higher information integration among cortical regions. These results suggest that the differentiation of neural responses can be used to assess the meaningfulness of a given set of stimuli for a given subject, without the need to identify the features and categories that are relevant to the subject, nor the precise location of selective neural responses.

scholarly journals Cross-domain effect of pitch processing in lexical and melodic contexts reflected by non-musicians: An MEG study

2020 ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
Zhaowei Liu ◽  
◽  
Yun Nan ◽  
Lingxi Lu ◽  
Wei Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Musical Pitch ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Perceptual Abilities ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Brain Behavior

The pitch processing of language and music is generally considered engaging overlapped neural correlates. Previous studies on musicians showed that the ability of pitch processing in music could be transferred to language. It is known that music training can facilitate neural processing of speech, however, the underlying neural mechanisms of pitch processing of language and music are not fully understood, especially in non-musicians. Using magnetoencephalography, we presented a pitch anomaly paradigm which consists of language/music phrases ending in either congruous or incongruous tones/pitches to non-musicians. We found the distinctive brain activity patterns in two groups with high and low musical pitch perceptual abilities. The brain-behavior results showed a positive correlation between the performance of musical pitch tasks and the activation of the left frontotemporal cortical regions elicited by lexical tones. Our results suggested that the cross-domain effect of language and music could be generalized to people without formal music training.

scholarly journals Alcoholism gender differences in brain responsivity to emotional stimuli

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayle S Sawyer ◽  
Nasim Maleki ◽  
Trinity Urban ◽  
Ksenija Marinkovic ◽  
Steven Karson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Inferior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Underlying Basis ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Cortical Regions

Men and women may use alcohol to regulate emotions differently, with corresponding differences in neural responses. We explored how the viewing of different types of emotionally salient stimuli impacted brain activity observed through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from 42 long-term abstinent alcoholic (25 women) and 46 nonalcoholic (24 women) participants. Analyses revealed blunted brain responsivity in alcoholic compared to nonalcoholic groups, as well as gender differences in those activation patterns. Brain activation in alcoholic men (ALCM) was significantly lower than in nonalcoholic men (NCM) in regions including rostral middle and superior frontal cortex, precentral gyrus, and inferior parietal cortex, whereas activation was higher in alcoholic women (ALCW) than in nonalcoholic women (NCW) in superior frontal and supramarginal cortical regions. The reduced brain reactivity of ALCM, and increases for ALCW, highlighted divergent brain regions and gender effects, suggesting possible differences in the underlying basis for development of alcohol use disorders.

scholarly journals Bilateral versus ipsilesional cortico-subcortical activity patterns in stroke show hemispheric dependence

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Cristina Vidal ◽  
Paula Banca ◽  
Augusto G Pascoal ◽  
Gustavo C Santo ◽  
João Sargento-Freitas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Prognostic Indicator ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Hemispheric Stroke ◽  
Constraint Induced Movement Therapy ◽  
Motor Outcomes

Background Understanding of interhemispheric interactions in stroke patients during motor control is an important clinical neuroscience quest that may provide important clues for neurorehabilitation. In stroke patients, bilateral overactivation in both hemispheres has been interpreted as a poor prognostic indicator of functional recovery. In contrast, ipsilesional patterns have been linked with better motor outcomes. Aim We investigated the pathophysiology of hemispheric interactions during limb movement without and with contralateral restraint, to mimic the effects of constraint-induced movement therapy. We used neuroimaging to probe brain activity with such a movement-dependent interhemispheric modulation paradigm. Methods We used an fMRI block design during which the plegic/paretic upper limb was recruited/mobilized to perform unilateral arm elevation, as a function of presence versus absence of contralateral limb restriction ( n = 20, with balanced left/right lesion sites). Results Analysis of 10 right-hemispheric stroke participants yielded bilateral sensorimotor cortex activation in all movement phases in contrast with the unilateral dominance seen in the 10 left-hemispheric stroke participants. Superimposition of contralateral restriction led to a prominent shift from activation to deactivation response patterns, in particular in cortical and basal ganglia motor areas in right-hemispheric stroke. Left-hemispheric stroke was in general characterized by reduced activation patterns, even in the absence of restriction, which induced additional cortical silencing. Conclusion The observed hemispheric-dependent activation/deactivation shifts are novel and these pathophysiological observations suggest short-term neuroplasticity that may be useful for hemisphere-tailored neurorehabilitation.

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