scholarly journals Neural Encoding of Auditory Features during Music Perception and Imagery: Insight into the Brain of a Piano Player Auditory Features and Music Imagery

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Martin ◽  
Christian Mikutta ◽  
Matthew K. Leonard ◽  
Dylan Hungate ◽  
Stefan Koelsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
High Gamma ◽  
Central Gyrus ◽  
Spectrotemporal Receptive Field ◽  
Auditory Features

AbstractIt remains unclear how the human cortex represents spectrotemporal sound features during auditory imagery, and how this representation compares to auditory perception. To assess this, we recorded electrocorticographic signals from an epileptic patient with proficient music ability in two conditions. First, the participant played two piano pieces on an electronic piano with the sound volume of the digital keyboard on. Second, the participant replayed the same piano pieces, but without auditory feedback, and the participant was asked to imagine hearing the music in his mind. In both conditions, the sound output of the keyboard was recorded, thus allowing precise time-locking between the neural activity and the spectrotemporal content of the music imagery. For both conditions, we built encoding models to predict high gamma neural activity (70-150Hz) from the spectrogram representation of the recorded sound. We found robust similarities between perception and imagery – in frequency and temporal tuning properties in auditory areas.AbbreviationsECoGelectrocorticographyHGhigh gammaIFGinferior frontal gyrusMTGmiddle temporal gyrusPost-CGpost-central gyrusPre-CGpre-central gyrusSMGsupramarginal gyrusSTGsuperior temporal gyrusSTRFspectrotemporal receptive field

Humor Comprehension and Appreciation: An fMRI Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 1789-1798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Bartolo ◽  
Francesca Benuzzi ◽  
Luca Nocetti ◽  
Patrizia Baraldi ◽  
Paolo Nichelli
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Lesion ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
The Right

Humor is a unique ability in human beings. Suls [A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons. In P. E. Goldstein & J. H. McGhee (Eds.), The psychology of humour. Theoretical perspectives and empirical issues. New York: Academic Press, 1972, pp. 81–100] proposed a two-stage model of humor: detection and resolution of incongruity. Incongruity is generated when a prediction is not confirmed in the final part of a story. To comprehend humor, it is necessary to revisit the story, transforming an incongruous situation into a funny, congruous one. Patient and neuroimaging studies carried out until now lead to different outcomes. In particular, patient studies found that right brain-lesion patients have difficulties in humor comprehension, whereas neuroimaging studies suggested a major involvement of the left hemisphere in both humor detection and comprehension. To prevent activation of the left hemisphere due to language processing, we devised a nonverbal task comprising cartoon pairs. Our findings demonstrate activation of both the left and the right hemispheres when comparing funny versus nonfunny cartoons. In particular, we found activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47), the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 38), the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), and the left cerebellum. These areas were also activated in a nonverbal task exploring attribution of intention [Brunet, E., Sarfati, Y., Hardy-Bayle, M. C., & Decety, J. A PET investigation of the attribution of intentions with a nonverbal task. Neuroimage, 11, 157–166, 2000]. We hypothesize that the resolution of incongruity might occur through a process of intention attribution. We also asked subjects to rate the funniness of each cartoon pair. A parametric analysis showed that the left amygdala was activated in relation to subjective amusement. We hypothesize that the amygdala plays a key role in giving humor an emotional dimension.

scholarly journals Discerning the functional networks behind processing of music and speech through human vocalizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arafat Angulo-Perkins ◽  
Luis Concha
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Images ◽  
Biological Traits

ABSTRACT Musicality refers to specific biological traits that allow us to perceive, generate and enjoy music. These abilities can be studied at different organizational levels (e.g., behavioural, physiological, evolutionary), and all of them reflect that music and speech processing are two different cognitive domains. Previous research has shown evidence of this functional divergence in auditory cortical regions in the superior temporal gyrus (such as the planum polare), showing increased activity upon listening to music, as compared to other complex acoustic signals. Here, we examine brain activity underlying vocal music and speech perception, while we compare musicians and non-musicians. We designed a stimulation paradigm using the same voice to produce spoken sentences, hummed melodies, and sung sentences; the same sentences were used in speech and song categories, and the same melodies were used in the musical categories (song and hum). Participants listened to this paradigm while we acquired functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI). Different analyses demonstrated greater involvement of specific auditory and motor regions during music perception, as compared to speech vocalizations. This music sensitive network includes bilateral activation of the planum polare and temporale, as well as a group of regions lateralized to the right hemisphere that included the supplementary motor area, premotor cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. Our results show that the simple act of listening to music generates stronger activation of motor regions, possibly preparing us to move following the beat. Vocal musical listening, with and without lyrics, is also accompanied by a higher modulation of specific secondary auditory cortices such as the planum polare, confirming its crucial role in music processing independently of previous musical training. This study provides more evidence showing that music perception enhances audio-sensorimotor activity, crucial for clinical approaches exploring music based therapies to improve communicative and motor skills.

scholarly journals Syntactic and Semantic Specialization and Integration in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children during Auditory Sentence Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Task

Previous studies have found specialized syntactic and semantic processes in the adult brain during language comprehension. Young children have sophisticated semantic and syntactic aspects of language, yet many previous fMRI studies failed to detect this specialization, possibly due to experimental design and analytical methods. In this current study, 5- to 6-year-old children completed a syntactic task and a semantic task to dissociate these two processes. Multivoxel pattern analysis was used to examine the correlation of patterns within a task (between runs) or across tasks. We found that the left middle temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within the semantic task compared with across tasks, whereas there was no difference in the correlation within the syntactic task compared with across tasks, suggesting its specialization in semantic processing. Moreover, the left superior temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within both the semantic task and the syntactic task as compared with across tasks, suggesting its role in integration of semantic and syntactic information. In contrast to the temporal lobe, we did not find specialization or integration effects in either the opercular or triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, our study showed that 5- to 6-year-old children have already developed specialization and integration in the temporal lobe, but not in the frontal lobe, consistent with developmental neurocognitive models of language comprehension in typically developing young children.

scholarly journals Ballroom Dancing Promotes Neural Activity in the Sensorimotor System: A Resting-State fMRI Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingzhi Lu ◽  
Qi Zhao ◽  
Yingying Wang ◽  
Chenglin Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Sensorimotor System ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Ballroom Dancing ◽  
Left Middle

Objective. This study aims at investigating differences in the spontaneous brain activity and functional connectivity in the sensorimotor system between ballroom dancers and nondancers, to further support the functional alteration in people with expertise. Materials and Methods. Twenty-three ballroom dancers and twenty-one matched novices with no dance experience were recruited in this study. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity, as methods for assessing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data, were used to reveal the resting-state brain function in these participants. Results. Compared to the novices, ballroom dancers showed increased ALFF in the left middle temporal gyrus, bilateral precentral gyrus, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus. The ballroom dancers also demonstrated lower ALFF in the left lingual gyrus and altered functional connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus and temporal, parietal regions. Conclusions. Our results indicated that ballroom dancers showed elevated neural activity in sensorimotor regions relative to novices and functional alterations in frontal-temporal and frontal-parietal connectivity, which may reflect specific training experience related to ballroom dancing, including high-capacity action perception, attentional control, and movement adjustment.

scholarly journals Comparison of Time–Frequency Responses and the Event-Related Potential to Auditory Speech Stimuli in Human Cortex

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Edwards ◽  
Maryam Soltani ◽  
Won Kim ◽  
Sarang S. Dalal ◽  
Srikantan S. Nagarajan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Tumor Resection ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Language Mapping ◽  
Mapping Procedure ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Neurosurgical Patients ◽  
High Gamma

We recorded the electrocorticogram directly from the exposed cortical surface of awake neurosurgical patients during the presentation of auditory syllable stimuli. All patients were unanesthetized as part of a language-mapping procedure for subsequent left-hemisphere tumor resection. Time–frequency analyses showed significant high-gamma (γhigh: 70–160 Hz) responses from the left superior temporal gyrus, but no reliable response from the left inferior frontal gyrus. Alpha suppression (α: 7–14 Hz) and event-related potential responses exhibited a more widespread topography. Across electrodes, the α suppression from 200 to 450 ms correlated with the preceding (50–200 ms) γhigh increase. The results are discussed in terms of the different physiological origins of these electrocortical signals.

scholarly journals Localized Task-Invariant Emotional Valence Encoding Revealed by Intracranial Recordings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S Weisholtz ◽  
Gabriel Kreiman ◽  
David A Silbersweig ◽  
Emily Stern ◽  
Brannon Cha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Encoding ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
High Gamma ◽  
Intracranial Electroencephalography ◽  
Intracranial Recordings ◽  
Conceptual Meaning

Abstract The ability to distinguish between negative, positive and neutral valence is a key part of emotion perception. Emotional valence has conceptual meaning that supersedes any particular type of stimulus, although it is typically captured experimentally in association with particular tasks. We sought to identify neural encoding for task-invariant emotional valence. We evaluated whether high gamma responses (HGRs) to visually displayed words conveying emotions could be used to decode emotional valence from HGRs to facial expressions. Intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) was recorded from fourteen individuals while they participated in two tasks, one involving reading words with positive, negative, and neutral valence, and the other involving viewing faces with positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions. Quadratic discriminant analysis was used to identify information in the HGR that differentiates the three emotion conditions. A classifier was trained on the emotional valence labels from one task and was cross-validated on data from the same task (within-task classifier) as well as the other task (between-task classifier). Emotional valence could be decoded in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus, both using within-task classifiers as well as between-task classifiers. These observations suggest the presence of task-independent emotional valence information in the signals from these regions.

scholarly journals Correlations between cognitive function and gray matter alterations in patients with acute lacunar stroke

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-123
Author(s):  
Karen M. von Deneen
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Lacunar Stroke ◽  
Anterior Circulation ◽  
Als Patients ◽  
State Examination

Researchers emphasized acute lacunar stroke (ALS) patients suffer from poor social/physical outcomes, cognitive decline, and decreased quality of life. We hypothesized brain abnormalities may occur in ALS during this particular stage and may be associated with cognitive deficits upon evaluation. We investigated structural abnormalities in ALS using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry conducted on 28 healthy controls (HC) and 29 patients with ALS and proximal anterior circulation occlusion within 12 hours of symptom onset. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were used to evaluate cognitive dysfunction. Decreased gray matter (GM) in ALS vs. HC was predominantly in the superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus (STG), heschl gyrus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), hippocampus (HIP), and others. Positive correlation was found between GM density and MMSE scores in STG ( r = 0.59, p = 0.0007), MTG ( r = 0.46, p = 0.01), PCC ( r = 0.42, p = 0.02), HIP ( r = 0.4, p = 0.03), and medial prefrontal cortex ( r = 0.5, p = 0.005). This study provided further information on pathophysiological/morphological mechanisms related to cognitive impairment in ALS and is the basis for further studies in aging-related diseases.

scholarly journals Convergent and divergent brain structural and functional abnormalities associated with developmental dyslexia

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Yan ◽  
Ke Jiang ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Ziyi Wang ◽  
Kyle Perkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Matter Volume

Brain abnormalities in the reading network have been repeatedly reported in individuals with developmental dyslexia (DD); however, it is still not totally understood where the structural and functional abnormalities are consistent/inconsistent across languages. In the current multimodal meta-analysis, we found convergent structural and functional alterations in the left superior temporal gyrus across languages, suggesting a neural signature of DD. We found greater reduction in grey matter volume and brain activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus in morpho-syllabic languages (e.g. Chinese) than in alphabetic languages, and greater reduction in brain activation in the left middle temporal gyrus and fusiform gyrus in alphabetic languages than in morpho-syllabic languages. These language differences are explained as consequences of being DD while learning a specific language. In addition, we also found brain regions that showed increased grey matter volume and brain activation, presumably suggesting compensations and brain regions that showed inconsistent alterations in brain structure and function. Our study provides important insights about the etiology of DD from a cross-linguistic perspective with considerations of consistency/inconsistency between structural and functional alterations.

Tracking the Effects of Top–Down Attention on Word Discrimination Using Frequency-tagged Neuromagnetic Responses

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 877-888
Author(s):  
Maxime Niesen ◽  
Marc Vander Ghinst ◽  
Mathieu Bourguignon ◽  
Vincent Wens ◽  
Julie Bertels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Attention Condition ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Early Step ◽  
Word Discrimination

Discrimination of words from nonspeech sounds is essential in communication. Still, how selective attention can influence this early step of speech processing remains elusive. To answer that question, brain activity was recorded with magnetoencephalography in 12 healthy adults while they listened to two sequences of auditory stimuli presented at 2.17 Hz, consisting of successions of one randomized word (tagging frequency = 0.54 Hz) and three acoustically matched nonverbal stimuli. Participants were instructed to focus their attention on the occurrence of a predefined word in the verbal attention condition and on a nonverbal stimulus in the nonverbal attention condition. Steady-state neuromagnetic responses were identified with spectral analysis at sensor and source levels. Significant sensor responses peaked at 0.54 and 2.17 Hz in both conditions. Sources at 0.54 Hz were reconstructed in supratemporal auditory cortex, left superior temporal gyrus (STG), left middle temporal gyrus, and left inferior frontal gyrus. Sources at 2.17 Hz were reconstructed in supratemporal auditory cortex and STG. Crucially, source strength in the left STG at 0.54 Hz was significantly higher in verbal attention than in nonverbal attention condition. This study demonstrates speech-sensitive responses at primary auditory and speech-related neocortical areas. Critically, it highlights that, during word discrimination, top–down attention modulates activity within the left STG. This area therefore appears to play a crucial role in selective verbal attentional processes for this early step of speech processing.

scholarly journals Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis of Gray Matter Abnormalities in Multiple System Atrophy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junyu Lin ◽  
Xinran Xu ◽  
Yanbing Hou ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Huifang Shang
Keyword(s):  
Multiple System Atrophy ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Complementary Analysis

Purpose: This study aimed to identify consistent gray matter volume (GMV) changes in the two subtypes of multiple system atrophy (MSA), including parkinsonism subtype (MSA-P), and cerebellar subtype (MSA-C), by conducting a voxel-wise meta-analysis of whole brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies.Method: VBM studies comparing MSA-P or MSA-C and healthy controls (HCs) were systematically searched in the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science published from 1974 to 20 October 2020. A quantitative meta-analysis of VBM studies on MSA-P or MSA-C was performed using the effect size-based signed differential mapping (ES-SDM) method separately. A complementary analysis was conducted using the Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI) method, which allows a familywise error rate (FWE) correction for multiple comparisons of the results, for further validation of the results.Results: Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis of MSA-P subtype, comprising 136 MSA-P patients and 211 HCs. Five studies were included in the meta-analysis of MSA-C subtype, comprising 89 MSA-C patients and 134 HCs. Cerebellum atrophy was detected in both MSA-P and MSA-C, whereas basal ganglia atrophy was only detected in MSA-P. Cerebral cortex atrophy was detected in both subtypes, with predominant impairment of the superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, temporal pole, insula, and amygdala in MSA-P and predominant impairment of the superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and lingual gyrus in MSA-C. Most of these results survived the FWE correction in the complementary analysis, except for the bilateral amygdala and the left caudate nucleus in MSA-P, and the right superior temporal gyrus and the right middle temporal gyrus in MSA-C. These findings remained robust in the jackknife sensitivity analysis, and no significant heterogeneity was detected.Conclusion: A different pattern of brain atrophy between MSA-P and MSA-C detected in the current study was in line with clinical manifestations and provided the evidence of the pathophysiology of the two subtypes of MSA.

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