scholarly journals Morphological connectivity correlates with trait impulsivity in healthy adults

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingguang Li ◽  
Xiang-Zhen Kong

Background Impulsivity is one crucial personality trait associated with various maladaptive behavior and many mental disorders. In the study reported here, we investigated the relationship between impulsivity and morphological connectivity (MC) between human brain regions, a newly proposed measure for brain coordination through the development and learning. Method Twenty-four participants’ T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images and their self-reported impulsivity scores, measured by the Barratt impulsiveness scale (BIS), were retrieved from the OpenfMRI project. First, we assessed the MC by quantifying the similarity of probability density function of local morphological features between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), one of the most crucial hubs in the neural network modulating cognitive control, and other association cortices in each participant. Then, we correlated the MC to impulsivity scores across participants. Results The BIS total score was found to correlate with the MCs between the ACC and two other brain regions in the right hemisphere: the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a well-established structure for inhibition control; the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), which has been previously shown to be associated with hyperactive/impulsivity symptoms. Furthermore, the ACC-IFG MC was mainly correlated with motor impulsivity, and the ACC-ITG MC was mainly correlated with attentional impulsivity. Discussion Together, these findings provide evidence that the ACC, IFG, and ITG in the right hemisphere are involved neural networks modulating impulsivity. Also, the current findings highlight the utility of MC analyses in facilitating our understanding of neural correlates of behavioral and personality traits.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanjun Zheng ◽  
Yuanping Tao ◽  
Yuzhen Li ◽  
Hang Ye ◽  
Jun Luo

Revenge is common in our daily lives, and people feel good when engaging in revenge behavior. However, revenge behavior is a complex process and remains somewhat of a puzzle of human behavior. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that revenge behaviors are associated with activation of a neural network containing the anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum, inferior frontal gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Recent brain stimulation research using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation has shown a causal relationship between brain regions and revenge behaviors, but the findings have been mixed. In the present study, we aimed to study whether stimulation in the DLPFC can change participants’ revenge behavior in conditions where participants’ wealth was taken away in different ways. We adapted the moonlighting game and designed a new paradigm. Our study revealed that revenge behavior increased following activation in the right DLPFC, suggesting that the right DLPFC plays an important role in overriding self-interest and retaliation. In addition, our results revealed that the right DLPFC is crucial in revenge behavior related to the motivation of invasion.


2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 3823-3830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura L. Symonds ◽  
Nakia S. Gordon ◽  
Jonathan C. Bixby ◽  
Margaret M. Mande

Neuroimaging studies of human pain have revealed a widespread “pain matrix” distributed across both hemispheres of the brain. It is not resolved whether the pain matrix is biased toward one hemisphere, although behavioral and clinical data suggest that pain is perceived differently on the two sides of the body, and several neuroimaging studies suggest that pain processing in some regions of cortex may be lateralized toward the right hemisphere. The current study used fMRI in nine subjects to determine whether acute pain is preferentially processed in one cortical hemisphere. All cortical areas that were activated during the painful simulation were investigated, and several analytic approaches were used to directly compare activated regions to similar regions in the opposite hemisphere. Results indicated that four regions of the cortical pain matrix were activated either contralaterally (somatosensory cortex) or bilaterally (mid/posterior insula, anterior insula, and posterior cingulate). In addition, activation in five cortical regions during acute pain stimulation was localized either exclusively in the right hemisphere or was strongly lateralized to the right. These five areas were in the middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus, medial/superior frontal gyri, and inferior parietal lobule. The location of some of these regions is consistent with the idea that there may be a right-lateralized attentional system to alert an organism to an infrequent, but behaviorally relevant, stimulus such as pain.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorin Friesen

Neurological research has made amazing strides in recent years. Enough is now known about what specific brain areas do to make it possible to start examining how various parts of the brain interact. What is missing is a general theory of cognition to tie all of this information together. Back in the 1980s, a cognitive theory was developed that began with a system of cognitive styles and was expanded through an in-depth study of biographies. It was discovered at that time that this theory mapped in a general way onto the brain. This cognitive theory, known as the theory of mental symmetry, has recently been tested as a meta-theory by using it to analyze a number of fields and theories dealing with human thought and behavior. This paper shows that personality traits that were discovered by mental symmetry correspond in detail to the functioning of brain regions described in current neurological papers. In brief, the cognitive model suggests that there are seven cognitive styles: There are four simple styles, and there are three composite styles that combine the thinking of the simple styles. Two of the simple styles use emotions and emphasize a circuit composed of orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, temporal lobe, and amygdala, with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The other two simple styles use confidence and emphasize a circuit consisting of dorsolateral frontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, parietal cortex, and hippocampus, again with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The three composite styles form a processing chain. The first composite style combines the two simple emotional styles and emphasizes the ventral striatum, and dopamine. This leads to the second composite style, which combines the two simple confidence styles and emphasizes the anterior cingulate, the dorsal striatum, and serotonin. This is followed by the third composite style which balances the functioning of the mind and emphasizes the thalamus and noradrenaline.


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.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyo Morita ◽  
Shoji Itakura ◽  
Daisuke N. Saito ◽  
Satoshi Nakashita ◽  
Tokiko Harada ◽  
...  

Individuals can experience negative emotions (e.g., embarrassment) accompanying self-evaluation immediately after recognizing their own facial image, especially if it deviates strongly from their mental representation of ideals or standards. The aim of this study was to identify the cortical regions involved in self-recognition and self-evaluation along with self-conscious emotions. To increase the range of emotions accompanying self-evaluation, we used facial feedback images chosen from a video recording, some of which deviated significantly from normal images. In total, 19 participants were asked to rate images of their own face (SELF) and those of others (OTHERS) according to how photogenic they appeared to be. After scanning the images, the participants rated how embarrassed they felt upon viewing each face. As the photogenic scores decreased, the embarrassment ratings dramatically increased for the participant's own face compared with those of others. The SELF versus OTHERS contrast significantly increased the activation of the right prefrontal cortex, bilateral insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral occipital cortex. Within the right prefrontal cortex, activity in the right precentral gyrus reflected the trait of awareness of observable aspects of the self; this provided strong evidence that the right precentral gyrus is specifically involved in self-face recognition. By contrast, activity in the anterior region, which is located in the right middle inferior frontal gyrus, was modulated by the extent of embarrassment. This finding suggests that the right middle inferior frontal gyrus is engaged in self-evaluation preceded by self-face recognition based on the relevance to a standard self.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoqi Zhang ◽  
Qiming Yuan ◽  
Zeping Liu ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Junjie Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model (euSEM). We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Peng Liang ◽  
Yuwen Li ◽  
Nai-Shing Yen ◽  
Ofir Turel ◽  
Sen-Mou Hsu

Abstract Background: Escalation of commitment is a common bias in human decision making. The present study examined (1) differences in neural recruitment for escalation and de-escalation decisions of prior investments, and (2) how the activations of these brain networks are modulated by two factors that are often argued to modulate the behavior: (i) self-responsibility, and (ii) framing of the success probabilities. Results: Imaging data were obtained from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applied to 29 participants. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare brain activations between conditions. ROI analysis, then, was used to examine if these significant activations were modulated by two contextual factors. Finally, mediation analysis was applied to explore how the contextual factors affect escalation decisions through brain activations. The findings showed that (1) escalation decisions are faster than de-escalation decisions, (2) the corresponding network of brain regions recruited for escalation (anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precuneus) decisions differs from this recruited for de-escalation decisions (inferior and superior frontal gyri), (3) the switch from escalation to de-escalation is primarily frontal gyri dependent, and (4) activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precuneus were further increased in escalation decisions, when the outcome probabilities of the follow-up investment were positively framed; and activation in the inferior and superior frontal gyri in de-escalation decisions were increased when the outcome probabilities were negatively framed. Conclusions: Escalation and de-escalation decisions recruit different brain regions. Framing of possible outcomes as negative leads to escalation decisions through recruitment of the inferior frontal gyrus. Responsibility for decisions affects escalation decisions through recruitment of the superior (inferior) gyrus, when the decision is framed positively (negatively).


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ian A. Quillen ◽  
Melodie Yen ◽  
Stephen M. Wilson

In this study, we investigated how the brain responds to task difficulty in linguistic and non-linguistic contexts. This is important for the interpretation of functional imaging studies of neuroplasticity in post-stroke aphasia, because of the inherent difficulty of matching or controlling task difficulty in studies with neurological populations. Twenty neurologically normal individuals were scanned with fMRI as they performed a linguistic task and a non-linguistic task, each of which had two levels of difficulty. Critically, the tasks were matched across domains (linguistic, non-linguistic) for accuracy and reaction time, such that the differences between the easy and difficult conditions were equivalent across domains. We found that non-linguistic demand modulated the same set of multiple demand (MD) regions that have been identified in many prior studies. In contrast, linguistic demand modulated MD regions to a much lesser extent, especially nodes belonging to the dorsal attention network. Linguistic demand modulated a subset of language regions, with the left inferior frontal gyrus most strongly modulated. The right hemisphere region homotopic to Broca’s area was also modulated by linguistic but not non-linguistic demand. When linguistic demand was mapped relative to non-linguistic demand, we also observed domain by difficulty interactions in temporal language regions as well as a widespread bilateral semantic network. In sum, linguistic and non-linguistic demand have strikingly different neural correlates. These findings can be used to better interpret studies of patients recovering from aphasia. Some reported activations in these studies may reflect task performance differences, while others can be more confidently attributed to neuroplasticity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengxing Wang ◽  
Xiangyu Zheng ◽  
Zhaoxia Qin ◽  
Jun Ma ◽  
Xiaoxia Du

Abstract Background: Primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE) is a common disorder among school-age children. Previous research has suggested that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is essential to maintain urine storage in bladder control. We hypothesized that children with PMNE have functional deficits in several brain regions, especially the PFC, during urine storage. In this work, we investigated 30 children with PMNE and 28 controls in a state of natural urine holding to evaluate dysfunction in the bladder control network by applying degree centrality (DC) analysis methods based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. And seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis was used to investigate whether the dysfunctional areas exhibited altered FC with other brain regions.Results: Compared with the typical healthy children, the children with PMNE showed increased DC in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Also, the right IFG showed increased connectivity with the left middle and inferior frontal gyri and the right precuneus extending to the cuneus in the children with PMNE.Conclusion: The children with PMNE showed abnormal neural activity during urine storage and exhibited increased DC in the right IFG and increased connectivity with the left PFC and right precuneus during urine storage. These results suggest that compensatory effects may be associated with the right IFG combined with the precuneus and left PFC working together to maintain high vigilance and improve micturition's inhibition function to preserve the state of urine holding in children with PMNE.


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.


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